Click the album below to view photos from events throughout Summer Music week: more added as they come.
For non-Flash users, open the gallery here. More photos on the Music Week Twitter account.
Images © University of Kent
Tag Archives: Chorus
Scholars’ Spotlight: Olivia Potter
Continuing the series profiling this year’s Music Scholars. This week, mezzo-sopano Olivia Potter.
I have always loved singing; apparently, when I was very little, I would make up songs on long car journeys that lasted for hours (sorry mum!). Yet, when the time came for me to chose an instrument to learn at the age of ten, I chose the drum kit, having been inspired by my dad, who was a keen drummer himself.
It was only when I moved to secondary school that my passion for singing really took off. St Aidan’s Church of England High School in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, has a rich musical life and the number of music ensembles was extensive. At the school, I was involved in three choirs and three wind bands, performing in local venues such as the Royal Hall and Leeds Town Hall. I was also lucky enough to sing a solo in Ripon Cathedral. I started singing lessons in year 8, achieving grade 7 singing by the end of sixth-form (and somehow managing to pass grade 5 theory along the way, albeit with much help from my sister’s flute teacher who, with a great deal of patience, taught transposition, intervals and cadences to a girl who couldn’t really read music).
It was the school’s sixth-form Chamber Choir that allowed me to reach new heights in my singing abilities. It was an auditioned choir, made up of around 60 year 12 and 13 students. It had won the Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year award in 2006 and had been in the final of that competition another three times. It was a privilege being in a choir that produced such a high standard of singing. Perhaps the highlights of my time there was singing Eric Whitacre’s Sleep at the Music For Youth School’s Prom in the Royal Albert Hall and performing in Westminster Abbey, singing an arrangement of King of Kings, Majesty. Our repertoire was challenging, but it allowed me to grow in confidence, so when the time came for me to decide where I would like to go to university, I was drawn to the music opportunities here at Kent.
Getting into the Chamber Choir was an honor. I really enjoy being a part of Chorus and the Cecilian Choir as well. I love singing with such lovely and talented people. The Music Department is so supportive and passionate, and the new music building is fantastic. It’s wonderful that so much music making is encouraged at a university with no music degree course, making it accessible to anyone who just loves music. For this reason, I feel incredibly privileged to be a part of it.
Olivia Potter
See all the other features in this series here.
Just because it’s June…Summer Music Week
I’m delighted to say that the details for Summer Music Week (Mon 3 – Sun 9 June) have just been published live.
The week-long events programme opens in rousing style with music for brass and percussion at lunchtime on Monday 3 June, and continues throughout the week with a recital from some of the Music Scholars; a day of jazz, culminating in the annual bun-fest that is the Big Band Gala with special guests; string music is the theme on Thursday, including the String Sinfonia; Friday celebrates choral music with a lunchtime of a cappella vocal music, whilst the University Chamber and Cecilian Choirs come together in the evening concert; and the whole week, nay, the whole musical year, reaches its climax on the Sunday, in a combined afternoon concert with the University Chorus, Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band and Chamber Choir.
Find out all that’s happening that week, including many free events, on the website here.
Just because it’s June…
Concert in the Cathedral looms
Next week sees the annual Colyer-Fergusson Cathedral Concert, and this year the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra will come together in Brahms’ Second Symphony and Schubert’s Mass in A flat.
The annual event is always one of the high points in the cultural calendar, and we’re busy amidst a final flurry of rehearsals in preparation for the big night. More details about the concert on our ‘What’s On’ page here.
To whet your appetite, here’s the vibrancy of Brahms’ symphony captured by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.
See you on the night…
Scholars’ Spotlight: Victoria Newell
Beginning the series profiling some of this year’s University Music Scholars: this week, soprano Victoria Newell.
I have had a love of all music, with a particular passion for singing, from a very early age. Before starting my Drama and Theatre Studies BA Hons at Kent University in September 2012, I was involved in a wide genre of singing, from formal school choirs to musical theatre and jazz. I was lucky to attend a school with progressive drama and music departments and was privileged to be given main roles in Seussical, The Witches of Eastwick, Evita, Chicago and Spamalot. Outside school, I took part in local musical theatre productions, including the title role in Annie, which developed my confidence as a soloist at a young age.
As a soprano I have sung a variety of solos in different choir groups, including 1st soprano in a joint school/adult performance of Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir. One of the highlights of my singing career was accompanying the school jazz band at various functions – the pinnacle of this was singing ‘Fever’ at the Ronnie Scot’s Jazz Night, where the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club performed alongside the school Jazz Band.
I am a songwriter and, in order to accompany myself, a self-taught guitarist with a growing repertoire of songs. During my recent gap year working in a school in Auckland, New Zealand I supported both the drama and the music departments in a variety of ways, and gained a great deal from this experience. The school even asked me to take part in their performance of Cats as no one else could reach the top notes in the Jellicle song!
Since being at Kent Uni I have greatly enjoyed being a member of the Chamber Choir and the Chorus. The highlight so far has been the wonderful Carol Service in Canterbury Cathedral at the end of last term. The atmosphere was extremely special and I felt very privileged to be part of such an amazing choral group. Now we are working hard towards the Chamber Choir’s Crypt Concert next month, which promises to be equally fantastic. I have really been enjoying the new music building and all the facilities it offers and I look forward to enjoying and contributing to the department in my years to come.
Victoria Newell
Read the other profiles in the series here.
Chorus and Orchestra in rehearsal
Ahead of the start of the celebratory Gala weekend of concerts tomorrow, here’s the combined forces of the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra in rehearsal last night.
See you all tomorrow and Sunday.
Chorus of approval
Last night saw the last of the ‘first’ rehearsals in the new Colyer-Fergusson concert-hall, this time the turn of the University Chorus.
There was a general air of wonderment as members came through the entrance lobby into the new hall, waiting to be seated on the new choral risers.
First to be seated were the tenors and basses, ably regimented by ‘Director of Choral Seating,’ Steve;
Followed by the ladies of the alto section:
And finally the ladies of the soprano section:
And with everyone seated:
Now the hard part is over, the work can begin! 🙂
An en-Choir-ing mind…
It’s been a busy week with All Things Choral – the University Chorus continues its exploration of Orff and Handel, the Chamber Choir engages with Tavener and Finzi, and the first rehearsal for this year’s Cecilian Choir sees them getting to grips with Britten’s Ceremony of Carols.
And cake and biscuits…
Confused ? Check out all that’s been happening on the choral blog, Cantus Firmus, where you can listen to some of the pieces and see photos of cake. And biscuits too…