In rehearsal yesterday, the String Sinfonia as it prepares for its first concert of the year next month.
The players were working on sections of Handel’s Messiah, as well as Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ with soloist Elina Hakanen, developing some of those rigorous and dramatic tutti sections alongside the more lyrical central movement. The group is also preparing Vivaldi’s Double Oboe Concerto with soloists second-year Jonathan Butten and lecturer in BioSciences, Dan Lloyd (pictured).
The concert on Friday 4 December opens the Christmas season in Colyer-Fergusson with some sparkling music of the Baroque; details here, come and launch the festive period with us and some popular musical favourites.
As part of Summer Music this term, several of the University’s Music Scholars will be starring in a lunchtime concert on Wednesday 6 June at 1.10pm.
Flautist with the University Orchestra and second-year Historian, Kathryn Redgers, will perform Bach’s Flute Sonata in G minor BWV 1020 accompanied by yours truly on the harpsichord.
Second-year soprano Marina Ivanova will sing Vivaldi’s sublime cantata, Nulla in mundo pax sincera, accompanied by the University Camerata. Marina is a member of the University Chamber Choir and Chorus, and both Marina and Kathryn have previously performed in the Scholars’ Recital as part of the Canterbury Festival each year in October. In her spare time, Marina reads Economics and Spanish!
Making their solo performing debuts at the concert will be first-year harpist, Emma Murton, and first-year percussionist, Carina Evans on marimba, in solo instrumental works.
The University Camerata and Cecilian Choir teamed up for yesterday’s final lunchtime concert of the term, with Vivaldi’s Winter and Purcell’s ‘Frost Scene’ from King Arthur.
University Camerata with Jeremy Ovenden
Soloist in the Vivaldi, Jeremy Ovenden brought out the brittle, biting aspect of the piece in a strong, confident reading, and the Camerata responded with suitable fragility in the sul ponticello passages.
Making her debut at the Gulbenkian, Music Scholar Paris Noble cast a bright flame as Cupid, scolding the Cold Genius (a welcome return for alumnus Piran Legg) and bringing on a chorus of Cold Revellers to warm them up and spread love throughout the arctic countryside.
In rehearsal: Piran Legg (bass), Paris Noble (soprano) with the Camerata and Cecilian Choir
The Cecilian Choir, looking suitably chilly in winter hats and coats (there had been a fire-alarm that morning, so the musicians ended up waiting outside the Theatre for a while – true method-acting, as one of the altos wryly observed), shambled on before casting aside their winter attire for a heroic closing chorus.
Pictured also is the fine harpischord brought in for the concert (Christmas truly came early for me this year), a Ruckers-Hemsch copy by Ian Tucker, based on an instrument from 1763, which had a soundboard decorated identically to one owned by Handel. Many thanks to Edmund Pickering for delivering and tuning the instrument.
Tucker, after Ruckers-Hemsch
Bravo to all involved: a concert to ‘warm’ the heart…
Next Monday, the University Camerata and Cecilian Choir join forces to perform Vivaldi and Purcell in the last of this term’s Lunchtime Concerts.
François Morellon la Cave: portrait of Vivaldi
The Red Priest’s enduringly-popular Winter, a vivid depiction of the season in its brittle textures, moves in its three movements from shivering amidst winter’s harsh wind to the warmth of sitting by the fire, whilst the last movement portrays racing across the ice before it cracks, seeking refuge behind a bolted door whilst winter’s chill fingers reach through the cracks. The violin soloist will be Jeremy Ovenden, leader of the Symphony Orchestra.
The Cecilian Choir will then join the Camerata for the ‘Frost Scene’ from Purcell’s King Arthur, in which Cupid (sung by second-year Music Scholar and soprano, Paris Noble) battles the Cold Genius (baritone and alumnus, Piran Legg) and his wintry revellers to bring warmth and dance to the frozen scene.
The concert begins on Monday 5 December in the Gulbenkian Theatre at 1.10pm; admission is free, with a suggested donation of £3.
Here’s a little taster of the Vivaldi, featuring a live performance by the Trondheim Soloists…
Sponsors of the Lunchtime Concert series
Because it does. Doesn't it ? Blogging about extra-curricular musical life at the University of Kent.
The players were working on sections of Handel’s Messiah, as well as Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ with soloist Elina Hakanen, developing some of those rigorous and dramatic tutti sections alongside the more lyrical central movement. The group is also preparing Vivaldi’s Double Oboe Concerto with soloists second-year Jonathan Butten and lecturer in BioSciences, Dan Lloyd (pictured).
