Congratulations to an intrepid band of several of our musicians, who recently performed alongside the Gavin Bryars Ensemble in a mesmerising performance of Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet at Canterbury Cathedral.
A unique experience, in a specially crafted incarnation of Bryars’ seminal piece, the students, a combination of Music Performance Scholars and Award Holders, including students reading Law, Economics and Chemistry, rose to the occasion in a piece that requires a quite different set of skills, using a modular score, stopwatches, and a pre-recorded (and rhythmically uneven) vocal track against which to play.
And there they are standing alongside the man himself.
A marvellous opportunity to play in an important work as part of the ensemble of professional musicians, working alongside them under the direction of the composer.
Well done Yuyu, Justin, Lois, Seb, David and Jack; we’re hugely proud of you!
Main images © University of Kent / Nathan Eaton-Baudains
Other photos by Dan Harding
Preludes (where you go I go) by artist Adam de Ville returns to the gallery to see out the Autumn term in a new form, and to mark its re-emergence, you are invited to view the images accompanied by a live performance of Gavin Bryars’ My First Homage, for two pianos, performed by Dan Harding and Matthew King.
The exhibition is showing in Colyer-Fergusson Gallery until Friday 4 November during normal opening hours, and admission is free. Find out more about Adam 
Adam’s new exhibition, created especially for Colyer-Fergusson, takes inspiration from Gavin Bryars’ piece, Sinking of the Titanic, in which the composer imagines what the music the band was playing as the ship sank might have sounded like as the band played during the sinking, and what happened to the music as it continued to reverberate in the water.
From Bach to Debussy, the prelude as a musical form has appealed to composers, both for its concision as well as for its imaginative potential; the iconic collection by Bach exploring equal temperament, or the evocative dreamscapes of Debussy’s two books of piano preludes, the prelude offers both discipline as well as imaginative possibilities; Adam’s exhibition explores both concepts, inspired by Bryars’ music. The hauntingly beautiful strains of Bryars’ moving piece find echo in Adam’s evocative images, which hover on the cusp of dissolving, disappearing.