I’m delighted to report that, after months of development, modernisation of the department continues: the new Music Department website at the university has just gone live!
Seeing the future: the new-look website.
Those of you familiar with the previous incarnation will, I hope, be pleased with the new site’s look and feel: it’s now more interactive, visually more engaging, and less page-scrolling is required to view content as it journeys down the page.
New features include embedded video and virtual brochures, with the possibility of additional enhanced features to reflect the Music Department itself as it heads into the next decade with the exciting new music building mentioned previously here on the blog. A new News and Links feature will allow us to keep visitors up-to-date with stories and events, and keep the site relevant with current content to keep readers coming back.
It still offers the same facilities as before, including the Concert Diary (now presented much more usefully) and down-loadable seasonal brochure, details about ArtsFest, plus all the music-making activities and ensembles with which to get involved. Still under development is an attractive dynamic gallery, where photos from recent events will be published: a feature sorely missing from the previous site.
Combining the new website with the ‘Music Matters’ blog, you’ll be able to keep yourself informed about the latest in music at Kent like never before…
The new, sleeker and (hopefully) sexier website is here: view it for yourself!
Saturday 12 June, 2010, from 1pm: get it in your diaries now!
The University’s end of year cultural celebrations on the Canterbury campus, with a host of sound-stages, music, dance, drama, an evening Prom Concert and events at the Gulbenkian Theatre. This year, the Gulbenkian is also the focus for family and children-friendly events and activities, and there’ll be the usual refreshments and wandering entertainment throughout the afternoon.
From capoeira demonstrations to stand-up comedy, drama presentations and dance to live music including rock, jazz and classical, there’ll be something for everyone. Local community and school groups will also be performing, and Rubber Biscuit – Kent’s hottest rhythmn and blues band – will be headlining on the main stage in the evening.
The evening will conclude with the traditional dazzling pyrotechnic wizardry of the firework display on the slopes overlooking the floodlit Cathedral.
A full list of the day’s event can be found on-line here. It’s going to be another cracker…
Continuing the series profiling muscial alumni of the University of Kent. This week, Rebecca de Verenne.
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Phat Choons: Rebecca de Verenne.
When were you at Kent ?
2001-2005
What subject did you study ?
Drama and Theatre Studies
What occupation are you now engaged in ?
Personal Assistant and Administrator with a Nursing/Residential Care Home Group for elderly clients with Dementia and Alzheimer’s. Also currently studying to be a Hypnotherapist (graduate May 2010) and Psychotherapist (graduate May 2012).
If music is not your profession, are you involved in any musical activities ?
I sing in the car on the way to work. Current imaginery collaborations include Florence and the Machine, Dizzee Rascal and Bloodgroup.
How were you involved in music whilst at Kent ?
Co-Founder of the Phat Ladies along with Heather Salisbury and Amy Smith, Chamber Choir 2001-2004, Summer Operas, University Chorus, Supported by the Music Department with a bursary in singing 2001-2004.
What did you gain from your musical experiences at Kent ?
More confidence, met lots of great people.
What was your most memorable musical experience at Kent ?
Cartwheeling across the Gulbenkian stage in silver hot pants with three other girls posing as waitresses for Die Fledermaus. Also all the time I spent with my fellow five Phat Ladies both during performance and practice.
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If you’re a musical alumnus and would like to be featured, get in touch via the Music Department website: we’d love to hear from you!
With voting in the election set to start in less that twenty four hours, time for one last guest post on ‘Election Views,’ as people make their final considerations before casting their vote.
Time to get casting...
Is it important to consider the arts policies and attitudes of campaigning parties when deciding for whom to vote ? Should we rather be considering their views on employment, education, and frontline services ?
In what reads like a rather grouchy statement, Waters declares that David Gilmour, Pink Floyd’s guitarist from 1968, is ‘not interested’ in touring. With the thirtieth anniversary of The Wall coming up, Gilmour it seems has no desire to team up with Waters again, with whom hostilities have been maintained since the arguments over the album following The Wall’s release in 1982.
There was a brief cessation of hostilities in 2005 with the Live 8 concert, although Gilmour’s attempt to walk off-stage after the performance failed when Waters cajoled him into sharing a hug on-stage.
Still, one can but hope that other bands will also decide not to attempt to rekindle their former days of glory. There was nothing so depressing as watching super-group Cream at the Royal Albert Hall several years ago, and reflecting how much they had lost their youthful edge and committed drive. (They are still great, though).
So, the question (as with yesterday’s post) remains: should they or shouldn’t they ?
Of course, such a tour (about which rumours have abounded since the band’s break-up in 1980) would have to overcome a couple of obstacles. For starters, the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980 from Hendrix’s trademark death of choking on his own vomit. Robert Plant has always expressed his lack of interest in re-forming the band, and even Jimmy Page’s manager has previously announced the band would never re-unite.
House of the Holy (1973)
In 2007, the surviving band members re-united for a one-off performance in London’s O2 Arena with Jason Bonham taking over from his father on drums.
“There is still a lot of work to do on this project and I want to make sure it’s done tastefully,” Bonham said.
Led Zeppelin were ‘Best Live Band’ in the 2008 Mojo awards, some twenty-eight years after the band’s demise. Now that’s some accolade.
So, the Jazz @ 5 season has drawn to a close. Now into its second year, the regular Wednesday showcase for jazz-loving Scholars, staff and students has really found its dancing feet. Set up by Dan Harding when he started in 2008 as a foil for the large-scale music-making of the University Big Band (as well as a chance to indulge in his passion for small-scale jazz ensemble-playing), the series has flourished since taking its first tentative steps in October 2008 onto the Gulbenkian Theatre foyer stage.
Dina Jazz
The series this year has featured a dizzying array of singers from the ranks of staff and students alike: Jo Turner, Jo Pearsall, Sophie Meikle, Miriam Zekagh, Dina Watten (pictured), Amy Clarke, Crystal Cowban, Lizzie McIver, Alanya Holder: all have graced the stage. Even former Scholar and jazz pianist Chris Manley has hot-footed it up the hill from Canterbury after work in order to continue playing in the series. Music this year has ranged from Fairground Attraction to Radiohead, as well as the usual array of popular standards and show-tunes.
The original ensemble has grown to feature a regular quintet: pianist and leader Dan Harding, the elastic improvisations of guitarist Andrew Kitchin (pictured), the robust solos of saxophonist Will Rathbone – now enhanced by the arrival of some solid bass-playing from Sophie Meikle and the rhythmic underpinning of drummer Jon Nicholls.
The Kitchin sink: Andrew on guitar
And these groups are like buses: you wait for one, and then two arrive at once. This year has seen the birth of the JA Cross Quartet: Scholarship pianist James Cross and drummer Mike Macdonald have teamed up with Andrew and Will to form a refreshingly exploratory group, embracing Monk and Coltrane in their sound.
Many thanks to everyone who has participated this year and made it such a success. As mentioned in a previous post, we were even blogged about by LondonJazz blogspot: it doesn’t get much better than that! Well, maybe Downbeat magazine, perhaps…
We also present an album of images from Jazz @ 5, courtesy of the creative photography of Mick Norman. Some of the performers will be appearing in the Marlowe Tent at ArtsFest on Saturday 12 June: details to follow.
Continuing the series profiling musical alumni of the University of Kent. This week, Mitesh Khatri.
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In tune with the times: Mitesh Khatri
When were you at Kent?
2002 – 2005
What subject did you study ?
Computer Systems Engineering
What occupation are you now engaged in ?
Music – currently finishing my 2nd postgrad year at the Birmingham Conservatoire. I’m hoping to stay in the music industry as either a teacher or, preferably, an opera singer.
If music is not your profession, do you participate in any musical experiences now ?
Yes, lots!
How were you involved in music whilst at Kent ?
I sang with the University Chorus and Chamber Choir, both for three years. I was also assistant conductor to the Chamber Choir for one year. I was involved with the Music Society for all three years at uni, and I also received a bursary for singing lessons for three years. I was also a member of a barbershop quartet that was set up by four of us, called Fortunes (or possibly FourTunes, I’m not sure which!).
What did you gain from your University music experience, and has this helped you in any way since leaving Kent ? It gave me a release from the academic side of being at university, and in doing so also helped me get through uni by providing me with the opportunity to continue doing something I had already been doing, and that I already enjoyed. Since being Kent, and partly because I was involved with the music so heavily, I’ve never really looked back from singing, and I’ve continued to have lessons and sing with amateur groups, and go on to do a postgrad degree and aim to make singing my career.
What was your most memorable musical experience at Kent ? In December 2003 we did a performance of Carmina Burana in Eliot College, and I was the tenor soloist for it. That was my first solo experience with a full orchestra and it was one ofthe best things I’ve ever done. I’ll never forget it. There were also a number of Cathedral Concerts in my final year, the university’s 40th anniversary. The ones that stick out are the Verdi Requiem and the Elgar Nimrod Variations. I have to also say that everyone I worked with was so friendly and it was all so much fun!
What would you say to current musical students at the University ? Don’t underestimate what you can get from people like Sue, both on a musical and personal level. She’s put her heart and soul into music making at Kent and she does a terrific job. The variety of musical opportunities at Kent don’t present themselves outside university life so easily, and some are just less easily accessible. If you want to try your hand at something musical or if there’s a chance to do something you’ve always wanted to do but never been able to, then Kent ‘s the place to do it. It’s only because Kent doesn’t have it’s own music degree or department that anyone can get involved with projects and productions, and people do it for fun and to enjoy it, not to prove themselves. Everyone worked together, and had a great time doing it. So just dive in and see what you can find!
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If you’re an alumnus and would like to be featured, get in touch via the Music Department website: we’d love to hear from you!
Because it does. Doesn't it ? Blogging about extra-curricular musical life at the University of Kent.
