This year, ArtsFest will be five days of arts events of every sort around the Canterbury Campus and beyond from Wednesday June 8 to Sunday June 12: music, drama, improvised comedy, poetry – and maybe something spontaneous!
If you or your student society would like to be involved, visit the ArtsFest homepage for further details and to download the relevant application form.
Be My Guest: an occasional series featuring guest post and contributions. This week, first-year International Business and French student Matt Bamford reviews last Friday’s concert by the Chamber Choir.
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The rural village of Wye was the setting for another fantastic concert by the University of Kent Chamber Choir, conducted by the Deputy Director of Music, Dan Harding. The church at Wye is a great building, although we quickly realised that it was also very cold- warmer outside than inside in fact!
The concert aimed to explore the rich and varied music of England, Wales and Scotland and this aim was certainly achieved as the programme travelled from madrigals by Weelkes to a brilliant arrangement of the jazz piece Flowers by Watkiss.
The concert began with the religious version of the English round Perspice Christicola which was the oldest piece that was sung by the choir. The audience were then treated to two pieces of Henry Purcell which were again, excellently delivered.
The piece that stood out for me in the first half and was received with great applause from the rest of the audience was The Gallant Weaver by James Macmillan. The modern piece composed in 1997, based on the 1791 text by Robert Burns, had a very Gaelic feel and the sopranos really did excel. All three soprano parts in the arrangement were all handled very well and this allowed the tranquil mood of the piece to be brought out well.
After a short interval, (and an unsuccessful trip to try and find a glass of wine!) the second half began with the secular lyrics to the same English round that began the concert, Sumer is Icumen in. The second half was full of excellent performances but the last three pieces really did stand out.
Weelkes’ madrigal Hark, All Ye Lovely Saints Above was superbly performed and the contrast in dynamics really stood out. There was a fantastic beat that was defined by the emphasis of certain words and this really added to the madrigal fun!
I have heard many arrangements of Steal Away but there really is something quite incredible about Chilcott’s. It begins with an almost dissonant and uncertain feel but there is a climax in the middle of the piece that was probably the most powerful part of the concert. Again, fantastic dynamic control here from the choir.
The concert certainly ended with a bang, Harding’s arrangement of Cleveland Watkiss’ piece Flowers. The audience really took well to this piece that you would not normally expect to hear in this programme. As I looked around I could see many pensioners almost dancing to the fantastic beat that was held down by the bass section. I must point out here also that there was some brilliant improvised scatting from Steph Richardson.
Congratulations to all on a clever programme that was delivered to a very high standard! I am already excited for June’s concert at St. Vincent’s Church, Littlebourne!
Congratulations to all the performers who brought the term’s jazz-making to a fine conclusion this evening, in the last of the current season of Jazz @ 5 gigs. A packed audience in the Gulbenkian Foyer gave an enthusiastic and supportive reception to all the players, and were clearly enjoying themselves at the end of the day.
An adventurous programme saw a mixture of groove-based tunes mixed with straight-ahead swing and some folk-inflected music: Grover Washington Jnr’s funky Mr Magic and EST’s Good Morning, Suzie Soho sat next to Hallelujah, I Love Him So and The Best Is Yet To Come, whilst Bad Moon Rising and songs by Fairground Attraction added a folky element to the evening.
Some fine performing from Alanya Holder, Steph Richardson and Jo Gray at the microphone, whilst newcomer Marina Ivanova made her Jazz @ 5 debut with great assurety, accompanied by guitarist Martin Lestra.
The regular quintet, led by Dan Harding on piano, saw Will Rathbone (sax), Andrew Kitchin (guitar) and Sophie Meikle changing with Melissa Hicks on bass, backed up by Matt Bardrick on drums. Andrew borrowed a new gadget for the occasion, an effects box, which added new elements to his improvised solos.
Well done to all: a fine way to bring the term’s jazz to a conclusion. Hopefully, there’ll be some more next term: watch this space…
The University Music Theatre Society is gearing up for its annual extravaganza, which this year is the enduringly popular Carousel.
The Playhouse, Whitstable, will resound with famous and well-loved show-tunes including ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ ‘June Is Busting Out All Over’ and ‘His Name is Mr. Snow.’
These occasions are always fantastically realised, with sets, direction and performances of a high standard. Rehearsals have been underway for several weeks, and the run of performances will be a fitting finale to all the hard work the students have put in – on top of working towards their degrees!
Music Theatre Society President Lucie Nash reveals that she’s highly excited about the show; “I can’t wait to see how people react to Carousel – it has been such an exciting few months putting it all together and everyone involved has worked incredibly hard. I have an extremely talented cast and I know they’ll do Rodgers & Hammerstein justice. ”
The cast features first-years Richard Simpson playing Billy Bigelow and Dominique Chapman as Julie Jordan.
Performances start on Thursday 31 March, and run until Saturday April 2nd, including a Saturday matinee. Tickets are selling fast: get yours while you can on-line here!
It’s still a ridiculously busy time for music at the University as the last three weeks of term draw on: Wednesday sees the Concert and Big Bands teaming up with St. Edmund’s School Big Band in a charity event, as they support the Lady Mayoress’ Charities this year, as written about in the previous post: additionally, on Friday, the University Cecilian Choir and Brass Ensemble perform ‘The Grand Tour,’ a sequence of music and readings celebrating the cultural odyssey around Europe, at St. Paul’s Church, Canterbury; the concert is in aid of St. Paul’s organ restoration fund (as blogged about on the choral blog, Cantus Firmus, here).
Further details about both events in the on-line calendar here.
And then there’s four events next week: more details to come… Keep up!
Brace yourselves: next week, not one, not two, but THREE bands collide (musically speaking!), as the University’s Concert and Big Bands team up with St. Edmund’s School Big Band for Big Bands 3.
The event is in aid of The Lady Mayoress’ charities, and promises to be a lively event. The first of its kind, conductor Ian Swatman is looking forward to the event (when he can tear himself away from following the fortunes of Hull City, that is…!)
“It’s going to be a great night, and a chance for University staff and students and some of the pupils of St. Edmund’s School to play together,” Ian remarks as he ponders The Tigers’ current form, currently in ninth position in the table, having won two out of their past three matches. ”Plus it’s all in support of a worthy cause, and all for a mere five pounds: great music, great players, and a great cause: who can resist ?!”
Kicking off at 7.30pm in St. Edmund’s School Hall, it’ll be an action-packed night: tickets are selling fast, make sure you get yours! Further details on-line here.
See you there!
With less than thirty-six hours to go before the Chorus and Orchestra storm the Cathedral (musically, that is) for the annual Colyer-Fergusson Concert, all systems are powering ahead.
Final rehearsals this week, including tonight, before rehearsing in situ tomorrow, when the Chorus are reminded of the literal heights to which they can ascend on the tiered choral seating, and the Orchestra remember just how close they will be sitting to the audience. With a battery of percussion required for the Stravinsky ‘Firebird Suite,’ there’ll be an even bigger orchestra than usual.
Combined with the mighty Meistersingers Overture by Wagner and Mozart’s sublime Requiem, it promises to be a titanic occasion: see you there!
With some surprise, I find that this blog has today reached its first birthday. What started out as a simple (or so I thought) way of looking at the world of music has grown into a fully-fledged adjunct to the department’s musical life, embracing concert reviews, alumni profiles, student articles, audio and video examples and a way of fomenting discussion and debate about music; all good.
It’s even spawned blog-offspring (blogspring ?) of its own, in the form of the choral blog ‘Cantus Firmus,’ the Concert and Big Band blog ‘On the Beat’ and the nascent orchestra blog, ‘Playing Up.’
With thanks to all of you who read, contribute, comment, share, tweet and in each way keep it alive and still reflecting both musical life here at the University, as well as beyond.
Happy birthday to us all.
