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When Harry Met . . . Part 4 – Drew Crawford

The last in Harry Matthews's series of composer interviews in the runup to SHIFTS - now time for us all to perform in and listen to the concert tomorrow! Harry Matthews (HM): As a composer you have such a diverse and creative output. For you, is there a separation between the creative process of composing a film score and composing Waves Of… (the piece featured at the upcoming SHIFTS concert)? Drew Crawford (DC): The short answer to that is, no. Continue reading →

When Harry Met (Some More) Composers – Part 2, Ben Oliver

Music's own Ben Oliver tells about his compositions and other pieces on Sunday's SHIFTS concert, and what it's like for students and staff to play new music together: Harry Matthews: Let’s start by talking about the upcoming concert Shifts. What gave you the idea to curate a concert that focuses on aspects of minimalism? BO: We do performance projects quite regularly at Southampton where we bring in people to perform alongside our students. Continue reading →

When Harry Met (Some) Composers: Part 1 – Brona Martin

Ahead of our big SHIFTS performance next week PhD composer Harry Matthews is interviewing 4 of the 5 composers involved in SHIFTS on 27th January at Turner Sims (Steve Reich isn't reachable on Skype this week!). In this first interview Harry caught up with electroacoustic composer and Southampton Teaching Fellow Dr Brona Martin to talk about her recent work Sowing Seeds (2018), which will be featured in the concert. Continue reading →

Tracing a Trio

Hannah Shilvock (clarinet/bass clarinet, year 3), Ellie Purvis (violin, year 3), and Adam Rean (piano, year 2) have formed the Woodnote Trio, playing together for their Ensemble performance module this year and performing in different venues around the region as well. We interviewed them to find out what their year has been like. The combination of clarinet, violin and piano is unusual. What are the challenges of playing in this formation? Ellie: Balance is quite tricky. Continue reading →

Celebrating Michael Finnissy

Last week staff, students and friends of the Department gathered for a special concert at Turner Sims to celebrate Michael Finnissy's twenty years as Professor of Composition at Southampton.  Postgraduate composer Joe Manghan was one of the performers: I’ve been studying at Southampton for almost 7 years now, and I’ve had several opportunities to participate in Finnissy projects. In 2012, I performed timpani in his completion of Mozart’s Requiem. Continue reading →

Triumph and Passion with the Bournemouth SO

Will Wilkins (year 3) reports on an exciting and enlightening visit to the BSO: Last Tuesday, January 23rd, it was my great pleasure to visit a Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra rehearsal at the Lighthouse in Poole as part of a delegation from the Southampton University Music Department. The orchestra were in their second day of rehearsals for their ‘Triumph and Passion’ concerts, which were performed in Poole, Portsmouth, and Exeter over the following three days. Continue reading →

Brilliant Bach with Blaze and Balding

Second year BA Music student and violinist Columba Dromgoole-Cavazzi describes her experience of performing in a recent performance project: In the lunchtime concert on Friday 24th November, the string workshop and early music ensemble worked together for a performance of Brandenburg’s Fourth Concerto, and the beautiful aria ‘Erbarme dich, mein gott’ from Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion. Continue reading →

New Turner Sims RUSH tickets

Turner Sims intern and third year student Sabine Russell introduces the new RUSH ticket scheme: Many music students will have noticed that a new Student Newsletter from Turner Sims landed in their inboxes a couple of weeks ago about a new RUSH ticket scheme. The idea for this initiative has come about to raise awareness of the free tickets made available by Turner Sims for their concert series. Continue reading →

Southampton Showcase

Final year BA Music and Management Science student and Showcase Intern Vicky Halloran updates us on developing Showcase and plans for the future: As someone with a head for business and a love of music, I was enthused by the opportunity of an internship which provides real-world business engagement in the music field. Continue reading →