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Composition, Page 5

Notes to the new government

Two Southampton composers, Ben Oliver and Michael Finnissy, were commissioned to produce new works by the London Sinfonietta for performance  after the national election.  Ben tells us about the project: Last Saturday my new work, The National Loneliness, was performed by the London Sinfonietta at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of their Notes to the New Government Project. Continue reading →

Electric Guitar Conference in Bowling Green, USA

Skip McDonald PhD composition student Ben Jameson tells us about his recent trip to conference over in the USA: The ‘Electric Guitar in Popular Culture’ conference took place at Bowling Green State University, Ohio at the end of March. The conference was organised by Dr. Matt Donahue from the u niversity’s Department of Popular Culture and brought together scholars and musicians from around North America and the rest of the world with a shared enthusiasm for the electric guitar. Continue reading →

New opera for Graz

Klangforum Wien 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 →

Ensemble Fractales in Southampton

A special guest blog from Hannah Reardon-Smith, the flautist in Ensemble Fractales, who recently visited Southampton as part of a collaborative project with some of our PhD composers: Ensemble Fractales from the MaNaMa contemporary music master course in Ghent, Belgium, recently had the opportunity to visit the University of Southampton to work with three of the young composers there. Continue reading →

Best in the UK for Music research

Just after term ended, the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 were announced, and we are delighted that Southampton has been ranked as the top Music department in the UK for its research in musicology and ethnomusicology, composition and performance.  90% of our work was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent, with 68% achieving the very highest world-leading standard. Continue reading →