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Made in Italy – Italian Madrigals Englished

Bass singer Chris Lusty (year 3) tells us how music for Tudor merchants came back to a real period house - Southampton's Tudor House Museum - during our Made in Italy weekend: On Saturday, the University's choral scholars, Cantores Michaelis, sang a selection of Italian madrigals by Luca Marenzio (1553 -1599) and Giovanni Maria Nanino (1543 -1607) that were translated and arranged into an English style by Albert Chatterley. Continue reading →

Made in Italy – From Rome to Venice

Many performance projects at Southampton are completely student-led, from the initial idea to final realisation. Natalie Davies (year 3) tells us about the final extravaganza of our Italian weekend, featuring rare Roman cantatas matched up with Vivaldi favourites: Having had just over two weeks to rehearse the Vivaldi Gloria with the choir, it was not without trepidation that we came together with the orchestra on Sunday for our last rehearsal before the evening’s concert. Continue reading →

Southampton saxes at the RCM

Last week undergraduate Kathryn Firth (year 2) and fellow saxophonists from Southampton went to  London with their tutor Dr Angela Space for a specialist masterclass.  Kathryn tells us what they learned: Last Friday (7th February), I travelled to London with six other undergraduate classical saxophone students from the university for a Saxophone Masterclass with Lars Mlekusch at the Royal College of Music. Continue reading →

Performing for a pro

Last week the Music Director of Carnival UK came to hear some of our undergraduate musicians.  Singer-songwriter Olly Lewis (year 3) tells us about performing for one of the region's top entertainment employers: When Dave Desmond from Carnival Cruises was invited to our weekly Jazz and Pop performance workshops, it was an honour to perform on behalf of Southampton's music department and to get professional feedback from him. Continue reading →

Pleasures and entertainments

Second-year PhD student Becky Gribble is working on a thesis about Thomas Linley Jr., a brilliant composer and childhood friend of Mozart’s who died in 1778 in a tragic boating accident at the age of only 22.  She has just returned from presenting her work at a prestigious international scholarly conference: Last week I attended the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (BSECS) Conference in at St Hugh’s College in Oxford. Continue reading →

Happy new studio

Thanks to very generous donation to Music at Southampton, the new year is starting with a complete renovation and refurbishment of our recording studios. Senior lecturer Richard Polfreman reports on the progress so far of this exciting development:   The refurbishment of the recording studios began in December, shortly before the end of the Autumn term. Continue reading →

Happy holidays

We're now closed for business until 2 January.  Along with our best wishes of the season, here's a warm account of our final festive event from Phil Draisey (year 3) - with a link to the live streamed video at the bottom.  Happy holidays to all from the staff and students of the Music department! Over to Phil: It’s December the 13th, the last day of term at the University of Southampton. There is a seeping chill in the air and winter rain falls for the first time this month. Continue reading →

I’m dreaming of a French Christmas

In the first of two seasonal posts before we close down for the holidays, Head of Early Music Liz Kenny writes about the work that led to concerts with her early music ensemble, Theatre of the Ayre, in Southampton and London last week: With performance projects, getting the first plank or idea in place is the tricky bit, but once that’s done other ideas suggest themselves and the thing gets rolling. Continue reading →

Music returns to Chawton House

The Department of Music has just launched a new concert series in collaboration with our friends and long-time partners at Chawton House Library, the research centre in the beautiful country house formerly owned by Jane Austen's brother.  Postgraduate pianist Ellen Day tells us about the performance: On December 10 we gathered at Chawton House for the inaugural concert, featuring a newly restored 1828 Stodart grand piano. Continue reading →

Michael Finnissy Chi Mei Ricercari Tour Part 2

Senior lecturer Tom Irvine updates us on the how the tour of Michael Finnissy's new piece is going:  Greetings from Hsinchu, Taiwan's own 'windy city' and home of National Chiao Tung University, the hosts of the second of our three concerts. It's been a real whirlwind. We left lovely laid-back Tainan this morning after the very successful premiere there last night, celebrated afterwards with a outdoor (!) reception with new friends and old. Continue reading →

Postcard from Germany

Austin Glatthorn came from the USA to do his PhD at Southampton, and in 2013-14 he is spending a year in Germany after winning a prestigious studentship to complete archival research for his thesis.  Here's his report on how it's going so far: Sometime late in the afternoon on 1 August 2013, I disembarked British Airways flight 0910 from London Heathrow into the Frankfurt International Airport. Continue reading →

UoS Voices sing out

Almost exactly a year ago Turner Sims Professor of Music Harvey Brough launched a new community choir based in the university.  Elwyn Edwards tells us what led the group to their first big stage appearance last week (and there's a video at the end of the post!): Like many people I have had a secret ambition to sing in a choir for most of my adult life. Continue reading →