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Performance, Page 9

Cantores Carols

Just in time for the holidays:  The University of Southampton Choral Scholars – Cantores Michaelis – have just released their first commercial recording. Christmas Carols 1500-2000 is issued by the Herald label and is now on sale in record shops, at Turner Sims Concert Hall on campus, and through Amazon, and will shortly be available on iTunes. The carols are an eclectic mix. Continue reading →

Nun-ology at the Brighton Early Music Festival

Professor of Music Laurie Stras reports on the Brighton Early Music Festival and exciting developments relating to her research – including a thoroughly modern approach to funding early music recordings. Over the last two weekends, I have been along the South Coast in Brighton, heavily involved in events at the Brighton Early Music Festival (http://bremf.org.uk). Continue reading →

In praise of opera

Recent alumnus Beth Coopey describes her surprise discovery of Opera during her studies, and how that changed  everything… I arrived at the University of Southampton with little interest in opera. I had sung a selection of arias but knew little about the operas from which they came. That soon changed: my opera experience here has been so immersive and wide-ranging that I am leaving as (probably!) a lifelong opera lover. Continue reading →

Coming soon – The Trembling Line

We are looking forward to the opening of Aura Satz’s new show at the University’s John Hansard Gallery, running from 3 December 2015 – 23 January 2016.  The show, The Trembling Line, is the result of Aura’s year as Artist in Residence at the university, sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust, and featuring collaboration between the artist, the Department of Music, and the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research. Continue reading →

New recording of modern harpsichord

Photo: Drew Kelly We’re delighted to congratulate Southampton postgraduate research student Christopher Lewis on the release of his new CD on the Naxos label.  Christopher specialises in music for the revival harpsichord, and his PhD work is part of the “Making of the Modern Harpsichord” project sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the National Trust. Continue reading →

Bad Music in Oslo?

Can a piece of music can be inherently bad, or are all such judgements purely subjective? Associate Professor in Composition Matthew Shlomowitz reports on a recent premier in Oslo addressing such issues. I was commissioned by the Ultima Festival in Oslo to compose a forty-minute work for the Plus Minus Ensemble, a group I direct with English composer Joanna Bailie. For this commission I decided to do something different: instead of writing a piece, I wrote a ‘lecture-piece’. Continue reading →

Interview with the interns

Rhiannon Lewis and Dan Varley (both year 2) are Turner Sims Interns for 2015, with responsibility for the Southampton Showcase scheme for advanced performers.  Here they tell us about their first semester in the job: What interested you in applying for the intern post? Rhiannon: Arts management is something that has always interested me but I felt my knowledge on the profession was limited. Continue reading →

Harpsichords at Cheltenham

This week postgraduate researcher and harpsichordist Christopher Lewis starred as player and presenter at the Cheltenham Music Festival –  for ‘A History of the Modern Harpsichord: An Afternoon at the Salle Cortot’.  Here he tells us more about the purpose of the event : The university’s Feldberg harpsichord on holiday in Cheltenham Early on Monday, a small group of us from the University of Southampton departed for the prestigious Cheltenham Music Festival. Continue reading →