Tag Archives: Chorus

Notes on Music

Bring me sunshine: Summer Music Week

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Our annual Summer Music Week festival to celebrate the end of another musical year at the University is now published online, with all the details of what’s coming up.

Deal_BandstandRunning from Sunday 7 to Saturday 13 June, the week kicks off with a seaside visit to the Deal Bandstand with the Big Band; some of the singing Music Scholars will present a programme of Operatic Heroines in Love on Monday 8; the Lunchtime Concert on Tuesday 9 from some of this year’s Music Scholars, followed by the Music Awards ceremony; Wednesday sees the Concert and Big Bands coming together in the evening; Thursday features an informal lunchtime performance from the String Sinfonia; on Friday the Music Theatre Society performs on the foyer-stage at lunchtime, whilst in the evening we present our choral commission from composer Matthew King, poet Patricia Debney with projected photos by Phil Ward, performed by the Chamber and Cecilian Choirs; and the week comes to a festive conclusion with the Chorus, Orchestra and Chamber Choir on the Saturday afternoon, followed by cream teas on the lawn and many fond farewells.

summer_music_flowerRelive the memories of last year’s festival on our Pinterest board here: full details of all the events are published online here, or you can collect a brochure for the week’s events from Colyer-Fergusson soon.

Don’t forget to follow @UKCSummerMusic on Twitter in the build-up to and throughout the festival. Bring me sunshine…

Keeping It Real: reviews., Notes on Music

Triumphant Verdi Requiem

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From the infinite mystery of the opening bars to the dramatically hushed close, Saturday’s performance of Verdi’s Requiem by the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra for this year’s Colyer-Fergusson Cathedral Concert was full of high drama.

Verdi_morning_crew
The morning shift crew

Standing in as a last-minute replacement for the billed soprano soloist, Rachel Nicholls took time out from her current ENO run of Die Meistersingers to step up alongside mezzo Carolyn Dobbins, tenor Gerard Schneider and bass Simon Thorpe, and together all four singers delivered Verdi’s demanding solo parts with consummate skill. Under the baton of Susan Wanless, the Chorus and Orchestra both rose to the occasion superbly. From the off-stage trumpets ranged high above in the organ-loft to the bass-drum positioned down the side-aisle, the combined forces filled the majestic Cathedral with Verdi’s profound meditation on death and redemption, rich in operatic detail crammed into oratorio form.

Rachel Nicholls, Carolyn Dobbins, Gerard Schneider, Simon Thorpe
Rachel Nicholls, Carolyn Dobbins, Gerard Schneider, Simon Thorpe

It’s a long day that starts at 9am with the heroic crew who pitched up on campus to load two vans with all the equipment to take down to the Cathedral, and ends with that same equipment delivered back to campus at 10.30pm, with rehearsal and performance in between. It was lovely to see many alumni come back to sing in the Chorus, with the concert a major highlight of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations throughout this year.

Alumnus & percussionist, Carina Evans and tuba-player Chris Gray
Alumnus & percussionist, Carina Evans and tuba-player Chris Gray

(Much excitement was caused by the arrival of the 66-inch bass drum from Bell Percussion, which was mobbed by many people eager to be photographed with the monster-drum, you’d have thought it was a Hollywood Celebrity…)

Very many thanks to everyone involved; a triumphant conclusion to all the hard work put it by students, staff, alumni and members of the local community, who came together in the splendour of Canterbury Cathedral for a memorable performance.

Notes on Music

Quantus tremor est futurus: getting ready for Saturday

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A big week this week, as we continue our preparations ahead of the annual Colyer-Fergusson Cathedral Concert on Saturday, for which the combined might of the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra will come together in Verdi’s Requiem.

Here’s the Chorus in fine form yesterday afternoon, rehearsing old-skool style in Grimond, where for many years the Chorus used to meet each Monday night. Although we don’t recall its ever having been quite so green before…

Dies irae: Chorus rehearsing in Grimond
Dies irae: Chorus rehearsing in Grimond

Yesterday’s all-day rehearsal is followed by rehearsals tonight, Thursday and on Saturday morning. It all culminates on Saturday evening; how much tremor there shall be…

 

Notes on Music

A drum, a drum: Verdi doth come…

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The annual Colyer-Fergusson Cathedral Concert next week forms part of the University’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations, and does so in grandiose fashion with Verdi’s epic Requiem on Saturday 14 March.

50th-ribbon-smlConducted by the Director of Music, Susan Wanless, the Chorus and Symphony Orchestra will unite to set the Nave’s soaring, vaulted ceiling echoing, joined by four acclaimed soloists, together with The Verdi Drum of the South-East, in what promises to be a highlight of this year’s performing calendar.

Here is the University Chorus at a recent rehearsal, looking and sounding in fine form:

Chorus

The Director of Music is very excited at the prospect: ”the concert will provide the perfect setting to capture the Requiem’s operatic power and drama and the event will showcase the University’s many talented musicians.” Darn right!

Verdi RequiemJoin us (and the Verdi Drum) for high drama on March 14th – details and tickets here.

Keeping It Real: reviews.

Alumni soloists return for December concert

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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..

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.

Keeping It Real: reviews., Notes on Music

Image Gallery: Music for A Summer’s Day at Summer Music Week

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Summer Music Week drew to a rousing close on Sunday 15 June with Music for a Summer’s Day, with contributions from the University Chorus, Orchestra, Concert Band and Chamber Choir, followed by a very civilised cream tea reception in the Registry Lawn marquee.

The concert included the Concert Band in dynamic form in a medley of James Bond themes, two final-year singing Scholars moving the audience to tears in You’ll Never Walk Alone, a thigh-slapping choral selection from Mary Poppins, scenic Eric Coates from the Orchestra, some lively pieces from the Chamber Choir, and a stirring finale with Land of Hope and Glory in which the audience joined in. A terrific occasion.

Thanks to Matt Wilson as usual for these lovely images of a fitting conclusion not just to Summer Music Week itself, but to a year of music-making at the University.

 

Images © Matt Wilson / University of Kent

Notes on Music

The daffodils are smiling at the dove; Summer Music Week starts this weekend

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University Music will truly be finding an element of fun in every job that must be done from this Sunday onwards, when Summer Music Week bursts into life both on and off campus between 8 – 15 June.

The annual musical adieu to the academic year starts this Sunday, and will present a heady pot pourri of events featuring many of the University musicians and ensembles, culminating in the climactic Music for a Summer’s Day on Sunday 15th June.

Summer Music headerThe week opens with the University Big Band under the baton of the ever-youthful Ian Swatman on the Deal Bandstand, in a charity performance in support of Porchlight, which this year celebrates its fortieth anniversary. The week then includes lunchtime concerts, a recital by University Music Scholars, the Dance Orchestra (recent winners of Keynestock 2014!), the Big Band Gala, a choral concert at St Peter’s Anglican Church, the Music Theatre Society, capped off with the Sunday concert in which the Chorus, Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band and Chamber Choir will come together in the Colyer-Fergusson Hall for a final farewell, followed by cream teas on the Registry lawn.

Music ranges from Big Band swing to scenes from Mozart opera, Glenn Miller, music for strings, and the medieval serenity of works Hildegard von Bingen, whilst  the final Sunday includes a choral medley from Mary Poppins and rousing works by Sullivan and Elgar.

There is a wonderful ethos throughout all the musical ensembles that take place within the University, a true celebration of the coming together of staff, students and members of the local community to take part in the vibrant musical life on the campus. Summer Music Week affords a small but tremendously energetic glimpse of some of the music-making that takes place throughout the whole year, and will be a fittingly festive finale to a memorable year.

The full line-up of events can be found online here, and brochures can be found in the Colyer-Fergusson Building and the Gulbenkian Theatre. Come and help us celebrate music at Kent!