The University’s Musical Theatre Society returns to Colyer-Fergusson next week, with an epic showcase full of songs which explore the struggle between our need to be part of the pack and yet also to follow our dreams.
Follow The Leader is a collection of powerful and revealing songs that prove that the quest for power may not always run the safest path, explored in music from Hamilton, Kinky Boots, Chicago, RENT and others.
The cast have been hard at work in rehearsals over the course of the term, and the directors of the showcase, Antonia Kasoulidou and Rakel Svendsen, declare that the show promises to be an inspiring, ingenious and intoxicating piece which explores the conflict between the deep desire to follow the herd, and the yearning to break with tradition and risk becoming an outcast.
Find out if you have the herd instinct or are prepared to take risks on forging a new path, as Follow The Leader comes to Colyer-Fergusson Hall on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 December at 7.30pm; tickets available here.
Amongst the repertoire the ensemble is currently preparing are works by Handel, Vivaldi, Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, Brahms and Mozart.
Their first performance is next month; keep an eye on the web for details of their concerts throughout this year.
On Thursday 10 November, a special performance by the Cecilian Choir, conducted by Your Loyal Correspondent, commemorates the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme with a new choral piece written by American composer David Lang in Studio 3 Gallery. Memorial Ground is an evocative, haunting meditation on the Battle of the Somme, but also reaches beyond it to commemorate all those who have lost their lives in conflict ever since. The piece was commissioned as part of the nationwide 14-18NOW project.
On Friday 11 November at 11am, third-year Music Scholar and trumpeter Alex Reid will play the Last Post in the Registry Garden; this is followed at 1.10pm by a lunchtime concert focusing on poet and composer Ivor Gurney. Arranged by Dr Kate Kennedy, the event dramatizes Gurney’s life as musician, soldier and eventually asylum patient, following his progress in his own words and music, with humour and poignancy.
As always, the concert starts at 1.10pm, and admission is free with a suggested donation of £3. The first in our new series of lunchtime concerts, later events include the Kentish Piano Trio in November and sitar master Ustad Dharambir Singh in December.
Created especially for the Colyer-Fergusson Gallery, Preludes (where you go, I go) by visual artist Adam de Ville is a series of images in response to Sinking of the Titanic by composer Gavin Bryars, a haunting meditation on the idea of what happens to the music played by the band as the great ship sank.
The exhibition is showing in Colyer-Fergusson Gallery until Friday 4 November during normal opening hours, and admission is free. Find out more about Adam