Cardiff university school of music concerts 2013 14

2013/14

Cardiff University School of Music Concerts / Workshops / Lectures / Conferences

Atlantic Sounds

Contemporary Voices:

Pianos, Winds and Fresh Air

Music in Translation:

The Art of Arrangement

Welcome to Cardiff University’s new and newly shaped concert series! We are proud to present a genuinely innovative selection of concerts, showcasing fascinating music and exciting artists from around the world. This year, the series features three specially devised mini-festivals – Atlantic Sounds; Contemporary Voices; and Music in Translation – inspired by expertise from staff in the School of Music, in addition to concerts by the Carducci Quartet, and of course ‘the talent of the future’, Cardiff’s very own music students.

Music in Translation: The Art of Arrangement

Music, like language, has its art of translation – arrangements from one instrument to another, from the orchestra to the piano, or the operatic stage to the violin. And in arranging pieces of music, we discover hitherto hidden aspects of them: fresh perspectives on familiar pieces.

Our own ‘local’ international artists Kenneth Hamilton and Robin Stowell join forces with Colin Lawson, Director of the Royal College of Music, to present four captivating concerts juxtaposing original and arrangement: works by Bach, Busoni, Brahms, Gounod and many others. We simultaneously celebrate the bicentenaries of both Richard Wagner and Charles Valentin Alkan – friend of Chopin in 19th-century Paris, and composer of some of the most difficult and rewarding piano music ever written.

Series curator: Professor Kenneth

Hamilton

15 Oct, 19 Nov, 28 Jan, 11 Mar.

The Carducci Quartet

‘The Carducci Quartet played a blinder at the Wigmore Hall...playing of vivacity and constant rhythmic subtlety’ The StradBased in the UK, the Carducci Quartet is recognised as one of today’s most successful string quartets, performing over ninety concerts worldwide each year whilst running their own annual festival in Highnam, Glos and their own recording label Carducci Classics. Winners of many competitions at home and abroad, the Anglo-Irish Carducci quartet has established an enthusiastic international following. Recent tours have taken them to Spain, Ireland, Colombia, Australia and the USA, including appearances at Carnegie Hall and Washington DC’s library. Highly celebrated for their interpretations particularly of contemporary repertoire, the Carducci Quartet is regularly invited to premiere new works, and recent highlights include new string quartets by John McCabe and Huw Watkins, as well as oboe quintets by Michael Berkeley

and Sven-Ingo Koch which the Quartet performed with Nicholas Daniel.

8 Oct, 26 Nov, 1 April

Contemporary Voices: Pianos, Winds and Fresh Air

This series explores an array of intriguing new sonorities, blending traditional instruments with a fascinatingly colourful palette of electronics, multiple recorders, and even the Yamaha Disklavier! We are particularly pleased to present new works by our distinguished composition lecturers Arlene Sierra, whose PRSF New Music Biennial commission will be performed, and Robert Fokkens, whose debut CD, featuring the famous Fidelio Trio, is given an exciting launch in the opening concert.

Series curators: Dr Arlene Sierra and Dr Robert Fokkens

1 Oct, 29 Oct, 12 Nov, 18 Mar, 25 Mar.

Atlantic Sounds

Centuries of triangular movement of peoples between Europe, the Americas and Africa have left a rich and constantly evolving musical legacy, which we explore in this innovative and exciting series of concerts.

These evenings bring together musicians from around the Atlantic world. We start with the spectacular Ballet Nimba, whose master musicians and dancers hail from the Mande region in West Africa, and are led by Cardiff’s very own Idrissa Camara, originally from Guinea. Brazilian percussionist and composer Adriano Adewale will lead an ensemble steeped in musical currents between Brazil, Africa and Europe. The series closes with British jazz trumpeter Byron Wallen, whose post-bebop virtuosity overlays influences from around the Atlantic and beyond.

Series Curator: Dr Amanda Villepastour

19 Oct, 10 Dec, 11 Feb.

Helen Conway,

Concerts Administrator

Professor Kenneth Hamilton,

Chair, Concerts Committee

Cardiff University School of Music Concerts/Workshops/Lectures/Conferences 2013/14

Box office: 03700 10 10 51 Online Booking: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cardiffmusic 3

It gives me great pleasure, as the newly appointed Head of School, to introduce some of the most creative and gifted artists and composers in music today.

Our concert series will offer opportunities for you to engage with these musicians – not only to hear them play – and also reflects the research interests of staff in the School, many of whom will be offering their insights into the pieces performed in free talks, presentations and exhibitions.

We naturally take special pride in the performances given by our student choirs and orchestras, which this year include a vibrant celebration of the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten.

Professor Rachel Cowgill

Tue 1 October 7 p.m.

Contemporary Voices: Pianos, Winds and Fresh AirFidelio Trio

Cardiff University Concert Hall

Robert Fokkens, a portraitTracing Lines Irreconcilable Truths 9 Solitudes On Disruption and DisplacementMammals of Southern Africa (Fidelio Trio gratefully acknowledge support from The Radcliffe Trust)

The CD we will be launching tonight presents a number of my chamber works and one song, all written between 2001 and 2011. Over this ten-year period, I have explored a number of musical and cultural concerns from different angles and through a variety of instrumentations and musical forms, but always coming back to the same basic questions. Central to these is that of identity – exploring how musical styles and genres, cultural, social and geographical background, and non-musical personal experiences and interests are all reflected in the music one writes as much as in the person one is. So in the music you may hear traces of South African traditional music, the classical canon, jazz, American and British experimentalism, electronica and a range of other musics – or perhaps you will simply the hear the music that I have written in these ten years. Robert Fokkens

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50


Carducci Quartet Huw Watkins (piano)


Haydn String Quartet, op. 20 no. 4 Huw Watkins String QuartetBrahms Piano Quintet in F minor, op. 34

It gives the School of Music great pleasure to welcome back the Carducci Quartet for its sixth season as ensemble-in-residence. The Carduccis will give the Welsh première of Watkins’s quartet, composed for them, and they will be joined by Huw in a performance of Brahms’s Piano Quintet, a work which started life as a string quartet, was then recast as a sonata for two pianos and, finally, after a suggestion by the conductor Hermann Levi, became the piano quintet we know today. Levi wrote ‘The Quintet is beautiful beyond words. You have turned a monotonous work for two pianos into a thing of great beauty, a masterpiece of chamber music.’

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Sat 19 October 7 p.m.

Atlantic SoundsBallet Nimba


Back by popular demand, Ballet Nimba returns to the University’s Concert Hall with a trademark energetic and entertaining performance based on African Ballet. A tradition born in The Republic of Guinea, Ballet Nimba tells the mythologies and history of the region using artistic choreography made famous by Les Ballets Africains du Guinée.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50


Music in Translation:The Art of ArrangementKenneth Hamilton (piano) Robin Stowell (violin)


Fritz Kreisler Praeludium and Allegro Kreisler Liebesleid Kreisler/Rachmaninoff Liebesleid J.S.Bach Chaconne (from Partita in D minor) Bach/Busoni Chaconne Wagner/Wilhemj Prize Song from Die Meistersinger Wagner/Liszt ‘Am stillen Herd’ from Die Meistersinger Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata no.2 in A major, op. 100

In addition to leading the education of new generations of musicians, Professors Kenneth Hamilton and Robin Stowell are internationally renowned virtuosi. The first concert in the series ‘Music in Translation: The Art of Arrangement’ offers us an insight into how Brahms, Liszt, Busoni and Rachmaninoff refashioned the music both of contemporary composers and past masters.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50 students and under 18s free

October




TomkiFns ConsortWelsh Camerata ChoirJoe Bolger (countertenor)


Harmonious Murmur

Named after Thomas Tomkins, arguably the greatest Welsh-born composer of the Renaissance, the Tomkins Consort was formally founded in 2011 with the intent to raise the profile of Renaissance instrumental music across Wales and beyond. They have performed regularly at the annual Royal College of Music’s International Festival of Viols and been coached by members of Fretwork and the Rose Consort.

£10, £8, £3.50


Contemporary Voices: Pianos, Winds and Fresh Air Francoise-Green Piano Duo


Kenneth Hesketh 4 Diatoms György Ligeti Selbstporträt mit Reich und Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei) John Adams Hallelujah Junction Interspersed with selections of miniature pieces byGyörgy Kurtág (from Játékok)J.S. Bach (arr. Kurtág)Nicolas Bolens (from If)

The University is delighted to bring to Cardiff the Francoise-Green duo, winners of the 2013 Royal Overseas League competition. The Duo takes us from the four horsemen of the apocalypse to a truck stop on the California-Nevada border with a great deal more in between.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Sun 10 November 3 p.m.

Cardiff University Chamber Orchestra David Ponsford (conductor)


Purcell Chacony in G minor Bach Brandenburg Concerto no. 3Handel Concerto Grosso, op. 6 no. 5 Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite (1949 revision)

Following the Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Britten’s arrangement of Purcell’s Chacony in G minor, the Chamber Orchestra gives us an opportunity to listen to the original. David Ponsford has heard the Chacony played most often in a very sombre style. Prepare to be surprised! Two masterpieces of the Baroque from Handel and Bach lead us beautifully into Stravinsky’s exquisite arrangements of Pergolesi’s music, completed at Diaghilev’s request. Stravinsky called the experience of composing the suite ‘his discovery of the past’.

Tickets £5free entry for students and under 18s

Tue 12 November 7 p.m.

Contemporary Voices:Pianos, Winds and Fresh Air Consortium5Kate Macoboy (soprano)Adrian Horsewood (baritone)


‘Music is well said to be the speech of angels’ ~ Thomas CarlyleA concert of new and ancient music exploring the relationship between music, speech and words, and the closeness of the recorder to the human voice. Consortium5 performs sacred and secular vocal and instrumental works in inspirational new settings, joined by soprano Kate Macoboy and baritone Adrian Horsewood. This programme features an exquisite new work by Robert Fokkens on the theme of Pentecost, alongside a setting of the William Byrd Mass, Christopher Tye In Nomines, Tomas Luis de Victoria Marian Motets, L’Envoi by Cevanne Horrock-Hopayian (2013) and Luke Styles A Stratagem for Light (2011).

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Sat 2 November 7:30 p.m.

Cardiff University Chamber ChoirJohn Hugh Thomas (Director)Robert Court (organ)Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra Mark Eager (Conductor)

Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff

Britten Festival Te Deum Purcell arr Britten Chacony in G minor Purcell Funeral Music for Queen MaryBritten Wedding Anthem (Amo ergo sum) Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia Britten Sinfonia da Requiem, op. 20

Cardiff University Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra join forces to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s birth. Britten was fascinated by Purcell, as seen by his publication of many arrangements of works by the Baroque composer. This programme juxtaposes compositions by the two composers and takes a detour, via camel train, to central Russia.

Tickets £8, £5, £3.50

October

November



Wed 20 November 7 p.m.

Stile Antico


The Phoenix Rising

William Byrd O Lord, make thy servant Elisabeth Robert White Christe qui lux es Thomas Tallis Salvator mundi Orlando Gibbons Almighty and everlasting God William Byrd Kyrie and Gloria William Byrd Sanctus Thomas Morley Nolo mortem peccatoris Thomas Tallis In ieiunio et fletu Orlando Gibbons O clap your hands together Thomas Weelkes Gloria in excelsis Deo William Byrd Credo William Byrd Agnus DeiRobert White Portio mea John Taverner O splendor gloriae

‘An ensemble of breath-taking freshness, vitality and balance’ New York TimesThe current popularity of English Renaissance choral music owes much to the groundbreaking work of the Carnegie Trust, which celebrates its centenary in 2013. In 1922, the Trust inaugurated the Tudor Church Music edition – a series of hugely influential volumes, unearthing a wealth of extraordinary music that had languished unperformed for centuries. Stile Antico celebrates this remarkable legacy with a programme entirely drawn from these publications, including masterpieces by Taverner, Tallis, Gibbons and White. Crowning the programme is the exquisite five-part Mass by William Byrd.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50


Music in Translation: The Art of ArrangementKenneth Hamilton (piano)


Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano, op. 39Chopin Études from op. 25

2013 is the bicentenary of Charles-Valentin Morhange, aka Alkan. Who, you may ask? In a recent interview, Kenneth Hamilton described Alkan as follows: ‘He was an artistic extremist, there is no doubt about that, and an uneven genius (the same is also true of every great 19th–century keyboard composer apart from Chopin), but at his best, Alkan could match Chopin and Liszt note for note.’ Alkan’s Concerto for solo piano – one of the most difficult pieces ever written for the instrument – is undoubtedly this fascinating composer’s greatest work

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50 free entry for students and under 18s


Carducci Quartet


Haydn String Quartet, op. 33 no. 6Shostakovich String Quartet no. 4Beethoven String Quartet, op. 59 no. 2

There is a distinct Russian theme to this evening’s programme. Haydn’s op. 33 no. 6 quartet has several nicknames, the most common one being ‘Russian’. It was dedicated to Grand Duke Paul of Russia and premiered in his wife’s Viennese apartments on Christmas Day 1781. And so to a quartet composed in Russia by a Russian. Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 4 asks many questions, but, in his usual way, Shostakovich does not provide any easy answers. Beethoven dedicated his three op. 59 quartets to Count Razumovsky, Russian ambassador to Vienna from 1792, and in the quartet to be performed this evening you might spot a Russian folk melody in the third movement.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Tue 10 December 7 p.m.

Atlantic SoundsAdriano Adewale Cardiff University Concert Hall

Brazilian born Adriano says ‘Sound is always in the air... We pass by it, we see it and sometimes we play with it. This is the world of sound, it is all part of that great music, the song within us, which makes us move and feel.’ Whether performing with the Britten Sinfonia or Bobby McFerrin or on stage with his own band, Adriano gives extraordinary performances and we are delighted to bring him and his band to Cardiff.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Tue 3 December 7 p.m.

Cardiff University Contemporary Music Group Robert Fokkens (director)


‘Something New from Africa’

The CMG presents a concert celebrating contemporary music by African composers.

Tickets £5free entry for students and under 18s

November

December



December

January

FebruaryFri 13 December 7:30 p.m.

Cardiff University Symphony Chorus Dominic Neville (conductor)Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra Mark Eager (conductor)

City Hall, Cardiff

Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite, op.71aParry ‘I was glad’Finzi ‘Lo the full, final sacrifice’Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1919)

The University’s Symphony Chorus is excited to perform Parry’s much-loved coronation anthem, and intrigued to perform a work of deep intensity, commissioned from Gerald Finzi, a self-confessed agnostic, by the Reverend William Hussey. The Symphony Orchestra has two Russian masterpieces to perform, both originally composed as ballet music. The Festive Season without the Sugar Plum Fairy? Unthinkable!

Tickets £10, £8, £4.00

Sat 14 December 7:30 p.m.

Cardiff University Chamber Choir John Hugh Thomas (conductor) Robert Court (organ)

All Saints Church, Oystermouth

Britten Festival Te Deum Purcell Funeral Music for Queen Mary Britten Wedding Anthem Britten ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’ Britten Choral Dances from Gloriana

Continuing the School of Music’s celebration of Britten’s 100th birthday, the Chamber Choir takes to the road. Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb was commissioned by the same Reverend Hussey mentioned above. From wedding music for friends and operas to celebrate coronations, Britten’s music has never waned in popularity since it was first written and Purcell’s music has also proved itself evergreen. Queen Mary II died on 28 December 1694 and Purcell composed the music for her funeral in 1695, little knowing that he would die the very same year and that parts of the work would also be played at his funeral.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Tue 11 February 7 p.m.

Atlantic SoundsByron Wallen’s Indigo Quartet


From Ronnie Scott’s to the National Theatre, from Budapest to Turin, Byron Wallen is in demand. The School is delighted that he is bringing his award-winning Indigo Quartet to Cardiff to play their mix of jazz- and African/Eastern-influenced music on our stage as part of the Atlantic Sounds series of concerts.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Tue 18 February 7 p.m.

Student Performance Showcase


Teaching and research are cornerstones of the work of the School of Music, both of which have been rated as internationally excellent and world-leading. All students who study with us have the opportunity to continue to develop their performance skills, which means that tonight you are in for a feast of instrumentalists, vocalists, solos, duos, trios and more.

Free entry. All welcome!

Tue 28 January 7 p.m.

Music in Translation: The Art of ArrangementKenneth Hamilton (piano)


Piano and Song

Gounod/Liszt Hymn to St Cecilia Ronald Stevenson Fantasy on Britten’s opera Peter GrimesSchubert/Liszt ‘Leise flehen meine Lieder’ Rossini/Thalberg Fantasy on themes from the opera MosesSchumann/Liszt ‘Widmung’ Bizet/Busoni Carmen FantasyGounod/Liszt Waltz from the opera Faust

According to Kenneth Hamilton, Liszt was ‘the greatest “arranger” in the history of music’. Schumann said about Liszt’s transcriptions that ‘when arrangement gets this good, it is indistinguishable from original composition’, emphasising the fact that transcriptions are in no way pale imitations of the originals. When preparing to play transcriptions, Hamilton says he is always thinking of either the way a piece would have been sung or played by an orchestra, because ‘that spurs the imagination to create a greater variety of tone colours’. Come and find out what he means.




Tue 4 March 7 p.m.

Cardiff University Contemporary Music GroupRob Fokkens (director)


‘British Voices II’

Cardiff University’s CMG continues its survey of contemporary British vocal music. This concert focuses on works by living female composers.

Tickets £5 free entry for students and under 18s

Sun 2 March 3 p.m.

Cardiff University Chamber OrchestraDavid Ponsford (conductor)Robert Plane (clarinet)


Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, K622Beethoven Symphony no. 8, op. 93

Composed in the last year of his life, two months before his death in fact, Mozart’s exquisite work for clarinet and orchestra balances and mixes the soloist and ensemble masterfully. Although at the time of composing his Eighth Symphony Beethoven was becoming increasingly deaf and suffering trials and tribulations in his personal life, there is a light-hearted and cheerful tone to this piece. When asked by his pupil, Carl Czerny, why the Eighth Symphony was less popular than the Seventh, Beethoven is quoted as replying ‘because the Eighth is so much better’. Come and find out whether you agree with Beethoven!

Tickets £8, £5free entry for students and under 18s

Tue 11 March 7 p.m.

Music in Translation: The Art of ArrangementKenneth Hamilton (piano) Colin Lawson (clarinet)


Johannes BrahmsVariations and Fugue on a theme of Handel Clarinet Sonata no.1 in F minor Johannes Brahms/Ferruccio Busoni Three Chorale Preludes Clarinet Sonata no. 2 in E flat major

The School of Music is delighted to welcome Colin Lawson to Cardiff. Currently Director of the Royal College of Music, Professor Lawson has a distinguished career as both an orchestral and solo clarinettist, and is described as ‘a brilliant, absolutely world-class player’ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. Joining forces with Kenneth Hamilton ‘an outstanding virtuoso – one of the finest players of his generation’ Moscow Kommersant, for a concert of Brahms’s music, we will hear how Brahms takes Handel’s aria and turns it, according to Brahms’s biographer Jan Swafford, into ‘a masterful unfolding of ideas’. Putting the boot on the other foot, Busoni takes six of Brahms’s chorale preludes for organ (we will hear three this evening) and transcribes them for piano. A wonderful evening of Brahms’s finest music.


Tue 25 March 7 p.m.

Contemporary Voices:Pianos, Winds and Fresh Airrarescale


Carla Rees’s digital acoustic ensemble rarescale has been instrumental in bringing new music for alto flute to an international stage. This concert celebrates their 10th year with a programme of rich contrasts including works by Bruno Maderna, Michael Oliva, Robert Fokkens, Luciano Berio and J.S. Bach.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Tue 18 March 7 p.m.

Contemporary Voices: Pianos, Winds and Fresh AirXenia Pestova Clare Hammond Kathleen Supove (piano)


Urban Birds

Built around Urban Birds, Arlene Sierra’s new work for three pianos with electronics, sampled birdsong and percussion, this evening’s concert is a tour de force of keyboard virtuosity juxtaposing harmony, rhythmic drive, and sounds from nature in a powerful and engaging way. The project brings together three acclaimed keyboard soloists: Clare Hammond, Xenia Pestova and Kathleen Supove, combining acoustic piano, digital piano, electronics, percussion and sampled birdsong in an enticing mix.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

March



March

April

Sat 29 March 7 p.m.

Lanee – the University’s African drumming ensemble


Cardiff University’s African ensemble reaches the end of its first year as a group with a concert packed with dancing, drumming and general high spirits.


Tue 1 April 7 p.m.

Carducci Quartet Craig Ogden (guitar)


Boccherini Fandango Quintet Turina La oración del torero [The Toreador’s Prayer], op. 34 Django Reinhardt arr. Roland Dyens Nuages Gary Ryan Rondo Rodeo (Solo Guitar) Piazzolla Four for Tango Piazzolla Five Tango Sensations

From fandango to tango, from Andalusia to Argentina, the Carducci Quartet with their special guest, acclaimed guitarist Craig Ogden, perform works running the spectrum from fiery and energetic to sensuous.

Tickets £10, £8, £3.50

Tue 8 April 7 p.m.

Cardiff University Contemporary Music Group


End of year showcase!

Cardiff University CMG presents the latest works by postgraduate and undergraduate composition students in the School of Music.


Thurs 10 April 7:30 p.m.

Cardiff University Symphony Chorus Dominic Neville (conductor)Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra Mark Eager (conductor)

St David’s Hall, Cardiff

Liszt Totentanz, Paraphrase on Dies iraeRichard Strauss ‘Wandrer’s Sturmlied’Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

Liszt had a fascination with death, to which pieces such as Totentanz, Funérailles, La lugubre gondola bear testimony. Totentanz is notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies irae as well as for daring stylistic innovations. Goethe’s poem telling the story of the poet, who wanders through a storm thinking of his beloved, asking his Genius, rather than God, to protect him from the storm, is the text of Strauss’s ‘Wandrer’s Sturmlied’, written in 1884, but the music was influenced by Brahms, specifically Brahms’s ‘Gesang des Parzens’. So from death to storm to unrequited love, we arrive at Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Berlioz fell in love with Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, after attending a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Paris with her in the role of Ophelia. He sent her numerous love letters, all of which went unanswered. When she left Paris they had still not met. It was premiered in Paris on 5 December 1830; Harriet was not present!

Tickets £10. Concessions are available, please contact St David’s Hall for details.

Fri 4 April 7:30 p.m.

Cardiff University Chamber Choir John Hugh Thomas (conductor)

Llandaff Cathedral

Mondonville De Profundis Bach Christ lag in Todesbanden Vivaldi Nulla in mundo pax sincera Mondonville Dominus Regnavit

Mondonville, Bach and Vivaldi were contemporaries and all composed music to be performed in sacred spaces. The Chamber Choir is delighted to return to Llandaff Cathedral to sing an exquisite programme of Baroque works. It may seem strange to us now, but after their deaths their music was to a greater or lesser degree forgotten. It was not until the early 19th century that Bach’s music was revived, Vivaldi’s in the 20th century and Mondonville not until the late 20th century. Luckily, here we are in the 21st century and we can enjoy them all.

Tickets £8, £5free entry for students and under 18s



Tue 6 May 7 p.m.

Hearing Enchantment: Music through Theosophy

Fry Street Quartet


Pre-concert talk by Professor Rachel Cowgill (Cardiff) and Dr Christopher Scheer (Utah State University), John Foulds Aquarelles (Music-Pictures Group II), op. 32 Cyril Scott String Quartet, no. 2 (1958) Beethoven String Quartet in F, op. 59 no. 1

The Fry Street Quartet explores the connections between music and Theosophy as part of the Leverhulme-funded network Enchanted Modernities, Theosophy and the Arts, 1875-1960. This will include rarely heard works from the twentieth-century British composers Cyril Scott and John Foulds. Scott found inspiration in the writings of Theosophical Society founder Helena Blavatsky, and Foulds worked for a time on behalf of the Society as director of music at the London headquarters. The concert will close with the music of Beethoven, a favourite topic for discussion in Theosophical journals and one of the composers often celebrated by Theosophists.


May

Enchanted Modernities: Theosophy, Modernism and the Arts, c. 1875-1960Head of School, Professor Rachel Cowgill, has teamed up with colleagues from York, Utah State, Columbia Universities and the Universities of Nottingham and Amsterdam to investigate links between modernist arts and new forms of spirituality in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries in a three-year project funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Bringing together scholars who are experts on the visual arts, music, sound and literature from all over the world, the project will explore what the visual, material and performing arts can tell us about the relationships between Theosophy, modernity and mysticism c. 1875-1960. Researchers in the network will examine where and how artists, writers and performers came into contact with Theosophy and related mystical practices, and how Theosophical ideas, especially those of key figures in the Society in this period, such as Helena Blavatsky and Annie Besant, were given material, visual and audible form and shape. Founded in 1875 in New York, the Theosophical Society quickly went global, attracting a cosmopolitan community of adherents worldwide. Often treated as a footnote in modern cultural history, there has been very little research about why this esoteric organisation was so popular with artists, musicians and writers in this period and, furthermore, what impact it had on their artistic endeavours. The purpose of this international and interdisciplinary network is to bring together scholars to develop new understanding of the interconnections between mysticism and modernism across the arts.

The project will deliver a range of significant outcomes including:• aninternationalnetworkofscholars;• internationalresearcheventsincludingconferences,symposia,concertsandworkshops;• amuch-neededresourcehubforresearchers;• adisplayofarchivalmaterial,bothphysicalanddigital,fromtheFoulds/MacCarthyArchiveCollectionattheBorthwickInstituteforArchives,

University of York;• amajorexhibitionofTheosophicallyinspiredvisualartandinnovativesoundinstallationsthatdrawsonthepermanentartcollectionatthe

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University;• aEuropeanTourofmusicinspiredbyTheosophybytheFryStreetQuartet.

The Fry Street Quartet’s performance of 6 May is the first in a series of three concerts drawing on the work of the Enchanted Modernities Network. In 2014 the University Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform a newly edited version of John Foulds and Maud MacCarthy’s A World Requiem (1919–21), written to commemorate those who fell in the Great War of 1914–19 and to console those who mourned them. Addressed to ‘the bereaved of all countries’, this internationalist music of mourning took its inspiration from theosophical visions of art that transcended national and denominational spiritual boundaries. It was performed at the first Festivals of Remembrance to be held by The British Legion at the Royal Albert Hall in the mid 1920s and except for a single performance in 2007 this colossal and moving score remains almost entirely unperformed. This is the first of several events the School of Music is planning as part of the First World War Commemoration in 2014–19.

Also in 2014 the University Orchestra will perform Scriabin’s Prometheus: A Poem of Fire (1910), an extraordinary, voluptuous orchestral work with a programme based on theosophical teachings and detailed instructions for lighting displays coming together in an immersive, spiritual and multisensory audience experience.



Contact Booking Information

Create your own series, we have a variety of ways in which you can.

Dress code? There isn’t one. Come as you are: jeans, ball gowns, trainers, Manolos...it doesn’t matter to us – we are always pleased to see you. Sit where you like; don’t stand on ceremony. Relax with friends.

There’s a lot to choose from, but we make it easy for you to create your own series. If you would like to try the whole series (with a few exceptions,*see below) you can obtain a 20% discount when you book the series in one go. Any of this season’s set of mini-series – The Carducci Quartet, Atlantic Sounds, Contemporary Voices and Music in Translation – can be yours for a 15% discount each.

You can book:

In person Subject to availability, tickets can be obtained at all venues immediately prior to each concert.Box office opening hours:At the University Concert Hall, Llandaff Cathedral, City Hall (Cardiff), All Saints Church (Oystermouth) the box office will open 45 minutes before each concert. St David’s Hall, Cardiff - please check box office opening hours with the venue.*

By phone For concerts at Cardiff University Concert Hall, Llandaff Cathedral, City Hall (Cardiff), All Saints Church (Oystermouth) tickets are available from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Audience Line’s bi-lingual box office on 03700 10 10 51 Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.For St David’s Hall 10 April 2014 tickets will be available by calling 029 2087 8444 in late 2013.*

Online For concerts at Cardiff University Concert Hall, Llandaff Cathedral, City Hall (Cardiff), All Saints Church (Oystermouth) our secure online booking service is available at www.ticketsource.co.uk/cardiffmusic (A booking fee is charged by the service provider.)For St David’s Hall 10 April 2014 visit www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk*

Concessions are available for senior citizens, registered disabled and a companion.

How to find us:

Cardiff University School of Music 31 Corbett Road Cardiff CF10 3EB concerts.cf.ac.uk www.cardiff.ac.uk/music

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School of Music

University Buildings

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John Bird Lectures 2013-14: Boyd Lecture Theatre, Music Building. Free entry. All welcome.

Oct

8 David Hunter University of Texas, Austin Handel, Slavery and the New World of Financial Capitalism

15 John Pickard University of Bristol Tenebrae (UK Premiere by BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 2013)

22 Bob White University of Montreal Encounters and Non-Encounters in the Wonderful World of World Music

29 Bettina Varwig King's College London Beware the Lamb: Staging Bach's Passions

Nov

12 Arlene Sierra Cardiff University TBA

19 Roger Savage University of California, Los Angeles TBA

26 Lucy Durán and Geoffrey Baker

SOAS, University of London and University of Oxford

Growing into Music in Mali: Da Kali, the Pledge to the Art of the Griot

Dec

3 Justin Williams University of Bristol Maria Schneider, Digital Patronage and Artist-Fan Interactivity

Jan

28 Monika Hennemann Cardiff University Oratorio and Drama: Operatic Staging of Oratorios in the Romantic Era

Feb

4 Sarah Hill Cardiff University Psychedelia and its High Other

11 Michael Spitzer University of Liverpool Measuring Emotional Response for a Bach Sonata

18 Stephen Downes University of Surrey On the Musical Sentimental: Reconsidering a Debased Category in Modernism

25 Mathieu SchneiderDorothea Redepennig

Université de StrasbourgRuprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

TBA

Mar

11 Colin Quigley University of Limerick The Gypsy Musicians of Soporu, Central Transylvania: At Home and Away over Twenty Years

18 Tobias Plebuch Humboldt-Universität Berlin TBA

April

1 John Morgan O'Connell Cardiff University Concert Platform: A Stage for a Style in Turkish Music (1930-1933)

03700 10 10 51concerts.cf.ac.uk

Cardiff University School of Music Concert Series 2013/14

Date Artist Repertoire

Oct 1 Fidelio Trio Robert Fokkens

Oct 8 Carducci Quartet/Huw Watkins (piano) Haydn, Huw Watkins, Brahms

Oct 15 Kenneth Hamilton/Robin Stowell Kreisler, Kreisler/Rachmaninoff, J.S. Bach, Bach/Busoni, Wagner/Wilhemj, Wagner/Liszt, Brahms

Oct 19 Ballet Nimba Music from Guinée

Oct 22 Tomkins Consort, Welsh Camerata Choir Music for viols

Oct 29 Francoise-Green Piano Duo Hesketh, Ligeti, Adams, Kurtág, Bolens, J.S. Bach

Nov 2 Cardiff University Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra Purcell arr.Britten, Borodin, Britten, Purcell

Nov 10 Cardiff University Chamber Orchestra Purcell, Handel, Bach, Stravinsky

Nov 12 Consortium5 Byrd, Fokkens, Tye, Victoria, Horrock-Hopayian, Styles

Nov 19 Kenneth Hamilton Alkan, Chopin, Chopin/Liszt

Nov 20 Stile Antico Byrd, Tallis, Thomas Morley, Gibbons, Robert White, Thomas Weelkes, John Taverner

Nov 26 Carducci Quartet Haydn, Shostakovich, Beethoven

Dec 3 CMG Something new from Africa

Dec 10 Adriano Adewale African-influenced jazz and blues

Dec 13 Cardiff University Symphony Chorus and Orchestra Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Stravinsky, Finzi, Parry

Dec 14 Cardiff University Chamber Choir Britten, Purcell

Jan 28 Kenneth Hamilton Gounod/Liszt, Schubert/Liszt, Schumann/Liszt, Rossini/Thalberg, Ronald Stevenson, Bizet/Busoni

Feb 11 Byron Wallen Jazz- and African/Eastern-inspired music

Feb 18 Student Performance Showcase

Mar 2 Cardiff University Chamber Orchestra with Robert Plane Mozart, Beethoven

Mar 4 CMG British Voices II – works by living female composers

Mar 11 Kenneth Hamilton/Colin Lawson Brahms

Mar 18 Xenia Pestova, Clare Hammond, Kathleen Supove Sierra – Urban Birds

Mar 25 rarescale Maderna, Oliva, Fokkens, Berio and J.S. Bach

Mar 29 Lanee African-inspired performance

April 1 Carducci Quartet, Craig Ogden (guitar) Turina, Reinhardt, Ryan, Piazzolla, Boccherini

April 4 Cardiff University Chamber Choir Mondonville, Bach, Vivaldi

April 8 CMG composition showcase Student compositions

April 10 Cardiff University Symphony Chorus and Orchestra Liszt, Richard Strauss, Berlioz

May 6 Fry Street Quartet Foulds, Scott, Beethoven

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Cardiff university school of music concerts 2013 14

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