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Performance, Page 8

The Cello Suites and Mrs Bach

PhD researcher Nadya Markovska reflects on controversies of authorship and what this says about our attitudes to performance and composition: Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello (BWV 1007-1012) are among the most famous pieces in the canon of Western music. Recent claims by the Australian researcher Martin Jarvis about their authorship have become a media sensation, causing heated scholarly debates in normally restrained musicological circles. 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

Ensemble Fractales in Southampton

A special guest blog from Hannah Reardon-Smith, the flautist in Ensemble Fractales, who recently visited Southampton as part of a collaborative project with some of our PhD composers: Ensemble Fractales from the MaNaMa contemporary music master course in Ghent, Belgium, recently had the opportunity to visit the University of Southampton to work with three of the young composers there. 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 →