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Blog, Page 8

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 →

Starting to Share the Sound

Anna Stonehouse and Beth Hopkins (both year 2) have been working on a brand-new live music festival that will launch in March - save the dates!  Since September 2014 a committee of enthusiastic Jazz and Poppers have been creating an exciting new project called Share The Sound music festival. The festival will be held on Friday 13th March and Saturday 14th March in The Talking Heads pub in Southampton. Continue reading →

Orpheus in the round

Professor of Music Jeanice Brooks made a field trip to hear one of her favorite operas: Last week I went along with some of my Southampton Music colleagues to see Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo. Composed in 1607, it's the earliest opera that is regularly staged today. It's a piece I completely adore, and though I teach it both in first year music history and in a specialised module on Monteverdi for second and third years, I've had only a few chances to see it in the theatre. Continue reading →

Music and Disability – pioneering a new field for undergraduate study

Professor of Music Laurie Stras has been preparing an innovative and exciting addition to our undergraduate programme: Over the Christmas holidays, I spent time developing my new undergraduate module for Semester 2. Not very exciting, you might think, but when I say 'new', I mean not just new for me, or the Music department. I mean new for UK university music all together, and only the second undergraduate module of its kind anywhere in the world. Continue reading →

On the way to Grade 1

Catherine Underhill (year 3) gives us a mid-year update on MuSoc's new project, in which Music students are being sponsored to achieve ABRSM grade 1 in a brand-new instrument: The Grade One-a-thon is going very well so far and some big steps forward have been made! First of all, the Music Department generously lent us enough money to purchase one copy per candidate for us all to have before the Christmas period. Continue reading →