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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 →

A scholar’s life

  Tom Harvey (year 2) provides a glimpse into the activities of Cantores Michaelis, the university choral scholars:  I auditioned for Cantores Michaelis late in my final year of school, not knowing yet whether I would get the grades to join that September. I was awarded the scholarship and this made me even more excited at the prospect of potentially becoming a student at Southampton. Continue reading →

One week, two operas

Dr Francesco Izzo (Senior Lecturer in Music) talks about recent opera productions: I go to the opera frequently, but the past week has been an especially exciting one. On Sunday, 8 February at the Frankfurt Opera, I had the opportunity to attend one of the rare modern performances of Antonio Cesti’s L’Orontea—one of the most successful operas of the mid seventeenth century. Continue reading →

Pianos on the high seas

Postgraduate researcher Anna Borg Cardona has uncovered maritime musical connections between Southampton and her home country of Malta: By 1814, Malta had become a British colony. British families soon began to settle on the Islands, accompanying army and navy personnel who were posted there. Some families transported their own musical instruments with them. Recognising potential commercial opportunities, merchants also began to establish a base on the Islands. Continue reading →

iChamps at The MuSoc Takeover

Music now has two new iChamps, Harry Matthews and Anna Kent-Muller, who are helping to spread new digital skills in the department.  Harry went to last week's jazz and pop gig at Talking Heads to get started on the work: Last Thursday MuSoc (the student music society) ran a night of live music performed by Southampton music students. The night’s music ranged from acoustic acts and jazz trios to funk/rock bands with large brass sections. Continue reading →

Finnissy and EXAUDI at the Wigmore Hall

Jeanice Brooks (Professor of Music) has been listening to a recent performance of work by Southampton colleagues and friends: Michael Finnissy's extraordinary Kelir for unaccompanied vocal ensemble was the highlight of a Wigmore Hall concert last Tuesday, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Kelir (1981) is the word for a curtain used for the shadows in Javanese puppet theatre. Its text is in Javanese, and consists of a ritual formula declaimed before the play begins. Continue reading →