Tag Archives: Beethoven

#Beethoven250: Music Performance Scholar plays Beethoven

An historic moment on the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven; first-year Music Performance Scholar, Michael Lam, in the Kent and Medway Medical School performs the Piano Sonata no.28 Op 101.

Filmed in one single, continuous take in Colyer-Fergusson Hall, Michael plays from memory one of the most formidable challenges in the piano repertoire.

 

Filmed by Thomas Connor, Luke McCann and George Morris.

You can watch a series of performances by Michael in a dedicated playlist here, including pieces from the Anna Magdalena Notebook.

Lunchtime Concert series continues with Kentish Piano Trio next week

The second in our Lunchtime Concert series next week sees the Kentish Piano Trio performing music by Beethoven and Suk, including (appropriately enough for a blog feature today…) Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio.

Kentish Piano Trio
Kentish Piano Trio

Violinist Kathy Shave, cellist Julia Vorhalik and pianist Helen Crayford, three outstanding professional musicians based in Kent, formed the ensemble in order to champion both traditional and contemporary works for piano trio, and have commissioned works as well as explored the catalogue of works for the enduringly popular line-up.

The concert takes place on Weds 9 November at 1.10pm in Colyer-Fergusson Hall, admission is free, donations welcome. To whet your appetite, here’s the trio on spooky form in the slow movement of the ‘Ghost’ Trio…

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Sponsors of the Lunchtime Concert series

Dreams, dances and desire in annual Cathedral Concert

A packed Canterbury Cathedral was the backdrop to Saturday’s performance by the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of Berlioz’s epic Symphonie fantastique and Beethoven’s rousing Mass in C.

WP_20160305_001The long day began bright and early with the crew arriving at the concert-hall to load two vans with all the equipment needed, and unfolded across the day with the arrival of additional percussion in the form of two tuned bells and an additional timp, plus not one but two harpists.

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The Music Society Committee (and interlopers) overrun the soloists’ chairs…
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Chorus and Orchestra in rehearsal

Soloists Sally Silver and Kiri Parker were joined by University alumni Andrew Macnair and Piran Legg for the Beethoven, which in a hushed ‘Agnus Dei’ brought the concert to a close.

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The four soloists rehearsing Beethoven
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Not seeing double: a brace of harps
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Image: Molly Hollman
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Image: Molly Hollman
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Image: Molly Hollman
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Percussionist Cory Adams tuning up prior to the performance
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Orchestra and Chorus in position for the evening performance
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Orchestra tunes up prior to the Berlioz

The Orchestra and Chorus will be back in action next month on Sunday 3 April in a Sunday afternoon programme of music by Copland, Bernstein and Gershwin.

The Cathedral concert beckons

With just over twenty-four hours until the annual Colyer-Fergusson Cathedral concert, the University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are busily rehearsing ahead of the performance.

Last night, both forces were at work on Beethoven’s Mass in C, whilst tonight the Orchestra puts the finishing touches to Berlioz’s epic Symphonie fantastique.

Chorus_Orchestra_March2016The annual concert in Canterbury Cathedral is one of the highlights of the University’s performing calendar; join us tomorrow night in a heady exploration of desire, dreams and death…

Revolution, dreams, dance and desire: annual Colyer-Fergusson concert next week

The mightiest orchestra the University Music department has ever assembled will gather next week, as the Chorus and Symphony Orchestra come together for a revolutionary tale of dreams, dances, hallucinations and desire in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 5 March.

Under the incisive baton of Susan Wanless, the Orchestra will perform one of the most exciting, revolutionary pieces in the repertoire, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a story of hopeless passion, unrequited love and hallucinogenic visions, with its famous ball scene, the March to the Scaffold and terrifying final bacchanalian revelry of sorcerers and witches. In the immortal words of conductor Leonard Bernstein – ‘Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral.’

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Photo: Emma M during a lenthy tacet section for the harp

The second half of the concert brings in the University Chorus for a performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C, with four outstanding soloists Sally Silver, Kiri Parker and University alumni Andrew Macnair and Piran Legg.

Susan  Wanless is particularly excited at the prospect of unleashing Berlioz’s masterpiece in the Cathedral in the annual Colyer-Fergusson concert, always one of the highlights of the University year. ‘To present such spectacular pieces, complete with off-stage instruments and massive orchestral forces, will be thrilling for both the performers and audience alike!’

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Photo: Phoebe H when she should have been playing the clarinet…

The Orchestra has been hard at work industriously rehearsing for next week’s epic performance, and the concert promises to be an occasion not to be missed: tickets and details online here. Prepare to be led on a whirlwind of love, death and dance next week…

Alumni soloists return for December concert

The termly concert by the University Chorus and Orchestra last night saw three musical alumni returning to the Colyer-Fergusson Hall.

Soprano Caroline Kennedy, tenor Andrew Macnair and bass Piran Legg came back to Kent for a performance of Mozart’s Vespers, joined also by mezzo Bethan Langford. whilst the Orchestra furnished the remainder of the programme with Mozart’s overture to The Magic Flute and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

Under the baton of Sue Wanless, the Orchestra delivered a sprightly and rousing reading of the Beethoven, in particular with an agile second movement that deftly steered clear of the more usual funereal tempi often heard in performance. The concert also saw second-year violinist Chantelle Yau making her debut as orchestral leader.

The next time Chorus and Orchestra perform, it’ll be in the august surroundings of Canterbury Cathedral for Verdi’s Requiem as part of the University’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations. And That Famous Bass Drum Bit..

Busy week ahead 2.0

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.