Performances set to reflect the diverse work of students, staff and friends of City
By Chris Lines (Senior Communications Officer), Published
This month, the Department of Music are delighted to launch their annual City Summer Sounds festival – in front of live audiences once again. The festival performances reflect the vibrant and musically diverse work of City students, staff and friends of the Department of Music.
This month's events began last week, with a concert by the City University Chamber Choir at the historic Wesley's Chapel, followed by the City University String Orchestra at St Clement's Church on Saturday.
Today (23 May), the London Silk Road Collective explore the beautiful traditions of Uyghur and Uzbek music, as part of the 2022 Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum, which takes place at City during the day.
Tomorrow (24 May), a variety of recent student electronica, audio-visual work and music for the dance floor will be on show in the annual From the City Studios showcase.
Two of City's long-established gamelan ensembles, Lila Cita and Sekar Enggal, bring sounds from West Java and Bali on Wednesday 25 May – this event is already fully booked, but returns may become available in the run up to the show.
Lila Cita
Thursday 26 May sees the London premiere of Cath Roberts' And Then The Next Thing You Know, a stunning work for improvising musicians and a giant, suspended score that was a highlight of last year's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
Then, on Friday 27 May, early music vocal ensemble Civitas present music by two of the earliest medieval composers whose work survives in notation: Kassia and Hildegard of Bingen, whose Ordo Virtutum is a mesmerising music drama.
Stand by for details of June's concerts, including Professor Ian Pace playing the Eroica symphony (in the rarely heard version for solo piano by Franz Liszt) and a birthday celebration concert of electroacoustic work by Denis Smalley, the inspirational former Head of Department.
Click here for full details of the forthcoming Summer Sounds programme. All concerts are open to the public and free to attend: please reserve places in advance, since space is limited.
