I’m delighted to see that the current Lunchtime Concerts series, now celebrating its ten-year anniversary of sponsorship with Furley Page Solicitors, is featured in the recent issue of EK One, the luxury bi-monthly lifestyle magazine for East Kent.
Flip to page 10 for the feature, including a photograph.
Just to draw your attention to a couple of highlights on Radio 3’s iPlayer this week.
First up, the colossus of the saxophone world Wayne Shorter leads his quartet in a live session recorded at the Barbican earlier this month. Former Miles Davis sideman, one of the original members of fusion giants Weather Report, and a player who showed there could be life after Coltrane, this is Shorter’s first UK appearance for a number of years.
Also on iPlayer is a rarity, a piece from composer Alec Roth: his Departure of the Queen of Sheba, (1999) received its first broadcast in a concert with the Orchestra of the Swan in Loughborough last night. Roth has written some fantastic pieces: his Chinese Gardens for tenor and guitar is a miniature gem of immaculate refinement, whilst his choral work Shared Ground displays a rich harmonic language with sumptuous colour, with the occasional hint of Vaughan Williams.
Roth’s companion piece to Handel’s lively depiction of her arrival depicts the famous Queen and King Solomon meeting in the Garden of Earthly delights; Roth includes Handel’s theme in an altered fashion, and the work is scored for the same forces as Handel’s but includes a cor anglais. The emotional atmosphere of Roth’s work is far removed from the buccolic jollity of the Queen’s arrival, and instead is profoundly lachrymaic, with the oboe and cor anglais weaving heart-rending melodic lines in a tender dialogue over an almost minimalist accompanying texture.
The piece beings forty minutes in to the programme, and is preceded by a short interview with the composer.
With the Canterbury Festival in full swing, the music department has a foothold in events both this week and next.
KD Jazz Orchestra
This Friday, our very own conductor of the University Concert and Big Bands, the light-fingered Ian Swatman, is appearing at the Festival Club, St. Alphege Lane, at 8.30pm as part of the exuberant and lively KD Jazz and Dance Orchestra. Alongside Ian are several of our visiting instrumental teachers: Peter Cook (sax), Steve Wassell (sousaphone) and Chris Hall (drums), whilst Kevin Dickon (trumpet) also guests with the University Big Band.
Featuring a foot-tapping programme of music including Dixieland jazz and the music of Michael Buble, this’ll have you dancing in the aisles! (If they permit it, he added hastily…).
Next week, some of the University’s young and talented Music Scholars appear in a lunchtime on Friday 28 October: more on that anon…
Celebrating a decade of support from Furley Page Solicitors, this year’s Lunchtime Concert season got off to an heraldic start with a visit from the award-winning trombone quartet, Bones Apart.
Bones Apart
A well-conceived programme blended an array of musical styles, all inspired by the works of Shakespeare, ranging from the Baroque to Bernstein. Three movements from Purcell’s The Fairie Queen opened the concert, including a light-footed arrangement of the ‘Chaconne.’ There was also some warm, lyrical playing in Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the melody originally appearing in the French horn in the orchestral version here beguilingly played by Jayne Murrill.
The group showed their sassier side with Duke Ellington’s jazzy Such Sweet Thunder, which had the group demonstrating a deft, rhythmic jazz feel and crafted wah-wah mute-playing, all solidly underpinned by Lorna Macdonald. The ensemble then showed some astonishingly deft playing in Tchaikovsky’s incidental music to Hamlet.
Written for an RSC production, Jason Carr’s Poem Unlimited combined five separate motives, each reperesenting one aspect of Polonius’ famous pompous litany of theatrical characteristics, where each facet – comedy, historical, romance, tragedy – was given a separate thematic idea, all woven together. The piece had great rhythmic vitality and some richly colourful sonorities.
A luminary of British jazz, the late John Dankworth’s ‘If Music Be The Food of Love,’ demonstrated a wonderfully lyrical, jazz flavour in an arrangement by Helen Vollam, apparently done with the blessing of the great man himself who came to hear its first performance: an accolade indeed.
The group finished with two pieces from Bernstein’s West Side Story; ‘One Hand, One Heart’ had a rapt audience holding its breath as the group wove a magically lyrical portrayal of the doomed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, an intimacy then thoroughly and riotously dispelled with ‘Gee, Officer Krupke,’ which was brash, lightning-fast and delivered with great panache, awash with glissandi to the delight of an enthralled crowd.
The players were on magnificent form, demonstrating some virtuosic skills combined with instinctive ensemble playing that had the four players working as one. A magnificent way to begin the new season and to celebrate ten years of music-making with Furley Page: top brass.
l-r: Nicola Ingram (Music Society Secretary), Sarah Davies (Society Treasurer), Peter Hawkes (Senior Partner, Furley Page), Susan Wanless, Chris Gray (Society President): image credit Mick NormanSponsors of the Lunchtime Concert series
It’s the season when the hop harvest has been gathered in, traditionally a time for celebration and thanksgiving, and musicians from the University were once more on-hand to help with the festivities.
Shepherd Neame, based in Faversham and Britain’s oldest brewery, each year holds a Hop Blessing, which combines a religious service with a celebratory agricultural message, giving thanks for the harvest, upon which traditionally the livelihood of many have depended. Conducted by Deputy Director of Music, Dan Harding, a small vocal consort from the University sang at the service, including Finzi’s evergreen ‘My Spirit Sang All Day,’ before the entire company retired to a nearby oast-house for a hop-pickers’ lunch.
Image courtesy of Shepherd Neame
The consort also performed a pre-prandial selection of madrigals and rousing drinking songs, while music during the remainder of the lunch came from Triskele, a folk-band led by third-year student, Fred Holden.
As Tom Falcon, Production and Distribution Director with Shepherd Neame, pointed out in his welcome, the brewery buys 95% of its ale hops and 80% overall from Kent. This is one example of the profound links between Shepherd Neame and the local community, with the brewery plugged right into the heart of Kent’s critical farming industry. This relationship is three hundred years old and one also celebrated at the service. His speech also thanked the members of the University for their contribution to the event.
At your service: University Vocal Consort
The musicians responded to the truly celebratory nature of the occasion with some fine music-making for a unique event – I can’t think of anything else like it. Here’s to another successful harvest: and to many more!
It seems but scant moments ago that we were here at the music stand at the University’s Open Day; checking back, I see it’s been about four weeks since last we were here; how time flies when you’re busy getting music together at the start of the academic year!
I walked across to the Sports Hall this morning at 8.30 to set up, accompanying a chap who was coming to the Open Day; he’d come straight from working a night-shift directly onto the campus to come and find out about courses of study in IT: now that’s dedication – hats off to you, sir!
It’s now 9.30am, and we’ve already had two visitors to the ‘Making Music’ stand asking about choral and piano-playing opportunities.
We’ll be reporting live from the stand throughout the day – and on Twitter – keep up via @Unikent_music.
New this time are live updates from the University on Twitter (or via text) from @UniKentLive; follow them for live updates and assistance throughout the day!
10.20am; our usual competition for ‘Visitor from the Farthest-Flung Corner of the World’ has had a strong contender with someone coming from Spain. Nine visitors so far….
12.30pm: we’re now up to thirty-five visitors: no further challenges to the ‘Farthest-Flung’ competition, although a tip of the hat to visitors from Bath and Torquay! A variety of singers and instrumentalists coming to the stand. When’s lunch ?
2pm: heading into the final hour of the day, I notice the Twitter-trending on #kentopenday is keeping the Twitterverse busy, lots of reaction to today’s events from visitors. Visitors from Southampton, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Hertfordshire and elsewhere having been keeping the music stand busy. Lots of awareness of, and interest in, the new Colyer-Fergusson music building and the opportunities to use it when it opens net summer. And we’ve not even finished the ‘Revels’ that we opened at 10 o’clock this morning: that shows you how busy we’ve been. I wonder if there’s a recognised system for measuring levels of industry by the amount of sweets that have been unconsumed ?
3pm: and that’s it! Good to see so many people interested in making music at the University from September next year, save travelling home, we look forward to seeing you in the new music building!
Tuesday evening’s gala opening concert at the new Marlowe Theatre celebrated the completion of a two-year refurbishment of the theatre, at the heart of Canterbury city. The star-studded evening saw the theatre’s official opening by the Duke of Wessex, and a performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra under David Parry, together with illustrious bass, Sir John Tomlinson. It also saw the University’s Director of Music, Susan Wanless, in the audience: here’s her reaction to the new building.
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Image credit: BBC News
On Tuesday evening I went to the grand gala opening of the new Marlowe Theatre. I was bowled over by the building, both the foyer, bars and cafe, and the theatre itself, which is spectacular.
This is an amazingly exciting moment in the cultural life of Canterbury and The Philharmonia Orchestra has become the Marlowe’s Orchestra in Residence, with four concerts this coming season – so go and experience it for yourselves!
The rich plethora of artistry that is the annual Canterbury Festival kicks off on Saturday 15 October, bringing a feast of music, theatre, dance, comedy, talks and more to Canterbury.
First up, the colossus of the saxophone world Wayne Shorter leads his quartet in a 
Also on iPlayer is a rarity, a piece from composer 
I walked across to the Sports Hall this morning at 8.30 to set up, accompanying a chap who was coming to the Open Day; he’d come straight from working a night-shift directly onto the campus to come and find out about courses of study in IT: now that’s dedication – hats off to you, sir!
Of particular note are: a concert with 