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Performance, Page 6

Improving Verses for Children

Concert at Chawton House, 11th December 2015   David Owen Norris, Professor of Music Performance, says:  Our concert at Chawton went down well. It marked the 150th Anniversary of Edward Loder's death by presenting some of his settings of Isaac Watts's improving verses for children, best known today from their parodies in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Watts was born in Southampton. Continue reading →

The Hoosiers Session

Music finalist Jamie Wall reports on a collaboration between The Edge, SUSUtv and Music, bringing bands into the Music Department studios for live sessions to be broadcast on SUSUtv. From the start of this academic year I have been working alongside people from The Edge magazine and SUSUtv on a project called ‘The Edge Sessions’. Continue reading →

Liane Carroll and Julian Joseph workshops

 Thomas Seltz, Head of Jazz and Pop, reports on fantastic visits from great performers: The jazz pianist and singer Liane Carroll took to the stage with jazz and pop performance students on Friday 20 November 2015 for a workshop prior to her amazing performance in Turner Sims with Harvey Brough and the University of Southampton Voices in Songs in the Theme of Love. She covered areas of musicianship and performance relating to original compositions and jazz standards. Continue reading →

The Fraser-Jackson Project

Final year composer, Camilla Aldridge, tells us about the experience of working on a recent composition project with soprano Juliet Fraser and clarinetist Tom Jackson: On Friday 4th December, an audience gathered in Turner Sims to watch Juliet Fraser and Tom Jackson perform works by finalist composers in a concert of new music that came to be called ‘The Fraser-Jackson Project’. Continue reading →

Launching Sound Heritage

A couple of weeks ago heritage professionals, historical performance experts and music academics came to Southampton for the inaugural meeting of Sound Heritage, a new project on music in English country houses of the 18th and 19th centuries. Network leader Professor Jeanice Brooks tells us about the day: Country houses have special place in British culture, and with the huge success of movies and television dramas like 'Downton Abbey', more people than ever before are interested in them. Continue reading →

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 →

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

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 →