Category Archives: Keeping It Real: reviews.

Concerts and events reviews.

Keeping It Real: reviews.

Pudsey comes to Sing for Children in Need!

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Well, alright, Pudsey actually conducted, rather than sang, if the headline misled you slightly.

Musicians and visitors at the University of Kent sang for Children in Need last Thursday, and raised £155 in thirty minutes as they performed ‘O Fortuna’ from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

Photo credit: Spencer Scott, University of Kent

Complete with two electric pianos and an array of percussion, volunteers arrived in Eliot Hall at lunchtime to piece together the famous theme to ‘The X-Factor,’ and raise money to support this year’s Children in Need appeal. The event was featured in the hourly cyclorama of county events during the Friday night broadcast on the BBC.

Many thanks to all who participated and made a donation, to Hannah Perrin who assisted, and to Pudsey himself for turning up!

Keeping It Real: reviews.

On the Hop: a blessing with the Good Shepherd Neame

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Traditionally the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, autumn is also the time when the hops have been harvested, and celebrations and thanks are given for a bountiful year.

Each year, dignitaries from Shepherd Neame and representatives of the brewing industry gather at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Selling, for the annual Hop Blessing, instigated by the Faversham-based Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewery.

On Friday 1 October, singers from the University of Kent were invited to perform both during the blessing service, and afterwards at a traditional Hop-Pickers’ Lunch. The group sang Tourdion, originally an old French melody, translated as When I Drink Good English Ale, which celebrates the virtues (and the drawbacks!) of the grain and the grape.

Alany Holder, Adam Henriksen, Nicola Ingram, Charles Green, Freya Goom, Ben Tomlin, Amy Clarke

After a hearty lunch of traditional hop-picker’s fayre, the group joined with everyone present in singing a selection of popular ballads, and also performed for the gathering an old English round, He That Will An Ale-House Keep and Anders Edenroth’s entertaining Words, rich in close-harmonies and a real a cappella calling-card.

With thanks to Tom Falcon, Production and Distribution Director for Shepherd Neame, for inviting us to perform, and to Alison Shelley for the photographs, for helping to organise the singers and making them feel so welcome.

Be My Guest, Keeping It Real: reviews.

Be My Guest: Andrew Kitchin reviews the Eden-Stell Guitar Duo

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An occasional series featuring guest articles. This week, third-year Mathematics student and guitar Scholar Andrew Kitchin reviews the Eden-Stell lunchtime concert.

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A certain degree of suspense was created by the dimly-lit stage as the concert began, which displayed nothing but two empty chairs and a footst00l. The two performers didn’t disappoint, providing the attentive audience with a varied repertoire ranging from Bach to Rodrigo.

From the outset, the virtuosity of the Mark Eden and Christopher Stell was clear, highlighted by the hauntingly clear trills in Bach’s arrangement of Marcello’s Oboe Concerto, arranged for two guitars by Christopher Stell, and the subtle vibrato displayed in Timothy Bowers’ Fantasy on an Old English Melody.

Between performances, the duo contextualised the repertoire with informative and witty comments, alluding to the history and meaning of the pieces they clearly loved to play.

They also performed two pieces by Mompou, arranged this time by Mark Eden.

The stand-out piece of the concert was the pair’s performance of Rodrigo’s  Tonadilla. This devilish dance encapsulates everything that is special about the Spanish guitar repertoire.  Swirling runs, aggressive rasgueado strumming and delicate folk melodies, all of which the pair executed magnificently, bringing the performance to a rapturous end.

The concert was a brief, warm, Catalan reprise, from an otherwise wet and windy November day.

Furley Page logo
Sponsors of the Lunchtime Concert series
Keeping It Real: reviews.

Encore! The Music Society Showcase is coming…

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The Music Society is preparing to host its first-ever Music Society Showcase and social on Saturday November 20th.

A packed programme includes the University’s Concert and Big Bands, Chamber Choir, Sing!, appearances from Jazz @ 5 stars, and more. The event will be opened by Play It By Ear, the dazzling improvised comedy troupe.

With tickets for the occasion a mere £4 or £1 for standing balcony tickets, plus Mungo’s open for the evening, it promises to be a night of diverse entertainment, with more music for your moolah than you thought possible.

Doors open at 6pm, and the fun starts at 6.45pm.

Tickets on sale now from the Music Society or the Mandela Building: get yours while you can!

Keeping It Real: reviews.

The shape of jazz to come: Jazz @ 5 season gets underway

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What a way to launch this year’s Jazz @ 5 season.

Lena Younes
Lena Younes

A lively Gulbenkian Theatre foyer was abuzz with anticipation on Wednesday evening, in expectation of the first gig in the new season. Regulars Will Rathbone (sax) and Andrew Kitchin (guitar) fronted the band, with Dan Harding on piano and Sophie Meikle on bass – drafted in for the occasion, and making his Jazz @ 5 debut, was drummer Matt Bardrick.

The gig opened with a welcome return to jazz at Kent for Jo Turner, who sang last year and opened the gig with I Wish I Knew How It Feels To Be Free, delivered in a bravura style; she followed this with These Foolish Things. Hot on the heels of her performance at the Scholars’ Festival Lunchtime Concert last Friday was Lena Younes, who sang Lullaby of Birdland and then Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ in a reading that opened slowly and lyrically, and then moved into a brisk swing tempo.

Also making their jazz debut was Steph Richardson, who showed great presence in her confident performances of In A Mellow Tone and Route 66; she held the attention of a rapt audience, and you could have heard a pin drop – in fact, we heard a glass tumble to the floor, but it didn’t dispel the mood.

Next came a duo, newcomers Martin Lestra on guitar and vocalist Camille, who played Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose in a lively swing style.

Steph Richardson
Steph Richardson

After an instrumental version of Blue Bossa lent the evening a Latin air, with some robust solos from Will on tenor sax and dexterous lines from Andrew on guitar, Jo Gray gave a lulling rendition of Blue Moon. Steph Richardson ended her set with a slow exploration of Cry Me A River that was sure-footed and well crafted, and Jo Gray then brought the evening to a close with a delicate Baby, I’m A Fool of which even Melody Gardot herself would have been proud.

A confident opening gig from everyone involved, and a sign of some great jazz music-making to come in the year ahead. Catch Jazz @ 5 next month, Wednesday December 1, when there’ll be a seasonal flavour and one or two surprises. And if you can’t wait that long, we’ll be appearing at the Music Society Showcase on Saturday 20 November, alongside the Big Band, Concert Band, Chamber Choir and other entertainment. Don’t miss either gig!

Mick’s images

Pictures from the gig, courtesy of the photographic artistry of Mick Norman.

Keeping It Real: reviews.

Packed house for Scholars’ Festival concert

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I’ve done three Scholars’ Festival Lunchtime Concerts in the Canterbury Festival since my time at Kent began, and I’ve never seen the Festival Club as packed as it was on Friday.  The audience were crammed into every available space, with extra seating having to be put out along the sides, and the view from the stage was rather intimidating.

Festival Scholars
Sarah Davies, Anna Beth Saffrey, Andrew Kitchin, Will Rathbone, Chris Gray, Alice Godwin, Kate Lumley, Lena Younes

Not intimidating enough, however, to dismay the array of Music Scholars, who performed a diverse and entertaining programme that clearly delighted a packed house.

Politics student and flautist with the University Orchestra, Alice Godwin, opened the concert with a pair of charming pieces by Benjamin Godard, and was followed by Anna Beth Saffery, reading Drama, who sang Mozart’s breathless Voi che sapete and gave a lulling rendition of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

Architecture student Chris Gray performed the first movement of Gregson’s Tuba Concerto, and demonstrated that, whilst it may be the largest of the instruments in the orchestra, it can also be one of the most light-footed – he gave a deft performance, full of agility and lyricism.

Clarinet tutor and Big Band conductor Ian Swatman led a clarinet trio in an arrangement of music by Bach, with Kate Lumley (English Language) and Sarah Davies (English Literature), who are stalwarts of both the University Orchestra’s clarinet section and the Concert Band.

Jazz Katz
All that jazz...

The mood then shifted to jazz, as guitarist Andrew Kitchin (Maths) and saxophonist Will Rathbone (Drama) played two standards, The Nearness of You and Blue Bossa, with Ian Swatman sitting in. Both Will and Andrew have been bastions of the ‘Jazz @ 5’ series in the Gulbenkian each month, and here showed the same relaxed attitude to playing that has made them so indispensable to the series.

Lena YounesBringing the concert to a sparkling conclusion (and not simply because of her shoes) was soprano Lena Younes (History and Drama), who sang Lullaby of Birdland before giving a crowd-pleasing and characterful performance of Flanders and Swann’s The Warthog.

Accompanied throughout by Deputy Director of Music, Dan Harding, the concert proved once again that the University’s music department is rich in young, talented musicians, even though there is no formal music degree on the Canterbury campus. Congratulations to everyone who performed.

Festival logoThank you to Ian Swatman, and to Sarah Passfield who hosted the event and assisted us in setting up, and who made us feel very welcome.