3 minute read
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE YEAR
44
BACH PROJECT COMPLETED
Fellow in Music Francis Knights has finished the last of 21 recitals performing the complete keyboard works of Bach, which has taken three and a half years and involved learning some 300,000 notes.
This is the first ever complete series of these works on the clavichord, the most common domestic keyboard instrument of 18th century Germany. The project also generated about a dozen conference papers and articles related to organology, stylistic development and performance practice. Last year Francis finished a 30-concert cycle of the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, and he is now working on a series of programmes of German keyboard music from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Bhaskar Vira, Fitzwilliam College Fellow, Graduate Tutor and Director of Studies in Geography, gave the 2019 Foundation Lecture ‘From the Himalayas to the Fens: Towards a Political Economy of Environment and Development’ in November. The Professor of Political Economy, Head of the Department of Geography, and Founding Director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute shared his thoughts about the difficult choices and trade-offs associated with balancing the needs of humans and nature, and working towards a sustainable future for people and the planet.
GREEN IMPACT AWARD
Fitzwilliam College was awarded a 2019-20 Green Impact Gold Colleges Award for demonstrating commitment to reducing our environmental impact. Green Impact is the University of Cambridge’s environmental accreditation scheme. It supports and encourages colleges and departments across the University in reducing their environmental impacts.
Hero Chalmers, Fitzwilliam College Fellow Environmental Officer, said: “The work that went into achieving this started long before we began the formal process of working towards the award. Many individuals and departments in College have been embedding more environmentally sustainable practices for years and this award is a splendid acknowledgement of that work.”
A NEW ROLE FOR NICKY PADFIELD
Life Fellow and former Master of Fitzwilliam College Nicky Padfield is the new Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge.
Nicky said: “My immediate priority is to listen. This is a new role, and before we can develop a defined ’strategy’ on EDI matters we must listen hard to staff and students and evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We need too to work hard to keep communicating our existence, reminding all staff, students, and committees that the Faculty aims to be fully committed to improving our equality and diversity and inclusion culture and practices.”
BLOOMING FLOWERS
“The bright yellow of a marigold and the cheerful red of a geranium, the evocative fragrance of a lotus or a saffron-infused paella—there is no end of reasons to love flowers.
Ranging through the centuries and across the globe, Kasia Boddy looks at the wealth of floral associations that has been passed down in perfumes, poems, and paintings; in the design of buildings, clothes, and jewelry; in songs, TV shows, and children’s names; and in nearly every religious, social, and political ritual.” (Yale Books)
We gave a flavour of Fitz Fellow, Kasia’s work on 1st May: https:// www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/news/may-dayflowers
TRADEWINDS, SUSAN STOCKWELL
MIGRANT KNOWLEDGE, EARLY MODERN AND BEYOND
Migrant Knowledge, Early Modern and Beyond, took place at Kettle’s Yard and Fitzwilliam College in September 2019. It was convened by Fitzwilliam Fellow Subha Mukherji, as well as Rowan Williams, Natalya Din-Kariuki and Carla Suthren.
People, things, ideas and languages have crossed borders since the earliest of times. Such passages have entailed epistemic shifts and encounters, transactions and transformations. A Crossroads of Knowledge initiative, this public event brought together scholars, artists and activists to think about migration and what it does with, and to, knowledge. 45
