SMFA music lecturer Anna Neale-Widdison has released a new album Wide Sky, which is available on all the usual music platforms such as Spotify and iTunes. Anna Neale is a multi-talented singer/songwriter, composer, session vocalist and voice-over artist. She’s worked professionally in the music industry for over a decade. In that time she has toured the world, and has showcased at major music conferences across the globe and released two albums and two EP’s to critical acclaim.

Inspired by personal experience, tumultuous current affairs, and views surrounding her home, Wide Sky fuses modern pop with Arabic music, and continues the world music theme of her previous album River Man to ask the question, “Where is humanity going?”

Dan Chisholm, BBC Broadcaster, commented:  “It reminds me how I felt the very first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. Like then, I feel this is a very special piece of work. Many congratulations.”

Featuring performances by a talented array of Syrian musicians and vocalists from the English National Opera (ENO), Wide Sky was co-produced with Jez Larder at Skyline Studios, who has previously worked with David Bowie, Estelle, The Damned, and Amy Macdonald.

Anna’s previous album River Man was voted by R2 (Rock’n’Reel) magazine as one of their top albums of 2012.

Anna’s showcase appearances include Brighton’s Great Escape Festival in 2010; the world renowned Canadian Music Week festival in 2009 in Toronto; the sell-out BPI showcase as part of Canada’s NXNE festival in 2006 (where she was the highest rated solo artist); and the NEMO Music Festival in Boston USA in 2005. After her Boston performance Anna’s track “All For Nothing” topped the NEMO Starbucks download charts across New England.

As well as her composing and performing credits, Anna has lectured at the University of Cambridge, The British Museum, BIMM (Brighton & London), Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Hertfordshire. She is also a member of the Oxford Brookes’s music industry board.  Her research interests include songwriting and the music of Ancient Greece.

More info here:  http://www.annaneale.net​

See also: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/news.html?view=2682

On 14th March SMFA music students worked with The Dockyard Development Trust and Kings Hill School to lead a creative music project on HMS Gannet in the Captain’s Cabin. They also had a tour of the ship.

Music Education students from Level 2 designed an interactive performance and composition workshop inspired by the Gannet, life at sea, sea shanties and film music inspired by the sea.  The children learned some Pirate Metal, sea songs, took part in a musical “boat race”, and composed and performed their own pieces based on the sights and sounds of the day.

Says organiser, SMFA Lecturer in Music, Jackie Walduck , “The project is a fantastic opportunity for students to engage in the kinds of arts events taking place all over the UK, in which musicians work alongside museums, galleries, arts venues, orchestras, record labels or festivals to create accessible projects for members of the community.”

To see the KMTV feature click on this link: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kmtv/video/special-university-of-kent-projects-hits-the-right-notes-at-chatham-dockyard-11820/

SMFA Lecturer in Music, Jackie Walduck, will be performing with her improvising ensemble Ignite at London’s Wigmore Hall, in an early evening performance at 5.45pm on Wednesday 21st March. Tickets cost £5.

A composer and vibraphone player, whose work explores the meeting points between composition and improvisation, and their impact on ensemble performance, Jackie Walduck has performed across the UK, Europe and in the Middle East, with musicians as diverse as the Philharmonia, Sinfonia Viva, Kala Ramnath, and the Royal Army Band of Oman. For more info go to: www.jackiewalduck.com

The programme will include her new piece Skeeter, which plays with the sounds of mosquitos.  Other pieces include works written for Ignite by Luke Bedford, Stephen Warbeck and a new commission form Layale Chaker.

https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/ignite-201803211745 for more details.