One of the great pleasures in our Summer Music festival is the opportunity it affords each year, to recognise particular students for their outstanding contributions to extra-curricular music-making throughout the academic year. The recent ceremony, which took place on Day Four of the festival, also welcomed some distinguished guests to award the prizes.
The Canterbury Festival Music Prize was awarded to final-year Music Performance Scholars Charlotte Farmer and Heather Moss. Completing her degree in Wildlife Conservation, Charlotte has been a regular performer with University Orchestra, Concert Band, the Flute Choir, as well as singing in Chorus, Cecilian Choir and FolkSingers; she has also been this year’s President of the Music Society, actively leading the student society in activities including a very successful ceilidh in aid of a mental health charity earlier this term. When not wielding a hockey-stick as part of the University team, Heather has founded and led FolkShop, exploring folk music and taking the group to performances both around campus and elsewhere – fitting a busy musical life alongside her degree in Sport and Exercise Science. We were delighted to welcome Director of the Canterbury Festival, Susannah Stephenson, to present the prizes.
As any musician will know, there’s an awful lot that happens behind the scenes, before the polished presentation of performing; the Colyer-Fergusson Music Prize, presented in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the organising of music events, was awarded to first-year Music Performance Scholar, flautist Hunter Herbert, for his invaluable (and unprompted) assistance with setting up rehearsals, indexing music, for both Orchestra and Chorus. Also studying Wildlife Conservation, Hunter was presented with his prize by Chair of the Canterbury Festival, and former Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Keith Mander.
The John Craven Music Prize, awarded to a returning student, went to second-year Music Performance Scholar, Roshan Dosanjh. Roshan sings in Chorus and the Cecilian Choir, as well as being a leading light in the Musical Theatre Society, playing lead roles in productions, and running a A Cappella vocal group; he also sang the aria ‘Hostias’ in a recent performance of Faure’s Requiem. Roshan received his prize from Chair of the Music Scholarship Committee (and member of the woodwind section in Orchestra), Professor Dan Lloyd.
The David Humphreys Music Prize, a bequest from the late David Humphreys who was a passionate supporter of extra-curricular music at Kent, is awarded to a student who has made a special contribution to music – and this year was won by Ikeoluwa Hamzat, an Engineering student, in recognition of his leadership of Kent Gospel Choir, which has performed throughout the year, including a Lunchtime Concert in Colyer-Fergusson Hall, events in Gulbenkian, and in particular as part of the Voices of Sanctuary event, a high-profile public event in Canterbury Cathedral in November. The prize was awarded by the Director of the Development Office, Hilary Edridge.
The final prize is the University Upper Voice Music Prize, which went to Tayo Fanifosi, who has sung with the University Big Band throughout the year – the ever-popular Christmas Singalong, the spring gala concert, the opening night of our Summer Music festival, Deal Memorial Bandstand on Day Three, and on the penultimate night of the festival celebrating legendary songs. In her final year studying Architecture, Tayo’s voice has lent new heights to the big band’s performances – her prize was presented by Head of Music Performance, Dan Harding.
Many thanks and congratulations to the prize-winners, and thanks indeed for all your commitment to music-making this year. The ceremony took place following the Music Scholars’ Lunchtime Recital, which also featured flautist Oceanne Ryckembeusch-Todd (pictured in the group photo, top) as part of the programme. It’s been a really good year for music; here’s looking to the next…
Photos (c) University of Kent / Nathan Eaton-Baudains
Last year, Porchlight managed to help over 4,000 homeless and vulnerable people turn their lives around, and this would not have been possible without the generosity of the general public, local businesses and groups like the UKC Big Band. However, the charity is still in need of your help! More people are needing our help while funds are being cut and this is having a direct impact on our services and in turn, how many people we can reach out to. This is best illustrated through the situation with our Rough Sleeper team, who go out and find rough sleepers early in the morning or in the evening to offer them help, which has been reduced from over twenty workers to just six over the space of two years. This means that more people will be facing the dangers of rough sleeping for longer before we can find and help them. The money raised by the UKC Big Band concert could pay for two Rough Sleeper team workers for a day plus two welcome packs for someone moving into one of our supported accommodation projects with nothing of their own.
The Golden Age will see the band re-creating the sounds of the era – there will be a space for dancing, and period costume is recommended! The gig is free and starts at 1.10pm, prepare to swing – bring your dancing-shoes.
Under Ian’s vigorous direction, the band delivered an afternoon of tremendously vibrant music, much appreciated by the large crowd taking in the sun and the songs. The event not only launched this year’s week-long celebration of music to mark the end of the academic year, but was also a part of the yearl-long party for Porchlight, the Kent-based charity that supports homeless and at-risk people across the county; we’re delighted to have taken part.
