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March 2015

Cantores in Germany

Choral scholar Emma Bryant reports on a recent tour by the university's choral scholars, who travelled from home base at the ancient city centre church of St Michael's in Southampton to some equally wonderful venues in Germany: Over the Easter vacation Cantores Michaelis, the University of Southampton choral scholars, spent four days in the German town of LĂĽdenscheid and performed two concerts there and in the nearby town of Herford. Continue reading →

The Cello Suites and Mrs Bach

PhD researcher Nadya Markovska reflects on controversies of authorship and what this says about our attitudes to performance and composition: Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello (BWV 1007-1012) are among the most famous pieces in the canon of Western music. Recent claims by the Australian researcher Martin Jarvis about their authorship have become a media sensation, causing heated scholarly debates in normally restrained musicological circles. Continue reading →

A day at the BBC

BA Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Kate Guthrie talks about her recent experience at the New Generation Thinkers 2015 Finalists’ Workshop:  One of the major challenges facing academics today is to work out how their research can impact the world. In part, this matters because impact is now one of the criteria on which universities are assessed – and in my opinion rightly so. It makes sense that state-funded institutions should be accountable for their public benefit. Continue reading →

Share the Sound

Our head of jazz and pop, Dr Thomas Seltz, has sent through some photos of our fantastic festival this past weekend: The first edition of our Share the Sound Fest took place last weekend in our partner live music venue, the Talking Heads, Southampton. Twenty musical acts in genres as diverse as jazz, rock, pop, folk, funk, rap and metal took to the stage and delighted a full house. Continue reading →

New opera for Graz

Composition lecturer Dr Matthew Shlomowitz has just received an exciting commission for a new opera: In early 2014 I submitted a short proposal for a one-hour opera to the 6th Johann Joseph Fux Competition for Opera Composition presented by the Province of Styria in Austria. Later in the year I was one of six composers selected to progress to the second round of the competition, and asked to write a scene and develop my proposal (concept, libretto) further. Continue reading →

Composing waves

Undergraduate composer Bekah Withers has just finished a rewarding community music commission: Since December I have been lucky to be part of the Sound Waves project run by the d.@rt community art centre at Wildern School. The project was created to explore the relationship of science and music, and the resultant performance featured such a broad spectrum of music, ranging from pieces exploring literal sound waves, to pieces describing the soundscape of the coast (this is where I came in). Continue reading →

The science of music

Senior lecturer Dr Richard Polfreman and postgraduate researcher Dan Halford will be taking part in the University's Science and Engineering Day this weekend on Saturday 14th March: Events are running all day on Highfield Campus, and details can be found on the event web site and Facebook page. We'll be demonstrating some of the technologies involved in our research into non-standard controllers for musical performance. Continue reading →

Baroque Conversations

Here are some photos from last weekend's baroque extravaganza at the ancient city centre church of St Michael in Bugle Street.  Head of Early Music Liz Kenny and guest artists from La Serenissima coached and performed with students on a programme of concerti grossi by Corelli and Handel. Continue reading →

Celebrating women composers

Professor of Music Laurie Stras has been working on a programme for a special BBC3 event: Next Sunday is International Women’s Day, and BBC Radio 3 is marking the occasion with a weekend of programmes celebrating female composers, including live concerts and discussion panels, documentaries and debate. I'm taking part along with one of my Southampton colleagues. Continue reading →