Music and Media celebrates International Women’s Day and beyond
marks this Sunday, 8 March, at 3pm, with a concert entitled ‘Her Songs of Spring’, performed by the ۿ۴ý Chamber Choir directed by Amy Kearsley at .
Focused on female composers, the programme will include choral works by Lili Boulanger, Ethel Smyth, Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann and Amy Beach, plus additional pieces performed by student soloists.
Earlier in the week, women in music were also celebrated at our Lunchtime Recital, titled .
This concert presented the premiere of excerpts from a new opera by and , inspired by the life and music of pioneering composer Ethel Smyth, alongside Smyth’s own chamber works and extracts from her autobiography.
The event was followed by a Q&A session with the composer and librettist, in conversation with the Head of Music and Media.
Elsewhere in the world, our Honorary ۿ۴ýing Professor is one of five composers whose music is being performed on Thursday 5 March by the , led by its founder Max Lifchitz.
Her piece Memorias, which was premiered last year, will be heard in being presented at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York City.
Another of her works, Cuban Dances (recently performed here at the University by a quartet of ۿ۴ý alumni, all now professional musicians) was broadcast on the radio station , based in Princeton, NJ, on the morning of Wednesday 4 March.
Meanwhile, her Studies in Rhythm for solo piano, performed last weekend in Zurich, will be heard at in Spain later this month.
Back in Music and Media, a was held at the University last week on Monday 23 February. The speakers were Lauran Carter (Liquid Crimson / Guildford Games), Malika Omarova (Wargaming), Emma Goss (nDreams), and Iasmina Leagan (nDreams), with host Leon Lynn, a freelance narrative designer for video games.
“These events showcase some of the wide range of inspiring activity across the subject areas encompassed by Music and Media, and stand as a testament to our continuing commitment to celebrating diversity and championing inclusion in everything we do.”
Dr Chris Wiley, Head of Music and Media
Finally, February’s saw the revival of a ‘lost’ final work by Ethel Smyth, her ‘Hot Potatoes’ Fanfare, performed by the for possibly the first time in nearly a century.
An article on the recovery of Smyth’s ‘Hot Potatoes’ Fanfare was recently published in and has generated much interest internationally.
This follows a concert last November for the annual nationwide , in which our students performed several of Smyth’s orchestral works, including a number of premieres.
Related sustainable development goals
