Category Archives: Notes on Music

The philosophy of music: or the music of philosophy ?

Notes on Music

At Home Funk: CantiaQuorum back in two weeks

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Our resident professional ensemble, CantiaQuorum, returns to Colyer-Fergusson in two weeks time with a programme of music based around your living-room.

220px-John_Cage_portraitLurking at the heart of a fascinating programme that include Bach’s sumptuous Concerto for Two Violins in D minor and Telemann’s Tafelmusik Suite in D is Cage’s Living Room Music, written for an unspecified quartet that plays any object or architectural feature which can readily be found in a living-room. The second movement sees the performers turn to speech, using parts of ‘The World Is Round’ by Gertrude Stein, whilst the contrasting outer movements see household objects transformed into funky percussion – less ‘Uptown Funk’ than ‘At Home Funk.’

The concert also includes Bach’s wonderful Concerto for Two Violins; I’ll leave you with the achingly-beautiful second movement, performed here live at the Proms by Rachel Podger and Andrew Manze.

Further details about the concert online here.

Notes on Music

#EarBox: new collaborative project launching with Studio 3 Gallery

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We are very excited to be launching #EarBox,  a new collaboration between the School of Arts’ Studio 3 Gallery and the Music Department next Wednesday, 28 January, at 1pm.

WP_20150122_10_42_55_Pro#EarBox is a series of events exploring the meeting-point between visual art and music, where visitors can experience the latest Studio 3 exhibition, or listen to the unfolding musical performance – or wander the new emotional landscape mapped by the intersection of art and music, where the experience of one medium informs and influences a response to the other.

The event next Wednesday will feature piano works by Debussy, John Cage, Chick Corea and Philip Glass; visitors can explore the paintings during the performance, or sit and listen to the music – admission is free.

This term’s exhibitions features an exploration of colour and form in paintings by  Brian Rice, and sculpture by Richard Rome, and the music includes piano works performed by Deputy Director of Music, Daniel Harding, as well as performances later in the term by University ensembles including the Chamber and Cecilian Choirs and the Wind Ensemble.

WP_20150122_10_42_24_ProAdmission to all these events is free; make sure you’re following @Unikent_music or @Studio3Gallery for event details, or visit the Music department’s What’s On or the Studio 3 blog page.

Indulge the senses: #EarBox at Studio 3 Gallery.

Studio3

 

Notes on Music

New events brochure now online

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Our new What’s On has now gone live, and is packed with lunchtime concerts, choral and orchestral concerts, visiting ensembles and special events.

Around The World InWe continue to celebrate the University’s fiftieth anniversary with the annual Colyer-Fergusson Cathedral concert in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in March, whilst in June we bring a department-commissioned choral piece from members of the University community. Our Lunchtime Concert series sees tangos from Piazzolla, jazz with the Geoff Mason Quintet, and a second concert from our ensemble-in-residence, CantiaQuorum, in music by Bach, Handel and Telemann. The Concert Band and Big Band will take us on a trip Around The World In… in February; the new Alumni chamber choir Invicta Voices launches; pianist and Honorary Doctorate recipient Freddy Kempf gives a recital in June; and the year ends as usual with the now-customary week-long musical festivities of Summer Music Week.

Take a look at all that’s happening from January to June online here, or download a copy of the brochure (pdf) here.

Keeping It Real: reviews., Notes on Music

Pictures (and music) at the exhibition: carols in Studio 3 Gallery

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Studio 3 Gallery resounded to the sound of Christmas earlier today, as members of the Cecilian and Chamber Choirs took a festival programme of carols across to the School of Arts’ Jarman Building.

An enthusiastic audience was treated to a mixture of carols old and new, ranging from Ravenscroft’s seventeenth-century Remember, O Thou Man to Lauridsen’s sumptuous O Nata Lux and the enduringly-popular Ukrainian carol, Carol of the Bells.

The ravishing choral colours were given extra lustre by the current paintings on display in Studio 3, Rose Hilton’s Give Life To Painting (about which more here). Afterwards, audience and performers mingled over refreshments to explore the paintings further still.

Our thanks to Katie McGown and Denise Twomey for the invitation to come and perform; there are exciting plans afoot to develop a series of music events in Studio 3 throughout next term; watch, as they say, this space…

Keeping It Real: reviews., Notes on Music

Wolcum, Yule! Lost Consort opens seasonal musical calendar

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The seasonal musical calendar was opened last Friday, as the University Lost Consort brought the ancient undercroft of the Pilgrim’s Hospital in Canterbury alive to the sound of Benjamin Britten.

The audience filled the historic space to bursting for a performance of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, in which the choir was joined by harpist and fourth-year student, Emma Murton, conducted by Dan Harding. First-year alto Ruth Webster captured the mournful air of the dissonant ‘That Yongë Childe,’ whilst third-year soprano, Gabriella Grandi, lulled the listener in ‘Balulalow.’ After the opening plainchant, ‘Hodie Christus natus est,’ had died away, the choir launched into a vibrant ‘Wolcum Yole!’ and moved through the lyrical ‘There is no rose’ through to the fierce ‘This Little Babe;’ the challenging ‘In Freezing Winter Night’ rose and fell in the hushed confines of the packed undercroft, before the evergreen ‘Spring Carol’ and the animated ‘Deo Gracias’ led into the reprise of the plainchant, and the piece dissolved amidst the ancient stone.

Credit to Emma for deftly delivering a tricky harp-part, and to the whole ensemble for a spirited and enthusiastic way in which to begin the Music department’s musical Christmas.

Photos © Matt Wilson / University of Kent

Notes on Music

Busy week ahead 2.0

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Next week is the penultimate week of term, and the events are starting to come thick and fast;

Weds 10 Dec, 1.10pm; the Musical Theatre Society presents a lunchtime of carol-singing on the foyer-stage – admission is free

Thurs 11 Dec, Studio 3 Gallery, Jarman Building, 1pm; the Cecilian Choir presents a festive lunchtime of carols amidst the current exhibition in Studio 3 Gallery over in the School of Arts’ Jarman Building, followed by refreshments; the event is free, details on Facebook here

CarolsintheGalleryPlasmaScreenSaturday 13 Dec, 7.30pm; the University Chorus and Orchestra will be joined by musical alumni in the end of term concert featuring music by Mozart and Beethoven.

PAnd there’s more to come the following week as well; see everything that’s to come on our What’s On page here.

Notes on Music

Busy week ahead…

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Two events coming up next week;

Strange and Ancient Instruments
Strange and Ancient Instruments

Wednesday 3 December sees the last of this term’s Lunchtime Concerts from the Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments, in an exploration of Renaissance, Baroque and traditional Norwegian music – 1.10pm, admission is free with a retiring donation. Here’s fiddle-player & singer with the group, Benedicte Maurseth, in interview:

And on Friday 5 December, the Lost Consort launches our musical celebrations for the festive season with a candle-lit performance of Britten’s enchanting Ceremony of Carols for upper-voices and harp, with harpist Emma Murton, conducted by Your Loyal Correspondent, in the historic setting of the undercroft of the ancient Pilgrim’s Hospital in Canterbury. Admission is free, with a retiring collection in aid of the Hospital.

Lost Consort Britten WS

Details about both these events online here.