MusM Newsletter 2015

MusM NEWSLETTER JULY 2015

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Congratulations on having been offered a place on one of our MusM programmes here at the University of Manchester. We very much hope that we will have the pleasure of welcoming you as a new member of our music community in September.

In the pages that follow you will find a mixture of practical things, such as suggestions for preparatory reading and listening, and news of some of our current students and staff.

We hope this will help you feel as if you know us a little better by the time you arrive in Manchester.

You will continue to receive information about technicalities such as the arrival and registration process from the School Admissions Office, headed by Andy Rigg. You may also be hearing from our programme administrator, Rosie Faulkner.

Should you have any academic-related queries about your chosen programme, the individual programme directors are: MusM Composition – Dr Richard Whalley Richard.Whalley@manchester.ac.uk MusM Electroacoustic Composition – Prof. Ricardo Climent Ricardo.Climent@manchester.ac.uk MusM Musicology – Prof. David Fanning David.Fanning@manchester.ac.uk

Warm regards, Caroline Bithell caroline.bithell@manchester.ac.uk 2

CONTENTS PREPARATORY READING AND LISTENING

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SPOTLIGHT ON OUR STUDENTS

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OTHER STAFF NEWS

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COURSE UNIT DETAILS

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1 IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY The main thing to note is that Welcome Week begins on Monday 21 September with a series of introductory talks and meetings. Some classes may also have an initial meeting that week. The teaching term proper then begins on Monday 28 September.

PREPARATORY READING AND LISTENING Here are a few suggestions for summer reading and listening for some of our semester one modules. Whilst not being compulsory, some reading/listening ahead of time will help smooth your path through your busy first weeks.

Musicology: Current Issues in Musicology David Beard and Kenneth Gloag, Musicology: The Key Concepts (Routledge, 2005).

Nicholas Cook and Mark Everist (eds.), Rethinking Music (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Giles Hooper, The Discourse of Musicology (Ashgate, 2006).

If you really want to branch out, take a look at this and see what catches your eye: https://taruskinchallenge.wordpress.com/musicology-must-reads-2/ Composition: Contemporary Music Studies Listening to works by the following would be useful preparation: Boulez, Ligeti, Berio, Carter, Maxwell Davies, Birtwistle, Ferneyhough, Lachenmann. Feldman and Murail.

Composers and Electroacoustic composers will be hearing directly from their programme directors and Head of Composition.

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2 SPOTLIGHT ON OUR STUDENTS Manchester Wakes: Workers at Play In May, electroacoustic composition MA students James Bagshaw, Falk Morawitz and Guillaume Dujat performed their latest electroacoustic portfolio works in the domed central Reading Room at the newly reopened Central Library for the finale of the Manchester Wakes event. As part of the composition process, they had recorded the Impulse Response of the building and then used the geometry and acoustics of the venue to inform their work in the studios before returning the sounds, as compositions, to their original location and diffusing them using an 8channel surround system.

Chia-Ying Lin (graduate of the MusM Composition) Having originally come to Manchester from her native Taiwan to study for the MusM, ChiaYing is now undertaking a PhD in Composition.

She was recently awarded third prize in the international Sibelius Composition Competition for her piece Ink and Wash.

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3 SPOTLIGHT ON OUR STUDENTS Karthika Devarakonda (MusM Musicology) Karthika has just arrived back from a short return visit to India, where she was awarded a prestigious Government of India Scholarship to Young Artistes for excellence in South Indian (Carnatic) classical music. She will be spending the summer working on her dissertation on women in Indian music.

Ellie Sherwood (MusM Musicology Alongside her studies as a part-time student (she’ll still be here next year!), Ellie has had a busy diary playing with her klezmer band, L’Chaim Kapelye. She writes: ‘Being part of the music department at university has made it very easy to share my learning experience with a variety of people. I have learnt how to apply my academic ethnomusicological knowledge to my performance of klezmer music both inside and outside the university, and I have also gained confidence in organising klezmer-related events in Manchester.’ Recent highlights have included a joint concert at The Slug and Lettuce in Didsbury (see photo: Ellie is in the middle and on the far right is Dan, another part-time MusM Musicology student).

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4 James Nissen (graduate of the MusM Musicology) James completed the MusM with a Distinction and is now in the first year of his PhD here at Manchester, supported by a full AHRC award. He has a busy summer ahead – attending the WOMAD Festival (the subject of his PhD) and then undertaking a study trip to India with the help of a university scholarship. James says of the MusM: ‘The course here at Manchester manages to achieve a perfect balance between establishing holistic foundations and encouraging personal specialisation.

The coursework assignments present challenging, open -ended questions that really encourage original thinking. ... The highlight for me was the personal relationships you form with academics and fellow students. Hearing the ‘stories’ behind the research of leading academics in the field is a truly mesmerising experience, as is going to a Mande griot concert in Manchester’s Northern Quarter with a world expert on the music!

Over the course of the year, you will find that your supervisors become your guides, advocates and friends; it will never cease to amaze you how much they will go out of their way to help you flourish.’

Jose Puello (graduate of the MusM Composition) After completing the MusM, Jose also stayed on to do a PhD at Manchester. He writes: ‘The University of Manchester has a great and vibrant music department. The opportunities to get your music performed are wide ranging. The ensembles-in-residence are great assets that really stand out and complement the ethos of the department perfectly. My compositions have all been influenced by my experiences here, from seminars and supervisions to concerts and workshops. Among the highlights of my time here have been the many informal discussions with my peers in the corridors, foyer and cafes. I have also been able to teach composition classes both at the university and in private schools. The city of Manchester, with its three professional orchestras and many chamber music ensembles, offers a great number of stylistically diverse concerts. Best of all, nothing is too far!’

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5 OTHER STAFF NEWS – A FEW HIGHLIGHTS New Sounds from Manchester: Quatuor Danel [Insert New Sounds image] This new CD features string quartets by University of Manchester composers John Casken, Philip Grange, Camden Reeves and Richard Whalley. The works are brilliantly performed by our quartet-in-residence, the Quatuor Danel, hailed by reviewers for their ‘excellent feel for contemporary modernism and fine musicianship’. Our MA composers also have the opportunity to write for the Danels.

Susan Rutherford Susan Rutherford appeared in the television documentary La Traviata: Love, Death and Divas, which aired on BBC2 on 20 June and was nominated ‘Pick of the Day’ in The Guardian.

Throughout the production period Susan acted as a consultant on the programme, which drew heavily on her research into Verdi's operas, including her latest monograph, Verdi, Opera, Women.

Caroline Bithell In April, Caroline gave the final keynote talk at the international Giving Voice Festival hosted by Falmouth University. The theme for the festival, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary, was in part inspired by Caroline’s new book, A Different Voice, A Different Song: Reclaiming Community through the Natural Voice and World Song (OUP, 2014).

Caroline will be spending the autumn term carrying out new fieldwork in Georgia (Caucasus) before returning to teach in semester 2.

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6 Katia Chornik As part of her Leverhulme-funded research project ‘Sounds of Memory: Music and Political Activity in Pinochet’s Chile’, Katia has set up a new digital archive of music associated with the concentration camps and prisons of the former Chilean dictator. The archive, called Cantos Cautivos (Captive Songs) and developed in partnership with the Chilean Museum of Memory and Human Rights, uses crowd-sourcing and has expanded rapidly since its official launch in January.

David Berezan David’s composition Lightvessels (2014) recently won first prize in the international KLANG! competition in Montpellier, France. The work is the third in a series of maritime-focused pieces, the fourth of which David is aiming to complete for a premiere in Basel in October. Second prize at KLANG! went to Joao Pedro Oliveira’s Hydatos, which was composed at NOVARS in 2012 while Pedro was composer-inresidence.

Richard Whalley Richard’s latest work, Wonderland, is to be performed by the Divertimento Ensemble as part of the Milan EXPO 2015. This follows Richard’s selection as a finalist in the Feeding Music (Nutrire la Musica) International Composition Competition.

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7 For more details on the Course unit lists: Musicology MusM Composition MusM Electroacoustic MusM

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