Calliope, the debut solo album from Sarah Dacey (soprano) and Belinda Jones (piano), featuring new works by British composers, will be released on the 26^th March by the School of Music and Fine Art’s Foundry Studios.

Says Phil Marsh, Studio Manager, “We are delighted to sign this contract with such acclaimed performers.”

Singer, arranger and composer Sarah Dacey, is best known for being a member of one of the UK’s most groundbreaking groups, Juice Vocal Ensemble. She is Assistant Lecturer in Music Performance and freelance classical singer at SMFA.  Since her studies at York University and the RAM (where she met Belinda), Sarah has worked at the forefront of the contemporary music scene, premiering works at the ROH and Tête à Tête Opera Festival and singing with contemporary music groups such as The Riot Ensemble. This CD is her debut solo album and features songs by some of the UK’s finest composers – Kerry Andrew, Roger Marsh, Bushra El-Turk, Cecilia McDowall, Rob Fokkens, Duncan MacLeod and Geoffrey Hannan.

The subject matter of the songs is eclectic, including a song from a chipmunk who’s upset about having their stash of nuts stolen, poems about fruit, an absurd nursery tale of naughty children being turned into donkeys, a japanese ghost story and the diary entries of a schizophrenia sufferer. This showcase of Sarah and Belinda’s performance partnership is a wonderful example of the breadth of 21st century vocal repertoire available that’s seldom published or recorded.

“A strong, perky soprano…colourful, challenging and witty….There’s a talent there for the irreverent.” – Classical Source

“Gorgeous, soaring voice” – ***** Jerry Springer:The Opera, London Theatre 1

“The irrepressible Juice Vocal Ensemble – an all-female trio of astonishing variety, spark and brilliance – is proof that the sap is still rising in classical music.” – The Guardian

Sarah and Belinda are available for radio performances and interviews. For more information and contact details, please visit www.sarahdacey.com

More info about Sarah here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/staff/staffprofiles/musicandaudio/Dacey.html

Related post: https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/news.html?view=2331

Ashford based rapper/singer songwriter Fennie Dizzle has recently signed a recording contract with SMFA’s Foundry Studios. Says Phil Marsh, Studio Manager, “We are excited to be working with Fennie. Recording will commence at the end of April looking towards an early summer release date.”

Of the project, Fennie says:  “This is a Rap and Alternative R&B project  from my EP Open With Caution (OWC). It’s a live instrumentation version of a select few songs from the EP. With the Band exploring different rhythms and arrangements compared to the software instruments version of the EP.

The Message behind Open With Caution is pretty straight forward. I come from a place where I’ve always had to keep up a certain persona and appearance because of my religious background, family and social surroundings like many people do, so OWC is just me being free to talk about some of the things other people may not have thought I do, feel or see, hence the term ‘Open With Caution’.”

You can follow Fennie via @FendizzleTNC and https://www.facebook.com/FendizzleTNC  and https://www.youtube.com/user/MrFenDizzle

Haydn’s popular Nelson Mass will be performed in the Royal Dockyard Church, Chatham on Wednesday 29 March by the University of Kent Choir and Orchestra (Medway).

The Mass will be conducted by Dr Stelios Chatziiosifidis and the soprano will be School of Music and Fine Art alumna Philippa Hardiman. It will be preceded by a talk from Richard Holdsworth MBE about Nelson and the Historic Dockyard Chatham

In 1771, a 12 year-old Horatio Nelson arrived in Chatham to begin one of the most celebrated careers of all time.  In a unique collaboration to celebrate these historic connections between Britain’s most celebrated naval figure and the award winning Historic Dockyard Chatham, the School of Music and Fine Art (whose Medway campus is located on the Dockyard) and the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust present a performance of the present a performance of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei of Haydn’s popular Nelson Mass.

The Nelson Mass is Haydn’s largest – and his only minor-key mass, set in D minor at the opening, but leading to a victorious D major finale.  It is also one of his most well-known and beloved choral works, and notable for the demands on the soprano soloist. Haydn later catalogued the Nelson Mass as Missa in Angustiis (mass for troubled times).

Comments Dr Ben Curry, Lecturer & Director of Music Programmes,  School of Music & Fine Art:

“The Nelson Mass is widely regarded as one of Haydn’s greatest works.  It’s performance in the Royal Dockyard Church, built around the time that the mass was composed, provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate the drama and beauty of Haydn’s music and the extraordinary naval history of Chatham.”

The first half of the concert will feature items from the School of Music and Fine Art World Percussion Ensemble, Pop, Rock and Soul Choir, and Chamber Music Forum, and includes Bach Keyboard Concerto in F minor, 1st movement; Khachaturian trio for clarinet, violin and piano, 1st movement; Message Ground for two violins and bass guitar by Robert Davidson, Guitar Ensemble and Advanced Improvisation Group.

The concert starts at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced £10, are available for purchase from the Gulbenkian webpages and the Historic Dockyard.

Simon May, one of the most successful and celebrated composers for television the UK has ever produced, will be giving a talk on Monday, 27^th February from 10:30am – 12:30pm in the Clock Tower Lecture Theatre at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, together with music lecturer Richard Lightman, the School of Music & Fine Art’s Director of Employability Placement Coordinator and Admissions Officer.

Best known for writing the EastEnders theme, Simon’s long and impressive list of TV themes includes the 1980s smash-hit drama series Howards’ Way, as well as such perennial favourites as Holiday and Animal Park. In his book, Doof Doof: My Life in Music, Simon describes the creation of these works, and the success they brought, with self-deprecating humour and the sharp eye of the true professional.

Simon was a Choral Scholar at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he gained an MA (Hons) in French & German. He taught modern languages at Kingston Grammar School before signing to ATV Music as a professional songwriter. He is currently visiting Professor at the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society, Southampton Solent University who in 2015 conferred on him the degree of Honorary Doctor of Music. He is also Patron of the Devizes Junior Eisteddfod, Vice President  of the British Federation of Festivals and  Patron of the Swindon 105.5 Community Radio Station.  He currently teaches music therapy part time at his local school for Asperger students, Unsted Park near Godalming, Surrey.

Simon has received numerous awards and nominations for his music, including winning an Ivor Novello for Every Loser Wins and three TRIC Awards for Best TV Theme for EastEnders, Howard’s Way and Trainer. 

More info: http://www.simonmay.co.uk/

Please book for the talk via SMFA Reception – 01634 888980.

A film for which composer and music lecturer Richard Lightman, the School of Music & Fine Art’s Director of Employability Placement Coordinator and Admissions Officer, wrote the music score features in the top 100 choice for Amazon Prime. Directed by Alex Lightman, Tear Me Apart , a dystopian cannibal love story, received its European premiere at the International Ravenna Nightmare Horror Film Festival, Italy and had its world premiere at the annual Austin Film Festival in Texas on 31 October 2015. It was also selected for the Bronx International Film Festival and Newport Beach Film Festival, USA in 2016. You can find more about the film here http://www.cannibalfilms.co.uk/#home and http://www.tearmeapartmovie.com/

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Richard is a composer, producer, sound design practitioner, lecturer and researcher  who has composed for a many artists, films and television series including Eldorado, America’s Most Wanted and The Big Miracle, news and current affairs programmes, TV and radio commercials, and contributed to the sound design of a number of Hollywood films including An American Werewolf in London, Herbie Goes Bananas, Superman II, III & IV, Flash Gordon and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the Music Producers Guild, he has produced over 35 albums, covering a wide spectrum of music including Heavy Metal, Reggae, Blues, Bollywood, Bhangra, Rock and Roll, New Age, Jazz, Pop and Garage, and played on over 170 recordings and performed in 28 countries on 5 continents.

More info here http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/staff/staff-profiles/musicandaudio/Lightman.html

And here https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/musicandaudio/news.html?view=1865