Author Archives: laudan

Annual Music Research Afternoon Features PhD Students and Staff

On Wednesday 7th June 2017, the Music Department held its annual research afternoon with presentations by research students and staff.

The afternoon started with presentations by first year PhD students Gabrielle Messeder and Alice Jeffreys. Gabby talked about her research into the role of music in the ongoing Syrian conflict, with a paper  entitled: ‘YouTube battleground: Revolutionary and counter-revolutionary songs of the Syrian civil war’. This was followed by composition student Alice Jeffreys speaking about ‘YX (2017) for Ensemble XY: Discontinuity and Obscured Linearity’.

The next speaker was 4th year PhD student Sam MacKay, whose presentation was entitled: ‘Geopoetics of the French South: La Nòvia in Marseille’. This was followed by a staff presentation, with Claudia Molitor asking: ‘Where do all the earthworms go?’.

By this point in the afternoon, everyone was ready for tea and cake! After refreshments, we had another staff speaker, Adam Harper, talking about ‘Elysia Crampton: Geologies of Identity, Geologies of Sound’. The final final session featured presentations by 4th year PhD student, Emaeyak Sylvanus: ‘Finlandia and Biafra in Nollywood: Transnational aesthetic objectivity and the metaphoric journey of identity’ and 3rd year composition PhD student Elizabeth Black: ‘Texture Defined: an examination of Texture in instrumental music’.

We had a thoroughly stimulating afternoon. Many thanks to all the speakers and our very active and engaged audience!

Elizabeth Black Presenting on 7th June

City University Chamber Orchestra Summer Term Concert

by Carlota Rodriguez Ruiz-Healy, MA Music Student

The City University Chamber Orchestra gave its final concert of the year on May 19th, kicking off the City Summer Sounds festival, a three-week music festival in the Music Department at City, University of London.

Conducted by Tim Hooper, the orchestra performed at the atmospheric St. Clements Church, close to the university. The concert featured Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 5, Charles Gounod’s Petite Symphonie and Edward Elgar’s Chanson de Nuit and Chanson de Matin, Op. 15, No. 1 and 2. 

These works exhibited the versatile talent of City’s Music students. The Schubert, which began the concert, was played by the entire orchestra and gave an invigorating start to the evening. This was followed by the Gounod, a lovely work which showcased the orchestra’s wind players. The evening concluded with the orchestra re-joining to play two beautiful short pieces by Elgar, featuring Andrew Losq on piano. A great way to start our Summer Sounds Festival!

Laudan Nooshin Presents Keynote at Film Music Conference

On Friday 16th May, Dr Laudan Nooshin presented a keynote address at the conference ‘Exoticism in Contemporary Transnational Cinema: Music and Spectacle’, hosted by the Humanities and Arts Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Laudan’s keynote was entitled ‘Windows onto Other Worlds. Musical Exoticism in Iranian Cinema: Between National Imaginary and Global Circulation’ and explored the role of music in exoticising processes of constructing and representing otherness in Iranian films, focusing on the earliest Persian-language sound film, The Lor Girl, made in Bombay in 1933 and selected films from the period following the 1979 Revolution. The conference brought together a range of speakers from film studies, ethnomusicology and area studies, each dealing with different aspects of music and exoticism in transnational cinema.

Middle Eastern Music Events at City

The Department of Music recently hosted a series of events focused on the musics of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia as part of the City Summer Sounds festival.

The latest instalment of the bi-annual Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum, convened by Head of Department Dr Laudan Nooshin and Dr Rachel Harris (SOAS, University of London), took place on Monday 22 May. Alongside scholars from institutions within the UK, the day included speakers from as far afield as Israel and the United States. Laudan was part of a roundtable discussion in the afternoon, with Tom Parkinson (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Dr Abigail Wood (University of Haifa), which focussed upon ‘The Ethics and Aesthetics of Studying Music in Situations of Conflict and Violence: Perspectives from the Middle East’. Also presenting her research was City PhD student Gabrielle Messeder, whose paper explored competing political narratives from the Syrian Civil War through musical examples shared and circulated on YouTube.

PhD Music student Gabrielle Messeder

In the evening of 22 May, the Performance Space hosted a performance by Syrian Kanun player Maya Youssef and her Trio. Performing pieces from her recently-recorded debut album, the evocative Syrian Dreams was a particularly moving highlight of the evening.

https://www.facebook.com/agsan.kh/videos/pcb.1170465089724347/1170464743057715/?type=3&theater

 

On Tuesday 23 May, a one-day conference convened by Visiting Lecturer and department alumnus Dr Stephen Wilford focussed upon Music, Technology and Digital Cultures in the Middle East and North Africa. The event brought together scholars, filmmakers, musicians and industry professionals to consider the role of technology and digital culture in the Middle East and North Africa, in both historical and contemporary contexts. The final session of the day included a presentation by Dr Cristina Moreno Almeida (King’s College London) and Moroccan rapper Omar Souhaili (aka Dizzy DROS), and a discussion between Nathan Comer (Masåfåt Festival, London and Cairo) and City PhD student Sam Mackay. The conference was part of the Music and Digital Cultures in the Middle East and North Africa project, and was supported by both City, University of London and the Institute of Musical Research.

Music PhD student Sam MacKay in discussion with Nathan Comer (Masåfåt Festival, London and Cairo)

Stephen Wilford, City Visiting Lecturer and PhD Music alumnus

City Speakers at the 2017 British Forum for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, Sheffield

This years’ British Forum for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference was held at the University of Sheffield from 20th to 23rd April 2017. There were over 150 attendees from the UK, Europe and beyond, and the keynote speaker was Professor Michael Bakan from Florida State University. City’s Music Department was represented by two of its academic staff: Professor Stephen Cottrell and Dr Laudan Nooshin, who both delivered papers. Stephen’s paper was entitled ‘Ethnomusicology, Music Information Retrieval and Big Music Data’, and considered the ways in which computational analysis of large audio data sets might impact on the study and understanding of music traditions around the globe. Laudan presented as part of a roundtable which she convened on ‘The Ethics and Aesthetics of Studying Music in Situations of Conflict and Violence’. Her contribution focused on some of the issues raised by music video responses to the 2009 contested presidential elections in Iran. The roundtable generated interesting discussion across a range of issues related to undertaking research in situations of conflict and violence.

The size and success of the conference again demonstrated the strength and vitality of British ethnomusicology, and the large numbers of early career scholars who attended – including some from City – augurs well for the future development of this part of the music studies field.

City Music Alumna Wins Dunraven Welsh Young Singer of the Year

City University Music alumna, Siân Dicker (graduated 2014), was awarded the Dunraven Welsh Young Singer of the Year award after competing in the final at Maesteg Town Hall on Saturday 25th March 2017. The competition was adjudicated by David Jackson (Artistic Director of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World) as well as Welsh singers Rebecca Evans and Gary Griffiths. Siân is currently in her second year of a Masters in Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama studying with Marie Vassiliou and Janice Chapman. As a result of winning the competition, Siân was awarded £2,500 towards her tuition fees for next year.

Siân’s upcoming engagements include her Wigmore Hall debut performing new music in collaboration with GSMD composers, opera scenes at Milton Court studio theatre in July as well as various recitals at the Guildhall school. See further details on her website: https://www.siandicker.com/

 

City Chamber Choir Concert at St Clement’s Church

The City University Chamber Choir gave its Spring Term concert at St Clement’s Church on Wednesday 29th March, conducted by Tim Hooper, featuring a wonderful selection of pieces, including the sublime ‘Locus Iste’ by Bruckner, a full performance of the Vivaldi Gloria and the word premiere of acappella vocal piece ‘Sleep’ by first year BMus student Jacob Collins. For the Vivaldi, the choir was accompanied by a small chamber orchestra featuring BMus students Anna Vaughan (violin), Daisy Heath (‘cello), Stamatios Solonos (oboe), Jacob Collins (Harpsichord) and MA student Carlota Rodriguez Ruiz-Healy (viola). Vocal solos featured Emilie Parry Williams, Nia Rees and Carolina Herrera. A very enjoyable concert and the harpsichord also enjoyed its first outing of the year!

Tim Hooper will be conducting the Chamber Orchestra in a concert on May 19th as part of the City Summer Sounds Festival

City Composers Visit King’s College London, March 2017

At the beginning of the academic year, Marcos Stuardo, a PhD composition student at King’s College London, proposed an exchange whereby composers studying at Kings would give presentations on their work at City and vice versa. Following a departmental research seminar last November at which four PhD composers from King’s discussed their work, two of our PhD composers, Georgia Rodgers and William Cole, and Masters student, Dorothy Lee, visited King’s College on Wednesday 29th March, accompanied by our “Composition Tsar”, Aaron Einbond.  

William was the first to take the floor, discussing a performed sound installation that was staged last year. After William outlined ideas behind the work’s conception and played a short sample of a recording of the performance, a lively dialogue ensued as the King’s cohort questioned its ontological and experiential structures, and its relationship to more traditional operations of music-making.

Following William’s presentation, Georgia detailed her aesthetic interests in acoustic phenomena and explained how these concerns inform her compositional approach, which she demonstrated through an analysis of two recent works. The King’s composers were receptive to Georgia’s music and raised several interesting issues, resulting, again, in an exciting exchange of ideas.

Last to present was Dorothy, who showed how her work brings together Western and Asian musical concepts, highlighting a range of philosophical and creative influences, and illustrating how these influences play out in her music. Drawing the session to a close, yet another stimulating discussion occurred as Dorothy was confronted with a number of acute questions from the audience.

At the end of the seminar we retired to the pub, where we discussed possibilities of how this exchange might progress in the future and how we might incorporate students from other faculties across London. With the revival of our Listening Group next year, the composition arm of the Music department at City are keen to reach out and create opportunities for sonic artists across London’s universities (and beyond) to share their ideas and exhibit their work. The arrangement with King’s this year has demonstrated just how valuable cross-institution interchange is, and going forward it seems imperative that City capitalises on its potential to play a leading role in this. 

William Cole, Music PhD Student

City Balkan Ensemble Lunchtime Concert, Friday 17th March 2017

The City Balkan Ensemble presented its first official concert at City on Friday 17th March. Established and led by MA Ethnomusicology student Gundula Gruen, the ensemble presented its debut performance at the department’s Christmas Cabaret in December, since when its membership has doubled!

The performance on Friday featured a selection of vocal and instrumental pieces from Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans, as well as songs from further afield such as Georgia. Pieces ranged from lively dances (including audience participation for the song ‘Jovano Jovanke’, a 7-time dance from Macedonia) to more contemplative songs.

Ensemble members are: Gundula Gruen (violin), William Brown (voice), Nia Rees (voice), Carolina Herrera (voice), Antonis Rousounelos (bouzouki), Kaz Levell (accordion), Ruth Kay (recorder), Anna Vaughan (violin), Serena Cassini (clarinet), Laudan Nooshin (clarinet), Fotis Begkli (clarinet and percussion), Emily Eaton (flute), Jamie Turner (guitar), Robbie Josephs (electric bass), Hannah Chow (cello) and Harriet McBurnie (cello).

The ensemble is great fun to play with and we are always looking for new players. We can accommodated most instruments or voices. Rehearsals are on Wednesday evenings from 7pm in the Ensemble Room. If you’re interested in joining, email Gundula: <Gundula.Gruen@city.ac.uk>

You can watch 8 of the pieces performed below:

 

PhD and MA Celebrations at City Graduation

January graduation saw no less than 6 Music Department students awarded their doctorate degrees. Students on the MA Music, MA Composing for Moving Images, MA Ethnomusicology and MA Composition also received their awards.The doctoral awards were as follows: 

PhD

Stephen Wilford: ‘Bledi Cockneys: Music, Identity and Mediation in Algerian London’ (supervisor: Stephen Cottrell) 

Jocelyn Howell: ‘Boosey & Hawkes: The Rise and Fall of a Wind Instrument Manufacturing Empire’ (supervisor: Stephen Cottrell)

Alex Jeffery:’The Narrascape of Gorrilaz’ Plastic Beach: An Interdisciplinary Case Study in Musical Transmedia’ (supervisor: Miguel Mera).

Miranda Crowdus: ‘Hip Hop in South Tel Aviv: Third-Space, Convergent Dispossession(s), and Intercultural Communication in Urban Borderlands’ (supervisor: Laudan Nooshin) 

DMA

Ben Schoeman: ‘The Piano Works of Stefans Grové (1922-2014): A Study of Stylistic Influences, Technical Elements and Canon Formation in South African Art Music’ (supervisor: Christopher Wiley; Guildhall advisor:Ronan O’Hora).

Annie Yim: ‘Robert Schumann’s Musical-Aesthetic Influence on Brahms’ Piano Trio in B Major, Op.8 (1854 Version) as Illustrated by Schumann’s Piano Trio in D Minor, Op.63’ (supervisor: Christopher Wiley; Guildhall advisor: Joan Havill).

Many congratulations to all the students and their supervisors!

PhD Music Graduates, 30.1.17

MA Music Graduates, 30.1.17