Tag Archives: Concert Band

Notes on Music

A Christmas Cornucopia fills the concert-hall

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Many thanks to all the performers involved in our Christmas Cornucopia weekend, two nights of music-making that brought together University Chorus and Orchestra, Concert Band, String Sinfonia and the Flute Choir in festive style.

The opening night was shared by the String Sinfonia and Concert Band, exploring music by Piazzolla, Corelli and film music by Danny Elfmann, all prefaced by seasonal music performed in the foyer before the concert began by some of the Flute Choir.

Saturday night brought together Chorus and Orchestra in Vivaldi’s evergreen Gloria, for which we were joined by soloists Juliet Schiemann and Michelle Harris, as well as the sparkling Cinderella Suite by composer Ernest Tomlinson – we were delighted to welcome the late composer’s daughter, Anne, to the performance.

Thanks and congratulations to everyone involved!

Main photographs (c) Rosie Morrison Photography

 

Composer in Focus, Notes on Music

Winter Nights weekend premiere

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It’s always both exciting and a little bit daunting, taking on a contemporary piece of music to give the UK premiere – and even more so when the composer herself is in the audience!

Stephanie Martin attending the afternoon rehearsal
Stephanie Martin

Last weekend saw the Music department’s combination of concerts, ‘Winter Journeys, Winter Nights‘ featuring the String Sinfonia, Concert Band, Chorus, Orchestra, Cecilian Choir and Flute Choir coming together over two nights to perform seasonal works, the centrepiece of which was a marvellously colourful seasonal cantata, Winter Nights, by the Canadian composer, Stephanie Martin. This five-movement work sets a variety of poems focusing on different aspects of the winter season, from the anonymous ‘Cold is the night when when stars shine bright,’  through the fierce drama of ‘Loud rings the frozen earth’ by James Thompson, to the wonder and mystery of Cori Martin’s ‘Could it be true / Old Thomas Hardy’s tale,’ all culminating in Thomas Campion’s ‘Now winter nights enlarge.’

The piece distils a variety of colours, textures and vivid images from the cast of voices, strings and percussion, reflecting the manifold aspects of the season, and the whole cantata captures the full range of the season’s contrasts – its warmth, magic, wonder, jollity, bitterness, wildness, and revelry – bringing the different scenes to vivid life with a vibrant energy.

Stephanie talking with choir and orchestra

We were delighted to welcome Stephanie to the afternoon rehearsal – always a slightly scary moment, the first time performing a piece in front of the composer – and then to the evening performance. With warmth and generosity, Stephanie talked with the performers in the afternoon about the piece, including the three students singing the solo trio heralding the arrival of Winter; and she received a hugely enthusiastic round of applause following the performance later that evening.

Congratulations to all the performers involved across the entire weekend, and our thanks in particular to Stephanie for taking the time to stop over in Canterbury on her flight from Europe to Canada, to come to Colyer-Fergusson and be part of the event.

Enthusiastic applause greets the composer after the performance

Here is the performance in full, filmed and used with kind permission from Stephanie Martin.

Read the full weekend programme here (PDF).

Notes on Music, Summer Music

Image Gallery: Summer Music Week 2024 in pictures

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A marvellous end to the academic year at the University, our annual Summer Music Week festival saw a packed programme of events bidding a musical adieu to the year.

From the opening Bond and Beyond with the Big Band, String Sinfonia and Festival Voices, through the Big Band gigging at Deal Bandstand, two student lunchtime recitals, Minerva Voices and Consort at the Cathedral Crypt, and concluding with Chorus, Orchestra, Cecilian Choir, Concert Band and student soloists in the closing gala, it’s been an action-packed week showcasing the extra-curricular music provision here at Kent in vibrant, robust form.

(Here’s a small snapshot of the events over the course of the festival; many more can be found on our Facebook Group).

Congratulations and huge thanks to everyone who took part, to all the performers, to the various donors and music supporters, and to the audiences who came to support the concerts. It’s been a great year of music-making – we’re already looking forward to the next!

International Impact

French Connection: exchange student Juliette reflects on her term in the Music Department

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In the autumn term, we welcome new faces to extra-curricular music-making here at Kent, and this year that included exchange student and trumpet-player from France, Juliette Brouzeng-Lacoustille. We were delighted to be able to provide an instrument for her to use, thanks to the generous Barry Wright Legacy, which supports overseas students who want to get involved in music; here, Juliette reflects on her time.

When I moved to England, I didn’t think I’d be able to pursue my passion: music. But thanks to the university’s music department, I was able to do it.

I was able to join the university Concert Band and its weekly rehearsals because the department provided me with a trumpet. It was a very rewarding experience that allowed me to share my passion with other students at the university, to meet new people and to blossom in the extra-curricular environment.

I would like to thank Sophie Meikle and Dan Harding, as well as the members of the university’s music department, without whom the pursuit of my passion would not have been possible.

Concert Band, conducted by Ian Swatman, performing in Colyer-Fergusson Hall on the opening night of our Wild Musical Revelry Weekend
Keeping It Real: reviews.

Image Gallery: December concerts round-up

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Our seasonal programme has brought the musical term to a richly-colourful conclusion, ending a busy term for the University’s extra-curricular music provision.

The Cecilian Choir, comprising staff, students and alumni, travelled to St Michael’s church, Hernhill, at the start of the month to sing a sequence of Advent plainsong and carols to usher in the festive season.

Our Wild Musical Revelry Weekend presented a pair of concerts exploring themes of myths and legend; the first evening with String Sinfonia, directed by Floriane Peycelon, and Concert Band with Ian Swatman:

Concert Band backstage before the second half

and the second evening with the University Orchestra, Chorus and soloists,

Chorus and Orchestra in rehearsal
Members of University Chorus deploying the selfie frame ahead of Saturday’s performance

The upper-voices chamber choir, Minerva Voices, sang as part of the University Carol Service in Canterbury Cathedral, conducted by second-year Wildlife Conservation student and Music Performance Scholar, Charlotte Farmer:

Minerva Voices, conducted by Charlotte Farmer, rehearsing in the Cathedral

and the term came to a rousing conclusion with the Big Band’s annual Christmas Swingalong, conducted again by the evergreen Ian Swatman sporting a Christmas Hull City jumper.

Up the Tigers! Ian Swatman gets in the festive mood ahead of the gig…

And making her debut with the big band was first-year singer, Tayo Fanifosi, whi delivered several crowd-pleasing festive numbers.

A fitting conclusion to an industrious term; with thanks to everyone who took part!

Notes on Music, Summer Music

In pictures: Summer Music Week 2023

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Another year of extra-curricular music-making has come to a close with this year’s Summer Music Week. Taking place across eight days, the series of concerts ranged from the evocative Crypt of Canterbury Cathedral to a sun-drenched trip to the seaside and Deal Bandstand, two Scholars’ Lunchtime Concerts, the ceremony for this year’s Music Prize Winners (about which more shortly…) and more, all coming to a rousing finale with the closing Saturday gala.

Here are some of the images capturing this year’s series of events; as always, our enormous thanks to everyone who took part – students and staff at a particularly busy time in the academic year, alumni, and members of the local community – in a splendid festival. There’s always a wonderful community feeling to the week, as musicians come together for the last time, some for the final performance before graduating.  To those who are leaving: ave atque vale; to those who are returning in September, see you then!

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View the full album of photos from throughout the week on our Facebook Page here.

Same again next year, then ?!

Images (c): Chris Wenham / University of Kent

Additional images by Laurence Leung / Dan Harding

International Impact, Notes on Music, Was It Good For You ?

Was It Good For You: international student Charlotte Jeanneret reflects

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Charlotte Jeanneret, who studied at Kent last year in the School of English as an exchange student and played the flute in Concert Band and sang in Chorus in the Music department, looks back on her experience.

Music has been the highlight of my experience as an exchange student at the University of Kent.

Charlotte Jeanet (centre) and other musicians before the spring concert in Canterbury Cathedral

I must say the many extracurricular opportunities are what made me choose Canterbury in the first place, but I never thought it would bring me so much joy and discoveries. Indeed, for example, I used to be stuck with the idea that I could not sing… But the openness of the University Chorus convinced me to take it up and I loved it so much that I am now considering joining the choir of my home university, here in Switzerland!

First-year Music Performance Scholar, Yuyu, and Charlotte pictured backstage during Summer Music Week

Although I still have nightmares about Goodwin’s Freefall [who chose that ?! Ed] Wednesday evenings with the Concert Band were always very entertaining and spurred me on musically more than any other ensemble I have ever been part of.  I left for England with just one flute and came back with a piccolo also!

University Concert Band performing in Summer Music Week, conducted by Ian Swatman
University Chorus rehearsing in Canterbury Cathedral ahead of the Spring concert

Finally, music at Kent has allowed me to meet beautiful people with whom I have loved practising, sharing stands and scores, and who have become awesome friends.

I already look forward to coming back.