Category Archives: music

music, news

School of Music & Fine Art Lecturer stars in new production of Jerry Springer the Opera

sarahdacey
Sarah Dacey

Freelance classical singer and School of Music & Fine Art Lecturer in Music Performance, Sarah Dacey, is starring in a new production of Richard Thomas’ and Stewart Lee’s award-winning Jerry Springer the Opera at the Lost Theatre in South London from 16th – 19th of March.

Sarah plays Irene, the strict catholic mother of a wannabe pole dancer, a dead Nurse that escorts Jerry Springer into ‘Purgatory’ and the Virgin ‘Mary’.

“Witness America’s favourite talk show host suffer the worst day of his career as high art meets low culture in the funniest, most groundbreaking and talked about musical EVER!” From website of The LOST Theatre, London SW8.

A member of the critically acclaimed Juice Vocal Ensemble, a female a cappella trio specialising in contemporary music, Sarah Dacey works in oratorio, opera, recitals, session recordings for TV/Film,  electro-acoustic music, early music ensembles, physical theatre and also arranges/composes vocal music.

She performs with the BBC Singers, Philharmonia Voices, The Octandre Ensemble, Okeanos Ensemble and the Oriel Quartett. An advocate of new music, Sarah has worked with many of today’s finest composers including Anna Meredith, Paul Mealor, Gavin Bryars, Errollyn Wallen, Duncan MacLeod, Mica Levi and Dai Fujikura.

For info about the production of Jerry Springer the Opera go to:  http://losttheatre.co.uk/index.php/whats-on/calendar/11-current-shows/389-jerry-sp​

For more info about Sarah go to: http://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/staff/staff-profiles/musicandaudio/Dacey.html

music, news, research

SMFA Research Seminar: Spatial Syntax in Binaural Composition

Picture2Picture1                                    Photos by Mike Park.

Tuesday 22nd March at 5pm 
Clocktower Building – Lecture Theatre,
University of Kent, Historic Dockyard Chatham
Keynote Speaker: Dr Matt Barnard (University of Hull)

The binaural method of hearing represents our natural spatial register and employing binaural recording and/or synthesis methods in composition reveals peculiar characteristics of the method. Discussing a compositional practice that is now exploring a syntax of space as primary, the binaural method is explored in its creative manifestations. Can we compose music for human hearing?

Matthew Barnard is a composer and researcher primarily focused upon electronic music, including electronica, acousmatic and soundscape idioms. The field of spatial representation in sound, particularly ambisonics and the binaural method, are of interest.

music, news, research

Acclaimed composer Denis Smalley’s 70th Birthday Celebration with new commission from the School of Music & Fine Art

Denis
Denis Smalley

 

The world premiere of Denis Smalley’s newly commissioned work by the School of Music and Fine Art, University of Kent, celebrating his 70th birthday, will take place in The Colyer-Fergusson in Canterbury on Saturday 21 May 2016 at 6pm. Professor Denis Smalley is one of the world’s leading acousmatic composers and a scholar and pioneer of electroacoustic music. His works have been widely acclaimed, winning a number of international awards. He has made original contributions to thinking about sound, in particular with his investigations into listener’s perception and the notion of spectromorphology. In 2013 he became Honorary Professor at the University of Kent.

Professor Simon Emmerson, who worked closely with Denis Smalley, will give a pre-concert talk on the continuing influence of music and theories developed by Smalley; the session will include a QA with both composers and will be broadcast on Resonance FM. The talk and discussion is for anyone who is interested in listening strategies, perception, reception and the sound world in general – not only music. Simon Emmerson is one of the leading figures in the broad area of electroacoustic music and has published and edited seminal books and articles on live electronics. The event is kindly funded by the Sound-Image-Space Research Centre.

There will be a pre-concert talk at 4:30pm, and the concert starts at 6pm.

Alumni, music, news

University of Kent Students perform Beatles’ Abbey Road as a concert work

abbey
‘High Lows’ Photo by Stacey Cooper

 

Students studying in the University of Kent’s School of Music and Fine Art will give a concert that explores some of the most prominent works of the twentieth century, all of which might be taken to straddle a pop/classic divide. The first half of the concert will feature two very different minimalist works: Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint for guitar ensemble and Gavin Bryars’ ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’ for mixed ensemble and tape. The concert will close with the Beatles’ extraordinary B-Side of the album Abbey Road, a remarkable series of songs that develop, build and interrelate in a manner that appears symphonic in scope and intent.

To purchase tickets please use the links below:

The Royal Dockyard Church, Chatham on Wednesday 9th March at 7.30pm  http://store.kent.ac.u

Colyer-Fergusson Concert Hall, Canterbury on Friday 11th March at 7.30pm  https://uk.patronbase.com

creative events, fine art, music, news

“Underground grooves that can fit in a Micra …”

Skintpic3

On Wednesday 27th January, from 9am-1.30pm, contemporary music trio Skint will be performing and giving a workshop in the School of Music & Fine Art at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in the Galvanising Workshop.

Launching a project at Jazz Re:Freshed, London on January 28th, Skint consists of saxophone (Phil Meadows, award winning creator of the Engines Orchestra), bass (James Benzies, plays in MIMIKA, Myriad Forest)  and drums (Harry Pope, plays in World Service Project) who play intense grooves, rip roaring solos and soaring melodies, all aimed at breaking the jazz tradition and using it to replace DJ’s in nightclubs. Harry plays through Ableton Live, adding lots of electronics and Phil also plays some keyboards/multi-effects. The rhythms come from Africa, South America and Asia and the music has been written collectively.

Says Dr Ruth Herbert, Associate Lecturer in Music Performance in the School of Music & Fine Art, “We are delighted to present another workshop/masterclass with cutting edge musicians that really cross style boundaries in their work. Skint are coming to Kent the day before their project launch in London, so the music will be debuted to SMFA students ahead of the launch! Expect lots of improvisation and definitely plenty to talk about.”

Everyone is welcome at this FREE event – to book, contact: mfareception@kent.ac.uk

 

For more info go to http://www.jazzrefreshed.com/
Preview Skint at http://youtu.be/-mQ8rTJ3uAc

music, news

Dr Who composer Mark Ayres talks to Music students

markayres
Mark Ayres with Lecturer Richard Lightman and Music students from the School of Music and Fine Art. Photo by Richard Lightman

 

Television and film composer Mark Ayres, best known for providing incidental music on the original series of Doctor Who, recently visited the Historic Dockyard Chatham to talk to Music & Sound for Film & Television. He revealed some of the secrets of his composition techniques and explored the relationship between composer and director. Mark, in addition to his composition work, is a director of BASCA and a current member of the touring Radiophonic Workshop. For more information click on http://www.effectrode.com/making-of-the-doctor-who-theme-music/

Ayres’s work on broadcast Doctor Who was during Sylvester McCoy’s era as the Seventh Doctor, and was hired after he sent producer John Nathan-Turner a demonstration video containing music he had written to accompany Remembrance of the Daleks, using digital synthesisers and samplers.

Ayres was also involved in the last days of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, cataloguing and archiving their recordings for future use.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for students to meet with a BBC composer,” said Richard Lightman, Lecturer in Music in the School of Music & Fine Art. “Mark’s insights into the composer-director relationship and the career routes into the industry were a revelation.”

The talk was part of a series of industry talks for students.

creative events, fine art, music, news

Music Talent Showcase at Liberty Quays

cargoposter

From 8pm until late on Thursday December 17th the award winning bar and bistro Cargo Bar at Liberty Quays welcomes bands from the School of Music & Fine Art to perform sets of original material and covers.  This stunning nautical and industrial-style venue is the perfect place to sample some of the best live music acts the area has to offer.

FREE to attend, the popular gigs always draw a crowd and have a fantastic atmosphere. The SMFA gig at Cargo last Easter was a huge success, with three bands from across the stages of the School of Music and Fine Art giving powerful and exciting performances.

 

music, news, research

MAAST sound system features in works at ICA by International composer, Seth Ayyaz

MAAST-ICA

The School of Music and Fine Art’s MAAST (Music and Audio Arts Sound Theatre) is delighted to participate in events organised by fig-2 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, between Monday 30 November and Sunday 6 December 2015.

The MAAST sound system will feature in recent works by London based composer-performer, writer and occasional curator Seth Ayyaz.

A new configuration of work is presented, which marks the fourth and final expansion of the project fig-2 into the premises of the ICA Theatre and the ICA Studio. Seth Ayyaz brings together three significant strands of his practice into a new formulation: an installation of his multi-channel AAdM Listening system using part of the MAAST, two electroacoustic concerts with the entire MAAST diffusion system, a specially commissioned publication, as well as supporting events.

Born in 1970, Ayyaz has presented his work internationally including: Cafe Oto, London; Kunsthalle Luzern, Switzerland; Irtijal Festival, Beirut; Maerz Music, Berlin; the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, Finland; and the Haus Für Elektronische Künste in Basel, Switzerland. Ayyaz also writes on sound and has been published in The Wire, Organised Sound, and most recently in, On Listening. Live work includes the Usurp Chance Tour 2014 — Cage and Beyond. He also curated the MazaJ Festival of Experimental Middle-Eastern Music, London.

For his first solo exhibition, Ayyaz connects two distinct spaces, unfolding two different experiences of listening. Transforming the ICA Theatre into a forest of sounds, he uses the AAdM system to carve paths for the audience to walk through and immerse themselves in the experiences of listening. In the Studio, Ayyaz provides an alternative experience of using the same self-regulating system, which responds to the change of architecture and acoustics. The installation will be active during the week, complemented by two performances of a triptych of electroacoustic works.

 

For more details visit http://www.fig2.co.uk/#/48/50

For info about MAAST go to : https://www.kent.ac.uk/smfa/musicandaudio/postgraduate/maast.html

Alumni, creative events, fine art, music, news, research

Liquidity Symposium: Life flows, money flows and artists capture the axiomatics that bind these flows.

TRANSCALAR EU LOVESONG2 #D0
‘Transcalar EU Lovesongs’ by Hilary Koob Sassen

 

Wednesday 9th December, 11.15am – 6pm
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH

Sponsored by the University of Kent and organised by Dr Andrew Conio, Programmes Director, Fine Art and Event and Experience Design, School of Music and Fine Art, this cross-disciplinary forum creates a provocative encounter between philosophy, geography, psychoanalysis, high finance, film, economics, art and activism.  With papers from Professor Philip Goodchild, Professor John Russell, Oliver Ressler, Angus Cameron, Anastasios Gaitanidis, James Buckley, Georgious Papadopoulos and films from Ami Clarke and Hillary Koob-Sassen, the symposium at the Institute of Contemporary Art on 9th December investigates the flows of life, money and art and the axiomatics that bind them together.

Every society in history has created economic, social and political systems to channel flows into things, functional processes and systems.  This symposium asks; to what extent do the Quadrillions of dollars channeled through markets every day determine the ontological horizons and conditions of possibility of life.  How are the flows of money and life’s imminent flows consiliant or forced into disjunctive relation, how does the artist capture these flows?

The School of Music and Fine Art is proud to be working with the Institute of Contemporary Art, London’s foremost multi-disciplinary arts centre. Founded in 1947 by a group of artists, poets and radicals, the ICA is an essential meeting place for anyone interested in contemporary culture. Designed as a playground for ideas, the ICA has worked with a litany of inspired artists and writers, including T.S. Eliot, Cartier-Bresson, Francis Bacon, Jacques Derrida, Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Yoko Ono and Slavoj Žižek.

 

For more on the symposium go to: https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/symposium-liquidity

music, news, research

Tear Me Apart shown at International Film Festivals: Music by Richard Lightman

Composer, producer, sound design practitioner, lecturer and researcher Richard Lightman, Lecturer in Popular Music, in the School of Music & Fine Art, has written the music for Tear Me Apart, the debut movie from Cannibal Films. Described as a post-apocalyptic cannibal love story set on the English coast, and directed by Alex Lightman, the film was shown recently at the International Ravenna Nightmare Horror Film Festival , at the Palazzo del Cinema e dei Congressi, Largo Firenze, Ravenna, Italy after its World Premiere at the annual Austin Film Festival in Texas on 31 October.

Founded in 1993, Austin Film Festival (AFF) was the first organisation of its kind to focus on the writers’ creative contribution to film. Past participants of the Festival & Conference include Sydney Pollack, Wes Anderson, James L. Brooks, Joel & Ethan Coen, Russell Crowe, Barry Levinson, Robert Altman, Lawrence Kasdan, John Landis, and Oliver Stone.

Set in the wasteland of post-apocalyptic rural England, Tear Me Apart tells the story of two young brothers who turn to cannibalism to survive, only to fall for their prey, a teenage girl, and possibly the last girl alive.

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Richard has composed for a myriad of artists, films and television series including Eldorado, America’s Most Wanted and The Big Miracle, news and current affairs programs, 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, Richard 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.

 

Links for more information:
http://www.ravennanightmare.it/
http://www.ravennanightmare.it/2015/ita/dettaglio-film.asp?IDfilm=127
http://austinfilmfestival.com
www.cannibalfilms.co.uk

twitter: www.twitter.com/cannibalfilms
periscope: www.periscope.tv/CannibalFilm
facebook: www.facebook.com/TearMeApartMovie