Monthly Archives: July 2014

Georgia Rodgers awarded Mercers’ Prize

georgia-17aplwtPhD student Georgia Rodgers has been awarded the Mercers’ Prize for 2013-14.

Georgia specialises in music composed for acoustic instrument and electronics, with a particular interest in the perception of sound and the human experience of listening. She is interested in using electronic techniques as a ‘sonic microscope’, helping us to hear musical instruments in new ways. She is in the second year of a PhD in Music Composition at City University, studying under the supervision of Dr Newton Armstrong.

Earlier this year Georgia won a place on the Sound and Music Higher Education Programme, a scheme which provides twelve young composers with an opportunity to work with the London Sinfonietta and soloists. Her new work will be premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in November.

The Mercers’ Company is the Premier Livery Company in the City of London.  The company and its associated charitable trusts make substantial grants to support education, general welfare, church and faith and arts and heritage. More information can be found here: http://www.mercers.co.uk.

 

Recording Sessions at Abbey Road Studios

Following graduation from City University London in 2013, composer Jon Bourne has been given the opportunity to work with Audio Network – a London based music production company. This has led to several orchestral recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios with the English Session Orchestra. This exciting experience started with a project organised for students on the MA Composing for Moving Images programme in close collaboration with Audio Network. Jon’s new tracks are due for release in September.

Jon Bourne working at Abbey Road

Jon Bourne working at Abbey Road

Laudan Nooshin presents keynote lecture at ‘Analysis, Cognition and Ethnomusicology’ Conference

In the first week of July, Laudan Nooshin presented a keynote paper at the conference ‘Analysis, Cognition and Ethnomusicology’, a joint meeting of the 3rd ‘Analytical Approaches to World Music’ and the 2014 annual meeting of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology. The conference was  hosted by the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, in association with the Centre for Music and Science (University of Cambridge) and the Society for Music Analysis, and was attended by over 200 people, including delegates from across the UK and from abroad. This was one of the first conferences to bring together ethnomusicologists, music analysts and music psychologists to discuss ways of approaching the study of music that would benefit from drawing on each of these areas.

Laudan’s paper was entitled ‘Re-imagining DIfference: Musical Analysis, Alterity and the Creative Process’ and explored a number of issues around the intersection of musical analysis and alterity arising from her long-term research on improvisation in Iranian classical music. The keynote was chaired by Laudan’s former PhD supervisor, Professor John Baily from Goldsmiths’ College.

The other keynote speakers at the conference were Professor Nicholas Cook (University of Cambridge) with a paper entitled ‘Music, Identity, and the Clever Boy from Croydon’ about the life and music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; and Professor Martin Clayton (University of Durham) speaking about ‘Music Analysis and Ethnomusicology: Some Reflections on Rhythmic Theory’.

http://aawmconference.com/index.htm

LaudanKeynote