All posts by Daniel Harding

Head of Music Performance, University of Kent: pianist, accompanist and conductor: jazz enthusiast.

The Brodskys are here on Friday

November 27, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

The inimitable Brodsky Quartet will be here on Friday, celebrating its fortieth anniversary with a concert combining classical music with the slick feel of a game-show. The programme will be decided on the night by the spin of a wheel, with each of the ‘four tunes’ selected from their extensive repertoire by chance.

You can read a review of a similar concert the quartet gave a few months ago in an earlier post I wrote here.

Tickets on the Gulbenkan website; come and be part of something extraordinary.

Jazz Booth

All that jazz: catching up with Sector7

November 22, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

Ahead of their Lunchtime Concert in the Gulbenkian Theatre on Monday 3 December, I caught up with Sarah Ellen Hughes, singer with the group, and asked her about what we can look forward to.

DH: Tell us a little about the group.

SEH: Sector7 originated as a jazz group, but now plays a selection of gospel, folk, jazz and soul, that has been brought to the table by the diversity of the members. We have 4 singers in the group and a rhythm section, allowing us to explore some a cappella work, but also some groove-based music with the band too.

DH: And what excites you about the music you perform ?

SEH: Vocal harmony is always exciting, and having four strong voices performing things in sometimes incredibly difficult and intricate harmonies is great to be a part of. We also have a new member at the moment, who is a beatboxer, so we’ve been able to incorporate that into a few tunes which is brilliant!

DH: So, what can we look forward to in your gig in a few weeks’ time ?

We’re going to be playing a selection of Christmas music and some Sector7 originals. There are plenty of great Christmas standards out there that we’re going to put a twist on and arrange in our own way. But we don’t want to do a Christmas overload as it’s only the first week of December, so we’ll also be playing some songs from our EP:

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Thanks to Sarah for her time; find out more about the concert on our online diary here.

Notes on Music

Making waves at Medway: the Medway Chamber Choir

November 20, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

President of this year’s Medway Music Society, Jack McDonnell, reports in with news of a new musical initiative at Medway this year…

Under the management of 2nd year Popular Music Student Rhian Powell with the UMSA Music Society, Universities at Medway Chamber choir are back in full swing of rehearsals for a string of upcoming performances.

On Tuesday 13th of November, the choir took part in an evening of a pilot filming for a TV show called ‘The Venue’ at the Beacon Court Tavern in Gillingham (see picture, below). The Choir performed an arrangement of popular carol “Ding Dong Merrily on High” as well as the national anthem to an audience of film makers and Medway Locals which were well received by Director Lee Philips. The film is due to go online at the beginning of December.

UMCC are currently meeting on Monday evenings at 6pm in the Medway Building Studios, working towards the UMSA Carol Service on December 3rd.

Jack McDonnell

Good luck to our counterparts over in Medway – let us know when the film goes online!

Keeping It Real: reviews.

Children in Need at Kent: the video

November 19, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

Courtesy of KentTV, here’s footage of the Children in Need events from last Thursday, with your loyal correspondent conducting the scratch Ringtone Orchestra in Three Movements in Ring-Tonality, followed by an awful lot of people doing the ‘Time Warp’ next door in the Gulbenkian Theatre.

Thanks to everyone who took part, and to KTV.

Keeping It Real: reviews.

Bear Necessities: Children in Need

November 15, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

The new concert-hall played host to a certain Yellow Bear and members of the University community and friends earlier today, as a scratch ‘orchestra’ of performers wielded their mobile-phones in aid of Children in Need.

Marking sixty years of John Cage’s notorious 4′ 33”, a band of willing volunteers flocked to the new concert-hall to give the premiere of Three Movements in Ring-Tonality by your loyal correspondent, aided in conducting duties by none other than Pudsey Bear himself.

After a brief rehearsal of each movement, the baton was brandished and a delicate tapestry of ring-tones rose to the roof in a texture of which we feel Cage would have been proud.

With thanks to everyone who turned up either to participate or to listen, to Pudsey, and to the staff of the Gulbenkian who were on hand to help with the smooth running of what was a unique occasion. The BBC were on hand to film the proceedings, keep an eye out on the round-up of local events on BBC South East tomorrow night for a glimpse of what went on…

And what will next year bring ?

Pudsey with four of the ‘orchestral’ musicians

Notes on Music

Ring for Children in Need this Thursday

November 12, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

A unique music premiere in support of this year’s BBC ‘Children in Need’ appeal will take place in the new Colyer-Ferguson Hall this Thursday at 1.10pm.

Combining the sixtieth anniversary of John Cage’s silent, yet controversial, musical masterpiece, 4’ 33’’, the event encourages audience participants to use their mobile phone ringtone as part of the one-of-a-kind performance. Each of the three movements will see participants ‘playing’ a different ring-tone from their mobile phone.

Three Movements in Ring-Tonality, written by your loyal correspondent, is both homage to Cage’s piece and an unusual opportunity to make music using an instrument normally banned from the concert-hall. It’ll be a terrific opportunity to raise money for a worthy cause, as well as to pay tribute to Cage’s masterwork in a novel manner that will make musicians of everyone who takes part.

The annual fund-raising event for Children in Need is a special part of our calendar and this year is even more exciting as we will be giving a world première in our brand-new concert-hall.

Come along; bring your mobile-phone (and a donation!) and prepare for the unexpected…

Keeping It Real: reviews.

Singing for Royalty: Aisha Bove

November 8, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

Secretary of this year’s Music Society, cellist and soprano Aisha Bové was away from the University recently; it turns out she was involved in a very royal occasion indeed…

Some of you might not have heard the news, but one of Europe’s monarchs got married on the 20th of October, reuniting all the important kings and queens from around the world in one place. Prince Guillaume from Luxembourg, heir to the throne, married Countess Stephanie de Lannoy in a sumptuous celebration at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Luxembourg. I myself was there in person, as a member of the cathedral choir, singing in the mass which was broadcasted live on Luxembourgish and German national TV.

The royal couple is known to be very down to earth and approachable, and they played a major role in the process of choosing the musical program. The main piece was Mozart’s Missa in C. Additional pieces were Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, which was sung in German, small liturgical pieces, in French and Luxembourgish. The mass was finished off by Handel’s well known Hallelujah, to give the couple a joyful ending to their ceremony. The choir was accompanied by organ and the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra.

You can watch the whole ceremony online or on Youtube, and be amazed by the glamorous appearance of it all. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of it, even though it meant that I had to stand still from 9am – 1pm, and could not find a way out of the city for another two hours afterwards. It was a lifetime opportunity and sure was a unique experience, to see the people you normally know out of the magazines sat a stone’s throw away, listening to your music.

Aisha Bové

Keeping It Real: reviews.

In pictures: Music Scholars lunchtime concert in the new hall

November 8, 2012 Daniel Harding Leave a comment

So, it finally happened; yesterday saw the first public event in the new Colyer-Fergusson Hall, a lunchtime recital given by some of this year’s Music Scholars.

An enthusiastic audience greeted the performers with terrific warmth – and how fitting that it should be the students, who after all are at the heart of the University’s musical life, who gave the first performance in the new building.