Fanfare magazine Spring 2017

fanfare

Fanfare ~ the magazine for Birmingham Conservatoire

Reg Charity No. 1067676

Birmingham Conservatoire Association is a voluntary organisation supporting the work of the students at the Conservatoire.

Music Technology Department special issue

Spring 2017

Birmingham City University

Welcome to the Spring 2017 edition of Fanfare By the time the next issue is published Birmingham Conservatoire will be installed at the first purposebuilt music college in the UK for a generation and the first all-digital conservatoire to be built anywhere in the world. Which is why this is the perfect moment for Fanfare to turn its spotlight onto Music Technology.

Our distinguished contributors – who understand these things much better than I do - explain the full extent of our digital transformation on succeeding pages.

I do know that we will be able to stream ‘live’ all over the building and all over the world. Just as technology plays an ever-increasing part in our lives so it does in music – with composers embracing it in all manner of ways, and orchestras, promoters and concert venues employing ever more sophisticated software to capture audience data. This is as it should be because if an art form – and its supporting mechanisms – fails to evolve it will fossilise and die. That will not be happening at Birmingham Conservatoire as the many fascinating articles inside this issue aptly demonstrate.

Julian Lloyd Webber ©www.thousandwordmedia.com

better. Birmingham Conservatoire is on the verge of extraordinary things. I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

With the support of Birmingham City University, the Conservatoire is arriving at the most exciting moment in its history. Performance standards have never been higher and the building itself will have never been

Julian Lloyd Webber, Principal

Inside 2 | Welcome

17 | Designing the Conservatoire interior

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3 Note from the BCA Treasurer and Message from BCA Chair

18 | Birmingham’s new Jazz Club

4 | Music Technology in the Conservatoire

20 | What is a choir?

6 | Where are they now?

21 | CBSO News

7 | Music Technology Alumni profiles

22 | Conservatoire News

9 | Cutting edge audio-visual technology

24 | Alumni News

12 | Myospat sound spatialisation

25 | Fundraising for the future

19 | Music making for the deaf

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14 Capitalising on a broader approach to music making

26 | BCA News 27 | Obituary: Antony Miller

16 | The new Conservatoire’s global outlook

Cover image: Postgraduate students composing with MoogLab

28 | Upcoming events

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Note from the BCA Treasurer BCA subscriptions 2017-18 Annual Subscriptions are due on the 1st May. Please note that the new subscription rates will apply from this point, which are: £15 for Individual Annual; £20 for Joint Annual.

to fill in. Those of you who already have one in force, please remember to let me know if your name, contact details or circumstances have changed, particularly if you now no longer pay tax. I treat these forms as ongoing and will continue to claim against them unless informed otherwise.

See the enclosed reminder slip for details of paying either by cheque, Standing Order or electronic bank transfer. Anyone wishing to pay by Standing Order will need to fill in the form to update the mandate and send it to their bank very promptly to catch the 1 May if they haven’t already done so.

Life membership will now be: Individual £175; Joint £225.

Also just to remind members that BCA is signed up for Easyfundraising, an organisation through which online shoppers can donate to a charity such as BCA. To find out more, visit their website at easyfundraising.org.uk, and do consider signing up.

Gift Aid

Please notify either the Secretary John D Smith, T: 0121 476 4741, E: johnsmithhrs359@gmail.com or the Treasurer Helen Mills, T: 0121 449 2135, E: mills_cross@hotmail.com.

If you haven’t yet signed up and are able to do so, please contact me so I can send you a Gift Aid Form

Changes of address and contact details / email addresses

Message from BCA Chair Thank you so much for your continuing commitment and support to BCA through your very welcome subscriptions and donations for another year. At the board meeting in January, BCA Trustees were able to award £4,000 in total to eight current students in need of financial assistance and to two students for the CBSO Learning and Participation Scheme.

I hope that you enjoy reading the fascinating main feature on the Music Technology Department in addition to the news of the Conservatoire, its students, staff and alumni as the move to the new building in the summer is rapidly becoming a reality. Music Technology is a major factor in the development of the Conservatoire’s state-of-the-art new home.

At the AGM on Sunday 25th June, Julian Lloyd Webber will update us on the new Conservatoire and his vision to develop new future funding streams for the Conservatoire, so it can sustain the excellence to which we are all committed.

I do hope that you are able to come and learn about these exciting plans for the future.

Please continue to send details of your activities for inclusion in Fanfare’s BCA News to BCA Honorary Secretary, John Smith: T: 0121 476 4741, E: johnsmithhrs359@gmail.com I wish you every success with your events and projects in 2017.

Rosemary Phillips BCA Chair of Trustees

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Music Technology in the Conservatoire It is with great pride, and pertinent timing, that I have been asked to write about Birmingham Conservatoire’s Music Technology department for this feature edition of Fanfare. I have the honour to be running what I believe to be the best music technology department in the conservatoire sector, and one of the best in the world. And with the new Conservatoire building about to become a reality, with state-of-the-art facilities, it’s a very exciting time for us.

Compared with other departments in the Conservatoire, Music Technology is still very much the new kid on the block. I joined the department in 2001 as a junior lecturer, 12 months after my colleague (now Associate Principal) Lamberto Coccioli had been appointed to the then-new post of Head of Music Technology. At the time, we were an outpost from Andrew Downes’ Composition Department, with some very basic studio equipment, an empty room that we populated with four Macintosh computers, and a small cluster of keen students. Over the subsequent years, we have built the department to a point where we now have Music Technology as a Principal Study at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level. In addition, we run very successful Research projects with excellent PhD students, boast one of the longest running and most successful cross-faculty degrees, and provide extensive teaching and facilities that support all music technologists, performers and composers.

Simon Hall ©Mike Banks

to occupy. In society, the phrase ‘music technology’ means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and can cover a multitude of sins. Anything that is vaguely related to music or audio, and has a plug on the end of it, can potentially be badged as ‘music technology!’

Consequently, degree courses titled ‘Music Technology’ tend to have quite a range of content and focus.

The study of Music Technology is usually concerned with the artistic use of technology for creation, capture, manipulation and reproduction of music. It covers a lot of different but inter-related areas, from experimental live electronics, through programming, to recording and production across musical genres. We live at that particular intersection between arts and science which I personally find a particularly exciting and creative place

It is important, therefore, that such courses at Birmingham Conservatoire aim for the very highest musical standards. Our open and collaborative philosophy gives students a broad base from which to build their musical skills, whilst also allowing them to specialise in areas that really enthuse them. We believe the studio, whether that be an individual’s laptop or Abbey Road, is an instrument for musical and technical creativity.

Music Technology also supports the wider Conservatoire mission. All students have access to our facilities as well as to Elective modules in Sound Recording, Performing with Technology, Electronic Music Creation and DJing, and we work very closely on projects with the Composition, Jazz and Performance Departments.

We offer a unique environment for the Music Tech specialist student. To share a building with 600 trainee

Andris Nelsons in Studio 1

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Jeff Lynne reviewing student work

“Our graduates don’t just work in the industry – they go on to shape the future of it” professional performers affords countless opportunities for collaboration. Our students get a lot of practice in working with colleagues from other departments on creative production, music to picture, live electronics and recording projects.

Howard Skempton conducts Maya Verlaak with live electronics

Our graduates go on to do well. I like to think that they don’t just work in the industry, but they go on to shape the future of it. We have alumni working across the music and professional audio sectors, in roles that range from managing directors and senior staff of specialist equipment companies, such as Apple and Audient, through to production houses and broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky. They work in live sound for Town Hall Symphony Hall, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventure dance company, Glastonbury, the RSC and a number of West End Theatres, work across film and television, and they teach music and technology from primary level to postgraduate. Conservatoire Music Technology graduates have production and engineering credits with, among others, the LSO, Madonna, Craig David, Robbie Williams, Goldfrapp and Coldplay; and they work in studios across the world. We are very proud of their successes, and over pages 6-8 some of them tell their story elsewhere in this issue of Fanfare.

Pauline Oliveros improvising inter-continentally during Frontiers ©Sophie Louise Filer

We are thrilled about our move to the new digital Conservatoire. Our team has been working very closely with the University, the architects, and the various companies tasked with delivering the building, to try to ensure that we have the very best technical infrastructure and resources. Our facilities will not just be the best across the UK conservatoire sector, but actually far better than almost all educational and commercial facilities across Europe. These are the facilities that our students deserve, and should cement our position as one of the best Music Technology departments in the world.

Music Technology Department team at SSL ©Mike Banks

Dr Simon Hall Head of Music Technology www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/departments/musictechnology www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/research/research-staff/ simon-hall

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Where are they now?

The Music Technology class of 2004 Dr Simon Hall comments: “I’m very proud of our graduate successes. This was highlighted to me when I came across a photo of a masterclass Q&A session from 2004 with Paul White and Hugh Robjohns, Editor in Chief and Technical Editor respectively for Sound on Sound journal. Everyone in the shot has gone on to an interesting career.”

FRONT ROW Tom Waterman - Worked for Audient, becoming Head of Technical Development and Director. Recently moved to Universal Audio.

Suzy Burnet - Currently Production Manager, October Films producing documentaries. Previously worked at Whizz Kid and Silver Bullet for BBC1, BBC 6 Music and BBCR2.

Yacine Azmi - Acoustic Designer. Now based in San Francisco, works as Manager for Apple with joint patents for noise cancelling headphones.

Siyuan Kirk Lin - Works as a freelancer in the games industry, inc. at OMUK, as audio specialist.

Tom Lindsey - Started working in Acoustics Consultancy, before moving into Quantity Surveying. Now an entrepreneur about to release his own label of gin.

Alex Langfield - 5 years as Stage and Sound Technician, Symphony Hall. Moved into teaching, now Assistant Head.

Dave Howell - Technician for Town Hall Symphony Hall.

Subsequently taught Music Technology in Birmingham, Hackney and now in Sheffield.

Steve Flower - Worked for Audient straight from graduation.

Climbed ranks and appointed Managing Director in 2014.

Drew White - Became Stage and Sound Technician at Symphony Hall. Now moved to Arena Wolverhampton as well as in-demand mixer for musical theatre.

Marios Ibrahim - Engineer at Sierra Studios, Athens.

Ari Delitheos - Recording and mixing engineer, Audiohome.

Adam Evans - Live sound engineer with Wavelength Stageco.

Now in-demand as a freelancer.

Sam Gunn - Senior Producer for Soho postproduction house Heavy Entertainment.

Mike Shakespeare - Became Assistant at Livingstone Recording Studios. Gone on to become Project Manager.

EDGE OF SHOT/OUT OF SHOT/HIDDEN Garry Metcalfe - Engineer for Dolby Laboratories. Now moved to Sky as a designer.

Ollie Soames - Live Production Sound Technician. Currently works with Royal Shakespeare Company and Matthew Bourne.

Lee Scott - Postgraduate study then PhD. Now Subject Leader for Creative Computing, Bath Spa University

James Selby - Audio post producer for Channel 4, now moved into video as well as audio editing.

Janine Small - Independent Singer Songwriter with publishing deal. Combines this with work as a magistrate and is completing a PG Legal Practice course.

Alex Bolpasis - Producer, Artracks Recording Studios, Athens.

Ben Ward - Freelance recording engineer. Now moved into IT.

Ken Clegg - Tutor, now Course Leader of BSc Music Technology programme at Leicester DMU.

Nicola Plant - Installation and VR Artist based in London, currently completing PhD in Media Arts Technology.

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Music Technology Alumni Profiles Building foundations for my future I had a great four years in the Music Technology department at Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree with Honours.

me to record at a higher level than I was used to at that time. This encouraged me to become a better musician, and in turn, pushed the musicians I was working with in the studio to achieve better recordings. To this day I have a close working relationship with many of my tutors, seeking advice and guidance when necessary.

Not only did I enjoy studying Music Technology, I also found that the environment helped me to become an all-round musician and producer. I feel these are valuable skills to have when working with the variety of musicians I meet daily in my studio, StudiOwz.

“A huge advantage of studying here was that I was surrounded by the best musicians, performers and composers”

Since graduating from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2012, I moved back to my home in West Wales and built a recording studio in the outbuildings of a working Pembrokeshire dairy farm. The recording studio utilises an array of vintage instruments and equipment including an analog CADAC recording console, a Bechstein piano from the 1900’s and a collection of vintage drums. My aim when building StudiOwz was to create a modern recording studio with a vintage twist. I wanted to make a space where I could put to use the skills I had learnt during my time at the Conservatoire but also draw in influences from the music I love from the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Graduating from Birmingham Conservatoire allowed me not only to set up my own recording studio (bringing in artists from Wales, London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Norway) but also gave me the confidence and skills to run sessions in some of London’s top recording studios such as Fish Factory, Urchin and Toe Rag. Having these skills doesn’t mean I have to be confined within a studio space. I have also worked a lot for many well known bands and artists as a live sound engineer (Sophie Ellis Bextor, Carol Decker, Simple Minds, The Real Thing, The Boomtown Rats). Birmingham Conservatoire really helped to build the foundations for my future.

A huge advantage of studying at Birmingham Conservatoire for me was that I was surrounded by the best musicians, performers and composers. Also, learning from and working closely with my tutors enabled

Owain Fleetwood Jenkins Alumnus 2008-2012

What it’s like to be Head of Audio “One day I can be recording the clashes of swords, the next creating the groans of monsters”

I graduated from the BSc (Hons) Music Technology course in 2005, moving straight into a job at Blitz Games Studios as a Junior Audio Designer. I rose to Senior Audio Designer, and in my time there worked on over 30 games titles.

NaturalMotion’s games regularly top the international games charts, having won awards such as Apple App Store and Google Play Store “Editor’s Choice”, and gain prominent storefront placements. Recent releases include Dawn of Titans and CSR Racing 2.

I’m now Head of Audio for NaturalMotion (Zynga), where I try to push the technical boundaries of sound capabilities on iOS and Android phones and tablets, trying to get results comparable to games consoles.

I produce and direct the sound and music for a wide range of games. The days are very varied – one day I can be recording the clashes of swords, the next creating the groans of monsters, the next mixing music and sound design for promotional trailers.

I also manage and coordinate a large pool of external freelance sound designers and composers.

Simon Barford Alumnus 2002-2005 www.naturalmotion.com www.simonbarford.co.uk

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A varied recording and teaching career “My musical work has moved more towards Mastering, where greater objectivity and care for quality suits me”

Since graduating from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2005 as a BSc Music Technology student, I’ve split my time between freelance recording, with work ranging from orchestral and big band projects through to production and engineering for urban artists and rock acts.

I’m really interested in sonic signatures and workflows and am currently developing some new ideas for music creation and a mix platform of tomorrow. My experience at Birmingham Conservatoire has proved invaluable, and offered a great foundation on which to build a professional career.

Alongside my music work, I’ve spent time as a University Lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire and BCU, with specialist subjects in Production & Technical Audio Systems, - where I felt great passion for giving back whatever I’ve picked up along the way, since being a tea boy in a local studio aged 15.

Over time, my musical work has moved more towards Mastering, where greater objectivity and care for quality suits me. Here I’ve worked on lots of varied genres; from Hip-Hop and Irish Folk to Chinese Pop, and I continue to grow my discography, always looking to improve the quality of my work.

Throughout my time at University, as both a student and teacher, I’ve had an extreme fascination with sound and devices that affect sonics for creative and emotional impact. This led me to designing equipment for my own studio, and finally to a role as Technical Director for UK company, Audient Ltd.

After leaving Audient Ltd, I recently joined the legendary Californian company, Universal Audio Inc. as UK Product Specialist. Here I support the product line-up, provide training and liaise with clients, studios and dealers.

During my time at Audient, I was part of a small team, leading it to success with a number of products – the award winning iD interface range, ASP800 & ASP880 preamplifiers, culminating in the design of the ASP8024 Heritage Edition recording console – which is a modern re-interpretation of my mentor David Dearden’s classic mixing desk.

Tom Waterman HonBC Alumnus 2003-2005

Life as a freelance Sound Assistant Since graduating from the Birmingham Conservatoire Music Technology department in 2008, I have been working as a freelance Sound Assistant in the TV and Film industry.

and have a grasp of what is likely to be used in a scene.

I also work closely with the costume department when rigging radio mics, and organise the most efficient times to grab the artists with the Assistant Director so I don’t hold up the process on set.

“I have a mixture of studio work and being out on location, which is what excites me”

My credits include Poldark, Call the Midwife, Marcella, Father Brown, Doctors and Sherlock. My job includes looking after the sound department’s kit, keeping it in good condition and fixing anything that may get broken on and off set. I’m also a boom operator, and it is often my responsibility to mic artists.

The knowledge I gained at Birmingham Conservatoire and BCU helps in all areas of my job, from basic electronics to understanding how sound works and the best ways to capture it. No two days are ever the same, and I have a mixture of studio work and being out on location, which is what excites me. I can honestly say that, no matter how hard it can sometimes be, I love my job.

The difficult parts of my job are generally the hours and the freelance nature of the work, but it is definitely a fun, creative and exciting way to pay the bills! The best part of my job is how much it relies on relationships with other departments on set. I need to be aware of lighting set-ups and how this affects us as boom operators, understand lenses and different camera rigs and camera movement,

Emma Chilton Alumna 2008-2012

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Cutting edge audio-visual technology for the first Conservatoire of the digital age

Design layout for the recording studio facilities

A State-of-the-Art Vision

Digital Infrastructure

During the proposal stages for the new Conservatoire building, Matthew O’Malley (Studio Manager) and Richard Cornock (Music Technologies Manager) recognised it would be crucial to combine their expertise to ensure the technical infrastructure would be state-of-the-art, with a design that could support hi-resolution audio-visual transfer, not only around the building, but for external broadcast. Also, to ensure the acoustic performance of the spaces would be superior to the current building and appropriate for purpose. Once these fundamentals were in place work could begin on developing a comprehensive equipment schedule of the highest quality.

Building on the experiences and lessons learned from the inadequacies of the current building, whilst researching the best aspects of other education establishments, performance venues and recording studios, they could set an exemplary benchmark from which the project team could develop the design.

To be fit for purpose in the digital age, the new Conservatoire’s public performance venues, recording and production studios, workshop/teaching rooms, practice rooms and academic offices required the provision of customised hi-tech digital AV systems.

Linking these systems together required a super-fast network infrastructure, at the core of which would be a fibre optic backbone, creating hyper-flexible venues with ground-breaking possibilities.

Digital music technology is developing constantly and at breath-taking speed. The new Conservatoire will have the capacity necessary to support not only today’s leading products, but also the technological advances we have yet to see over the coming years.

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At the forefront of distance learning

Venue PA Sound Systems by Meyer Sound

The new Conservatoire will have a distance learning hub, enabling simultaneous broadcast to and from the building to other sites all over the world. Building on the success of the ARCO project, this bespoke space will be dedicated to enabling professional teaching with cutting-edge low latency audio visual communication equipment. It will enable the Conservatoire to deliver not only near real-time performance tuition but also offer the opportunity to perform and record duet and ensemble music with internationally based musicians.

This will open huge potential in the delivery of specialist masterclasses and collaboration with national and global partner organisations.

It will also offer new opportunities in outreach, delivering conservatoire teaching to students in remote locations.

The same guiding principles of the need for hi-fidelity and versatility were applied to the live sound systems for the performance venues. Richard and Matthew along with the Music Technology team evaluated leading PA speaker manufacturers, and using reference quality audio files, they assessed the sonic attributes and benefits of each of the PA systems. After much deliberation, it was decided that Meyer Sound would supply systems for the main Concert Hall consisting of a front of house point source PA supplemented with 13 surround sound speakers. Both the Recital Hall and The Lab will have 10.2 surround sound systems whilst the Jazz venue and Organ room will each have a permanently flown stereo PA. Proposed studio control room design

Audio-Visual provision and specialist equipment The principal areas for staff and students to engage with technology will be in the workshop/teaching rooms.

The wide variety of media materials needing to be disseminated dictates that the AV equipment should be of a very high quality, and in addition to more traditional media formats, should support digital device streaming for critical listening and evaluation of music and sound.

To cater for the latest digital video connectivity the teaching rooms and venues will be equipped with high definition laser projectors.

Hi-Fi Sound Systems by B&W After extensive critical listening tests and factory visits to a number of market leading hi-fi producers, it was decided that Bowers & Wilkins’ wide range of products fulfilled the exacting requirements befitting the needs of a prestigious music establishment. The high-fidelity playback systems support CD, DVD, SA-CD, DVD-A, and Blu-ray. They also feature the latest USB and Bluetooth connectivity for mobile devices. In addition to the stereo hi-fi’s in the main teaching and academic spaces, two large teaching rooms are fitted with B&W custom theatre 7.2 surround sound systems. B&W stereo systems are also installed in five of the dedicated medium size practice rooms, perfect for students needing to practice in conjunction with digital media devices.

Richard Cornock and Matthew O’Malley visiting SSL factory to see their Duality24 being tested

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Proposed mastering suite design

Mixing Consoles by SSL Sound quality, functionality, durability and industry prevalence were key areas that influenced the decision on mixing consoles for the venues and studios. The consoles needed to be quick and easy to set up but also be able to handle complex audio routing in a surround sound environment. Matthew and Richard visited educational institutions and commercial recording studios to talk to experts in the field and get real world feedback on the pros and cons of the various products on the market.

After meeting manufacturers to discuss package options and areas where it was possible to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with the Conservatoire, they decided that Solid State Logic would be the ideal choice for equipping both the live venues and recording studios. SSL’s flagship L500/L300 live series consoles can communicate with each other via an optical link and transfer audio via the Dante network through-out the building. The recording studios will be fitted out with a combination of SSL’s world class hybrid Duality and AWS series mixing desks where the best aspects of analogue audio meet digital flexibility and control.

This will give our trainee sound engineers invaluable hands-on experience with industry leading production equipment.

Partnerships Aware of the unique opportunities presented by being associated with the new Conservatoire, Matthew and Richard were keen to negotiate arrangements with manufacturers that went beyond the mere supply of equipment, and to develop long term partnerships that would benefit the student experience.

With this recognition of the Conservatoire as a beacon for music technology education in the UK, our audio company partners have expressed their willingness to support and work to develop a series of masterclasses and joint research projects, and to sponsor prizes. With partnerships from these leading manufacturers, the new Conservatoire studios and venues will be among the best and most technically advanced recording and performance facilities available throughout the UK.

Mastering and Monitoring by ATC, PMC, B&W and Maselec Further supplementing our existing studio grade ATC monitoring, Matthew and Richard also secured a deal to fit out three studios with monitors from the PMC range.

This gives our technical students a range of professional quality options for auditioning their mixes before transferring to the new dedicated mastering suite, which will be based around Maselec master control, dynamic and EQ processors, with monitoring provided by a pair of B&W’s precision 800D3 Diamond series speakers.

Richard Cornock - Music Technologies Manager Matthew O’Malley - New Build Technical Development Manager and Studio Manager

Analogue to Digital Conversion by Prism Sound For the purposes of audio recording it was crucial that the analogue to digital conversion process would be as clean and accurate as possible. A rigorous approach was taken to specify a converter capable of handling the highest resolution audio and to enable digital data to be transferable over a Dante network. Prism Sound are one of the world leaders in designing specialised performance products built for the most discerning in the industry, so they were specifically chosen to supply their flagship ADA series audio interfaces for our studios.

Visiting the Meyer Sound Factory: Julian Lloyd Webber, Helen Meyer, John Meyer, Matthew O’Malley and Richard Cornock.

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MyoSpat and gesture controlled sound spatialisation Integra Lab (www.integra.io) is a music interaction design research group based at Birmingham Conservatoire. Fusing music and technology, the research group explores ways to transform musical creativity, performance and pedagogy through intuitive, user-friendly digital tools and artistic outputs. Its flagship software Integra Live, a crossplatform application that makes interactive audio easy, has received nearly 30,000 downloads to date. Used by composers and performers, it is also used by institutions and conservatoires internationally to teach audio processing techniques.

In the following article, AHRC funded PhD student Balandino Di Donato talks about his research into developing a system for the live spatialisation of sound.

Using Thalmic’s Myo armband, his software MyoSpat gives full control to musicians, allowing them to spatialise and manipulate sound using hand gestures alone.

For centuries musicians have sought to create sonic environments that immerse the audience in music.

17th-century Italian composer Monteverdi positioned musicians around the Basilica San Marco (Venice, Italy), using every balcony and organ loft to create the experience of spatialised sound.

In recent years, we have combined these creative ideas with technology, and with the use of loudspeakers placed around a concert hall or

Balandino Di Donato and Vittoriana De Amicis testing MyoSpat

auditorium, composers have expanded this concept and started to further explore and integrate the acoustic properties of sound into their work. In today’s music and audio industry we can see many examples of creative sound spatialisation: movie music and sound effect production; video game sound design; surround-sound audio recordings; and interactive audio installations. All of these examples have the ability to immerse the audience in a multidimensional soundscape. However, implementing sound spatialisation effects during live performance with a musician presents a number of problems. These difficulties are due to the lack of systems that allow musicians to engage with sound control systems in a way similar to their musical instruments. To overcome these issues, Balandino is developing MyoSpat, a system which allows musicians to control sound spatialisation through gestures during musical performance.

MyoSpat has already been used in a variety of performances in the UK and across Europe (Frontier Festival, EmuFest, ElectroAQustica and Music Tech Festival). Vittoriana De Amicis used the system to present VoicErutseG, a performance which includes spatialised versions of Sequenza III by Luciano Berio and Stripsody by Cathy Berberian. Here the spatialisation of the performer’s voice was the result of tracking the movements of the singer, these movements being indicated by Berio and Berberian in their scores as choreographic directions, not sound spatialisation ones. Grace Savage, UK Champion Beatboxer, used the sound system to perform Music Gesture Beatbox. Here, the gestures to operate the sound spatialisation were properly choreographed to control not only the sound spatialisation, but also a visual elaboration.

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“How musicians can integrate the acoustic properties of sound into their work” In addition to creating a meaningful link between gesture and sound spatialisation, in Music Gesture Beatbox, Balandino and Grace worked on visual elements as feedback for the audience to make the relationship between gestures and sound spatialisation stronger.

In addition to musical performances, this gestural sound spatialisation system has also been used in VR and Mixed reality applications.

The MyoSpat system has been developed using (a) the Myo armband, a wearable and wireless device able to track the orientation, velocity and muscle activity in the arm; (b) the Myo Mapper application to extract all gestural data from the Myo armband; (c) Pure Data which receives the data from Myo Mapper and, thanks to machine learning algorithms, map it into sound spatialisation parameters; and finally, (d) a multichannel audio system to shape the sound within the room. MyoSpat aims to empower the performer by facilitating sound spatialisations through easy-to-learn gestures. The unique feature of this system is that it not only gives the user the possibility of moving the sound within the room, but also of creating trajectories by throwing it around the space, swirling it around in a circle or crumpling a musical phrase as if it were a piece of paper: you can scrunch it up, tear it up and spread it around an entire concert hall. Best of all, it allows the performer to feel at one with their instrument, the computer and the audience.

Vittoriana De Amicis performing Sequenza

The system developed by Balandino is evolving exponentially. Currently Balandino is working on performances fully “Made at Birmingham Conservatoire”: HarpCI, a performance for harp and sound spatialisation in collaboration with Eleanor Turner (Birmingham Conservatoire’s Head of Harp), and a new piece for trombone and electronics composed

by James Dooley (Integra Lab’s Co-ordinator) and performed by Simon Hall (the Conservatoire’s Head of Music Technology). Moreover, this system also aims to enhance other types of performed gestures in other art practices. In fact, Balandino is also currently working on a dance project with Sonia Sabri, and on the interactive sculpting of live performance with the art historian and artist Victoria Curtin Rivera. In both works, Balandino aims to translate movement and gestures into computer generated audio and visual projections.

Grace Savage performing Music Gesture Beatbox

Balandino Di Donato PhD student balandino.didonato@mail.bcu.ac.uk www.balandinodidonato.com

Eleanor Turner exploring MyoSpat

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Capitalising on a broader approach to music making Since I graduated from the then ’Birmingham School of Music’, my musical journey has taken me far away from my early academic studies, and yet they represent a big part of my career development. As with most music students, my path was never clear and, having attained my diplomas, I seemed to be on course towards a teaching career, or so I thought... In those days a classical music education meant just that and anything outside of the classical world was, to a certain extent, frowned upon. However, during my time at Birmingham, I spent much of my spare time working outside of college - playing in bands, recording, and generally making a few quid to supplement my student grant.

Financially it was very handy, but I also discovered a whole new way of music-making which showed me a path to a new and exciting world of performance and creativity.

I discovered a world that could fulfil my ambitions to be a performer, in a style of music that resonated with me listening to the new and exciting forms of ‘Popular’ music was inspirational and set me on a course which, I’m thankful to say, I’m still on to this very day.

already much more open to mixing the style and content of what students can study for their personal musical development. This can be nurtured and taken onto a world stage – Laura Mvula provides an excellent example.

In my opinion, the job of any arts-based college should be to provide expertise and knowledge, allowing students to expand their creativity without boundaries. The new Conservatoire site is an opportunity to do just this within a modern building and campus in a part of the University where all the arts (film, drama, music etc) are together in one place. It will be brimming with opportunities for collaboration and innovation. The chance for students to record their work in state-of -the-art recording facilities with producers and engineers available to team-up with

Nowadays colleges/universities are embracing all aspects of music in a liberating and refreshing way which means anyone wishing to expand their musical horizons has no barriers. The Birmingham Conservatoire is vying to be at the forefront of this revolution. Composition and Jazz Departments within the Conservatoire are Mike Stevens receiving his Honorary Fellowship (HonFBC) from Principal Julian Lloyd Webber and our former Vice-Chancellor

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“The artist must do all the legwork and shine brighter to be noticed by recording companies.” is fantastic (and something we could only dream about in my day)! It is wonderful to have time to craft your work with expert critical ears all around - it can only improve creativity. In addition, the opportunity to have your work played by great musicians is something very difficult to achieve if you’re sitting in your bedroom waiting to be discovered ! Record companies seldom go looking for new talent anymore; the artist must do all the legwork and shine brighter to be noticed. This includes performing and recording work to the highest standards possible.

I believe A&R development is now something that should happen at college; we should be producing more fully formed ‘Artists’ through education. I think this is part of the Conservatoire’s future - giving writers and artists the opportunity to develop ideas, work and collaborate with like-minded people, to hold concerts of their work, learn the techniques of high performance etc. It is a unique situation where they can work and learn their craft with the help and energy of successful artists and musicians, realising the potential within themselves and giving them a stage for expression.

In fact, many artists actually need collaboration (creativity can be a lonely place) so here lies the perfect environment for writers, performers, technicians and teachers to work together to showcase and test their talents in front of a much wider audience. It also gives professionals from the world of entertainment the chance to see talent in a better context than, for example a local pub. It can even start to get new talent into the marketplace.

My time at college was invaluable to my current career in many ways – as well as learning general music skills, it taught me the value of organisation and gave me a strong work ethic, qualities I believe all musicians should embrace no matter what they are trying to achieve. My touring and recording requires me to work with orchestras, write arrangements, run rehearsals etc – all skills I learnt during my student years. It also gave me the confidence and competence to see things through no matter what obstacles appear! I’m not saying it’s imperative to be a part of the education system to succeed, but I believe it really helps. The prospects for today’s students are great - it really is a great time to learn and embrace new horizons in all forms of music.

ideal opportunity to move forward and bring potentially great artists out from their bedrooms and into the public arena, as well as giving them the tools and expertise to make their ideas reality. By combining an already great musical heritage with a modern outlook, it should be the intention of all great musical institutions to become leaders in defining and creating artists, writers and performers of the future in this expansive and vibrant place we call ‘Pop Music’.

Many colleges/universities are now keen to put themselves on the map for excellence in all forms of music and the ‘Popular’ genre is no exception. For the record (excuse the pun) ‘Popular Music’ nowadays can merge with many genres - classical, folk, electro-dance – they can all be ‘Popular’! The education system has the

Mike Stevens HonFBC Alumnus 1975-1979 15

The new Conservatoire’s global outlook At a time when worrying nationalistic tendencies are becoming more evident in various parts of the world it is important to remember how the arts, and music in particular, can play an essential role in promoting peace, tolerance and mutual understanding across real and imagined borders.

As a non-verbal language music travels effortlessly all over the world, and so do professional musicians.

Successful music careers are inherently international, and it is the mission of the Conservatoire to prepare its students for a professional life on the world stage.

international specialists, while our teachers will reach students in music institutions around the world. Distance learning will also be central to the development of our international outreach programmes, including the ground-breaking ARCO project in Soweto, South Africa.

The new building will give us an unprecedented opportunity to attract international artists and renowned teachers from partner institutions overseas. We have strong academic and artistic links with higher education institutions for music in more than fifty countries, and in September 2018 we will host the Annual Meeting of the International Relations Coordinators organised by the AEC, the Association of European Conservatoires.

Notwithstanding Brexit, we are serious about engaging fully with other music colleges in Europe and further afield.

Birmingham’s already distinctive international profile will be further enhanced by the new building. Our brand-new venues will act as a magnet for leading international artists visiting Birmingham and provide a welcome addition to the cultural landscape of the city.

The new Eastside Jazz Club, for instance, will be the first dedicated jazz venue in Birmingham since the closure of Ronnie Scott’s in 2002. We will develop Eastside Jazz Club into a recognised hub for jazz music, and a regular stop for internationally acclaimed performers touring the UK. We are very excited by the prospect of sharing the new Conservatoire and its five state-of-the-art performance venues with artists, colleagues and students from all over the world. The new building will act as a catalyst to develop innovative projects with music institutions abroad, and it will give us renewed confidence and determination in projecting our global image.

We are also committed to reducing our carbon footprint without compromising our global presence. The new Conservatoire’s digital infrastructure will allow us to develop distance learning on a much bigger scale. Our new facilities, including a dedicated space for distance learning activities, will allow us to rival institutions like the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Danish Academy of Music, both leaders in the field. Our students will be able to learn – in real time - from renowned

Lamberto Coccioli Associate Principal BCA Life Member 16

Designing the interior of the new Conservatoire The process for designing the interior of the new Conservatoire and selection of furnishing ran at intervals over a period of two years from summer 2014 until early autumn 2016. It is an activity that has been undertaken in conjunction with several other aspects of the project including the acoustic design, technical design and the way-finding and signage strategy for the building and venues.

The design agency Thomas Matthews was appointed to work with the architects Feilden Clegg Bradley, and the process started with us nominating five pieces of music that hold special significance for the Conservatoire (J.S.Bach Mass in B minor, Giacomo Puccini Trittico, Olivier Messiaen Turangalila-Symphonie, Miles Davis/Gil Evans Sketches of Spain, Jonathan Harvey Madonna of Winter and Spring, and other works with live electronics).

These pieces were interpreted as colours, and their rhythms and structure then expressed in marbling patterns by the designer.

furniture used effectively in other venues. Over the course of the workshops we collaborated with the architects to develop initial proposals for furniture, fabrics and other materials. Material and fabric samples were presented to us along with computer generated views portraying what each venue would look like with different colour and tone options. Chair samples for both audiences and performers were also provided, which enable us to carefully choose our final selections.

It was crucial to everyone involved in the furnishing and design of each venue that the process undertaken would enable a distinctive identity to be created for each space.

Once the building is open, we hope you’ll agree that the final selections provide a refined and inspiring backdrop for our musicians which enhances the quality of music that will be practised, rehearsed and performed within each space.

Over the course of several workshops, concepts were then developed to decide how these colours and patterns would be used across the building and incorporated into the design. Each floor of our new building will have its own visual identity, which has been achieved via use of colour pallettes and corresponding marbling patterns, which will aid orientation around each level or indicate arrival at a performance venue.

I have always enjoyed my own interior design projects and so the opportunity to work with colleagues and the architects on this aspect of the project has certainly been an immensely enjoyable and rewarding one for me.

Running parallel to this was a series of design workshops where we discussed our vision for the look and feel of each of the five performance venues and foyer areas with the architects. This included looking at materials and

Emily Bartlett Head of Venues, Concerts & Events

Suggested designs for Organ Studio seating

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Birmingham’s new Jazz Club When hearing news of the new Conservatoire building I don’t suppose you’ve been able to escape talk of the Jazz Club space within it. Across the board, all performance venues are going to get a transformative upgrade, but the news on the Jazz Club Space is particularly exciting because it is a genuinely new phenomenon for the conservatoire sector as a whole, and Birmingham Conservatoire is leading the way.

Jazz being a relative newcomer to conservatoires (we’ve been around for the last thirty years as opposed to the last few hundred), jazz performers have been very happy to take up residence in Recital Halls and Concert Halls, and we certainly hope and expect to continue to make guest appearances in the new ones.

But we all know that jazz really thrives, and indeed has evolved, in that special area where audience and performers alike share the same social space around the music, namely a Jazz Club. We want the new venue to serve the whole BCU community as well as our wider public and creative jazz musicians in the city, and we have ambitious plans to programme live jazz throughout each

week. Most exciting of all is that what we programme in the Jazz Club space will drive the curriculum of the jazz courses themselves, with senior student performances, guest masterclass projects, Jazz Orchestra and Ellington Orchestra, themed repertoire projects and our Live Jazz Broadcast series all getting a fantastic professional platform, and the opportunity to develop to the highest level. If you want a sneaky peek, search on Youtube under Birmingham Conservatoire Jazz and you’ll find a showreel of the architect’s drawings accompanied by a soundtrack of our students playing. And here’s the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QIHQAq_D7M Jeremy Price, Alumnus 1989-92 Head of Jazz

The Ellington Orchestra perform at the Town Hall © William Ellis

Virtual tour image of the new jazz club

Virtual tour image of the new jazz club

Virtual tour image of the new jazz club

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Music Making for the Deaf In general, musicians who play acoustic instruments enjoy a multi-sensory experience, in that they not only hear the sound of their instrument but are also able to feel vibrations generated by the instrument and, in addition, are able to see physical movement of some of its components.

However, virtual or computer-based instruments only produce sound and the lack of visual and tactile feedback often leads to players describing such instruments as cold or lifeless. For hearing musicians, this onedimensionality doesn’t necessarily affect the usability of the instrument. However, for deaf musicians, the lack of multi-sensory feedback can prove to be very limiting in their enjoyment or even their ability to play virtual instruments to the same level that they can achieve with acoustic instruments.

Richard Burn

Richard Burn was awarded funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership to carry out research into how to produce useful vibratory and visual feedback for deaf players of computer-based instruments. The aim of his research is to discover the level to which deaf musicians are dependent on the more physical aspects of how an acoustic instrument feels and moves when played. He hopes to identify the way tactile and visual feedback is experienced by the player and then go on to develop systems that can provide useful alternative feedback systems for virtual software instruments.

If successful, the system will allow deaf musicians to overcome some of the limitations inherent in playing virtual instruments and open up new performance avenues to them.

Richard is now at the stage of gathering qualitative data, conducting a range of interviews with virtuoso deaf musicians. Starting at the top, he most recently spent an hour interviewing Dame Evelyn Glennie, who provided a fascinating insight into the world of the deaf professional musician and a wealth of important primary data for his project. Richard expects to complete his PhD in 2018.

“If successful, the system will allow deaf musicians to overcome some of the limitations inherent in playing virtual instruments and open up new performance avenues to them.�

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What is a Choir?

The word choir, normally thought of as an organised group of singers, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, can also describe a group of instruments of one family playing together; thus St. Mary’s Hospice Choir and Bournville Clarinet Choir, with ‘voices’ comprising a full range of clarinets with a comparable range of pitches, recently joined forces to perform a very successful concert in aid of Hospice Funds.

Jean Smith has been conductor of, accompanist for, and was, until her recent retirement, Chairman of Birmingham St. Mary’s Hospice Choir, a ladies’ choir open to all who can sing in tune regardless of whether they can read music. Formed in September 2013, purely to raise funds for the benefit of the Hospice, the Choir has gone from strength to strength and, to date, has raised in excess of £10,000. Including in its repertoire a wide variety of songs from the shows, spirituals, ballads, music hall and WWI songs, light classical, Christmas songs and carols, it performs, with BCA Hon. Secretary John D. Smith, alumnus (1961-64), acting as compère, two main public concerts a year in June and December, and has also performed for day hospice patients, at residential homes, Trefoil Guild groups, the Hospice Light-Up-A-Life gatherings and carol singing at Sainsbury’s Maypole branch.

Mary’s Hospice Choir ©Robert Ferro

Bournville Clarinet Choir ©Robert Ferro

Sara Wilander, BCA alumna (2003-09), has regularly formed part of an instrumental trio at concerts, and recent Conservatoire graduates Juliet Jeffries and Yukimi Muta have also appeared with the Choir as accompanist and soloist.

The clarinet comes in many sizes from the tiny (0.5m) Eb through the standard Bb, Alto, Bass and Contra bass (which comprises over 2.5m of ‘pipe’) giving the choir a wide and varied sound.

In 2015 Nigel Wood applied successfully for a Bournville Trust Vision Award thus allowing him to pursue a new venture, the Bournville Clarinet Choir, a community project. the National Garden Scheme. The Choir has also given concerts supporting local charities including Acorns, St Mary’s Hospice and The Birmingham Centre for Arts Therapies.

Nigel was Director of the National Saxophone Choir of GB and founder of the music publishing company Saxtet Publications which publishes most of his music. He is also the leading exponent of the Soprillo (the world’s smallest saxophone).

The Choir, whose repertoire is eclectic and ranges from Bolero to Bohemian Rhapsody, and Bach to Beatles, is presently rehearsing a whole new set of pieces in preparation for 2017 summer’s concerts.

The Bournville Clarinet Choir consists of 18 players from Birmingham and the surrounding area. Nigel, as musical director, composes and arranges the Choir’s repertoire.

By the summer of 2016 the Choir was ready for a full programme of concerts. Notable appearances to date include: Birmingham Conservatoire Alumni Concert, a shared concert with professional saxophone group Equinox and a performance in Nigel’s garden to benefit

Jean Smith, Alumna 1984-89 BCA Life Member Nigel Wood, Alumnus 1984-87 BCA Annual Member

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CBSO news We’d like to use this opportunity to bring you some news about our collaborative relationship with the CBSO, a relationship that continues to go from strength to strength.

CBSO completes its inaugural tour to China

- a musical relationship which has already attracted global acclaim.

He has also created an Assistant Conductor programme to kick-start the careers of promising young conductors.

The CBSO undertook its first tour to China in December 2016. The tour began with two concerts on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 December at the Opera House in Guangzhou. As twin city to Birmingham, there was a great welcome and a celebration of the two cities, including an exhibition of photographs detailing the regeneration of both cities, of which the cultural buildings took centre stage.

After two full houses in Guangzhou, the CBSO travelled to Changsha on 1 January to have the honour of being the first British symphony orchestra to perform in the oneyear-old Changsha Concert Hall.

The Orchestra then moved on to the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Tuesday 3 January and a final concert in China’s capital, Beijing, at the National Centre for Performing Arts, referred to as the ‘Egg’ on 5 January.

Chinese audiences enjoyed a programme of Elgar, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, led by conductor Vassily Sinaisky, and the renowned violinist James Ehnes joined as soloist.

You can learn more about the tour on the CBSO’s own Chinese language website; www.thecbso.cn, developed especially for this historic tour, and also hear all about it from a musician’s perspective, reading the blog of Principal Second Trumpet Richard Blake on the CBSO’s UK website, www.cbso. co.uk/news/chinatour-blog

More broadly, in his 17 years at the CBSO Stephen has maintained and enhanced the Orchestra’s worldclass tradition of artistic excellence, expanded the orchestra’s reach and impact within the community, and strengthened its financial position in spite of challenging reductions in public funding. He has also served as a tireless leader within Birmingham and the arts sector through a range of board appointments and voluntary roles.

CBSO Chief Executive Stephen Maddock awarded an OBE in New Year Honours 2017 The CBSO’s Chief Executive Stephen Maddock (HonFBC, BCA Honorary Member), has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for his services to music, particularly in the West Midlands.

Stephen joined the CBSO in 1999, shortly after Sir Simon Rattle stood down as Music Director, and since that time has developed a particular strength in nurturing the talents of young conductors. He discovered 28-year-old Andris Nelsons and more recently has overseen the appointment of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

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Stephen Maddock commented “I am genuinely astonished and humbled to be receiving this honour, and I am very clear that this is primarily a reflection on the dedicated team effort represented by the CBSO and its wider musical family – our brilliant musicians, staff, trustees, volunteers, choruses, youth orchestra, conductors, sponsors, donors, public funders and our loyal audiences do an absolutely wonderful job in giving great joy through music, and sustaining the CBSO as a world-class orchestra for the 21st century. I am delighted to accept this honour on behalf of all the CBSO’s stakeholders.”

Conservatoire news Topping out ceremony for new conservatoire

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n December we marked the topping out ceremony of our new Conservatoire building with a festive carol performance on the roof! Julian conducted a small group of our brass musicians who played on top of the seven storey building as part of the ceremony to mark this construction milestone.

Composition awards and recognition

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ead of Composition Professor Joe Cutler was nominated in the Contemporary Jazz Composition category for Karembeu’s Guide to the Complete Defensive Midfielder, a piece commissioned from the 2015 Cheltenham International Music Festival. Composition Tutor Dr Fumiko Miyachi was also nominated for the Wind and Brass Band category for her piece titled Au79 (Gold).

We were delighted when Joe was announced as the winner of his category. Congratulations!

More recently in February 2017, a current student and graduate were named as winners in a major international music competition. Roche van Tiddens from South Africa and Ryan Probert from the Forest of Dean have both been commissioned to compose new work as part of the Young Composers Meeting (YCM) in the Netherlands.

At the closing concert of the meeting, three composers are commissioned to write a new composition, and two of the three winners were from our composition department. In fact, of the 16 composers selected from over 100 applicants this year, five were current students or graduates of Birmingham Conservatoire!

Charity single highlights Christmas dementia struggles

Newly-formed Ellington Jazz Orchestra

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ast Christmas we teamed up with retired Solihull schoolteacher Alan Stott in the race for Christmas number one, while highlighting the particular struggles faced by those affected by dementia over the Festive period. Big band hit What Are We Gonna Do For Christmas? was written by Alan and arranged by fourth year BMus Jazz student, Josh Tagg. Jazz students from across all years of study also performed on the track, and the lead vocals came from professional singers Michelle Lawson and Simon Dorey, supported by a choir from local primary school Haslucks Green. The project was masterminded by our Head of Learning and Participation, Richard Shrewsbury.

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he Birmingham Conservatoire Ellington Orchestra, directed by our Head of Jazz, Jeremy Price, has been established to form an integral part of the Conservatoire’s Jazz Department and be a regular fixture in the Eastside Jazz Club of our new Conservatoire building.

The orchestra hit the scene with a hugely successful debut gig held at the Town Hall in February, entitled ‘Duke Ellington: We Love You Madly’.

Ellington Orchestra first gig ©William Ellis

Hasluck Primary students on radio ‘wawgdfc

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New Head of Vocal and Opera Studies

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n February we were delighted to announce the appointment of highly acclaimed British conductor Paul Wingfield as our new Head of Vocal and Operatic Studies. Paul is currently a visiting lecturer with us, and will take up his new post in August in the brand-new Conservatoire building.

New composition to mark International Women’s Day

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econd year Conservatoire student Rosie Tunley joined forces with a group of female composers to create a new piece of music to celebrate International Women’s Day. Rosie was teamed together with 11 other young female composers from across the country as part of the BBC Proms Inspire project to create the piece of music, which she then discussed live on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ programme on International Women’s Day (8th March).

Paul Wingfield

International Women’s Day composers

Piano All-Nighter

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n Friday 3rd March we took over the Town Hall with 12 hours of piano music throughout the night! This unique event involved 20 pianists, including TV star and impressionist Alistair McGowan and celebrated actor Simon Callow, plus ‘Olympianist’ Anthony Hewitt, who cycled through the night, arrived at dawn and sat down to play!

Piano All-Nighter (Simon Callow)

Wait, was that a running viola?!

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e were fascinated with the regular updates we received from Conservatoire final year student Alistair Rutherford regarding the development of his viola costume for the Liverpool Half marathon! Alistair took part in the race in an attempt to break the world record for the fastest half marathon dressed as a musical instrument. His fundraising efforts were in aid of the ARCO project, which aims to provide the benefits and life changing inspiration of music to children in the most deprived circumstances, living in Soweto, South Africa.

Merger Party celebration

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e are excited to officially announce that from September 2017 we are going to merge with Birmingham School of Acting to become a multidisciplinary conservatoire, uniting on the City Centre Campus under the shared name of Birmingham Conservatoire. This move brings together acting and musical talent to give students the skills they need to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced creative economy. The official announcement of the merger was made on 1 March at a party held in Birmingham Town Hall, where students from both current institutions came together to celebrate the news!

Alistair Rutherford

Soul Ship Enterprise

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Alumni news Composition chosen for Star Wars trailer

Alumna reaches number 3 in the Classical Charts!

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composition by alumnus Harry Lightfoot was selected for the latest Star Wars film trailer. Harry’s track No Retreat, No Surrender featured over a TV spot promoting Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, ahead of its UK release in December 2016. Harry studied BMus (Honours) Jazz and graduated in 2007.

hat a year it’s been so far for alumna and Junior Conservatoire Tutor Rebeca Omordia, who was awarded the HonBC in 2016! Her CD of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ piano music with Conservatoire tutor Mark Bebbington, which was released by SOMM Records, reached number 3 in the Specialist Classical Albums Chart and received excellent reviews in a number of publications including Gramophone Magazine, The Observer and Classical Music Magazine. Rebeca also toured the UK and Romania with cellist Razvan Suma in March to showcase music by British composers.

Jazz alumnus wins award

Prize-winning pianist

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lumnus and former Junior Fellow Fan Yu Kevin has won two more international prizes in the past year – the 2016 Val Tidone international piano competition in Italy, and the 2017 Valletta international piano competition in Malta. In addition to the latter he has been awarded a special prize – a recording contract with Spanish company KNS Classical, and he’ll be releasing his first recording with them next year.

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n February 2017 The Worshipful Company of Musicians announced the winners of the 2017 Dankworth and Eddie Harvey Awards, and Conservatoire Jazz alumnus Jacky Naylor was awarded the Dankworth Big Band award for Bilbao. ©

James Douglas with Rag ‘n’ Bone Man in Live lounge

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ellist James Douglas, who graduated in 2011, recently performed in BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge with Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, for a live performance of the track Human.

James also arranged the strings for this performance.

Jacky Naylor

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Both images Melody and Ian McLaren

Four Conservatoire graduates in New Voices awards

Maraca2 world première with LA Philharmonic

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our of our graduates were recognised as being amongst Britain’s most talented and exciting new voices in music in 2016. New Voices is an annual scheme

by Sound and Music, a national charity for new music in the UK, which champions new music and the work of British artists and composers. Amongst the 25 artists celebrated at the end of 2016 for pioneering some of the most exciting innovations in music and performance were Conservatoire graduates Bobbie-Jane Gardner, Ryan Latimer, Andrew Thomas and Pete Yelding.

ason Huxtable and Tim Palmer formed percussion duo Maraca2 in 2004, during their time studying percussion at the Conservatoire, and have since travelled extensively around the world.

The duo have recently announced that Maraca2 will be performing a brand new Percussion Concerto with the LA Philharmonic next year. They will be working with Joseph Pereira and Gustavo Dudamel on this new project which will première on 25th January 2018.

Bobbie-Jane Gardner

Fundraising for the future In 2016, Birmingham Conservatoire received two of its largest donations to date. The DMC McDonald Foundation has renewed its support for organ studies with a gift of £125,000 towards scholarships for talented organ students, while the Michael Bishop Foundation has committed £250,000 towards further enhancing the new Conservatoire building after it opens later this year.

The move to a new home has given us a once-in-ageneration opportunity to consider what a conservatoire for the 21st century should be like. Birmingham Conservatoire has aspirations beyond the new building as it stands, to enhance its facilities and attract the most talented students and artists.

Bishop Foundation. Both of these donations will help us achieve our aims to be the world’s first truly ‘digital conservatoire’, to ensure our students have the best facilities we can provide, and to increase our ability to offer scholarships to ensure the most talented students are able to study here, regardless of their background.

We’re extremely grateful for the generous support of both the DMC McDonald Foundation and the Michael

Helen Geary Former Director of Development and Alumni Relations

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BCA news Welcome to new members

Reg Charity No. 1067676

We offer hearty congratulations to: Honorary Member, alumnus (1948-49) and BCA Emeritus Founder Member, Peter Ward HonFBC on being awarded the prestigious Legion d’Honneur for his bravery during the D-Day landings. Two years ago he received Russia’s highest naval honour, the Ushakov Medal, and the British equivalent, the Arctic Star, for service aboard HMS Beagle on the Arctic Convoys.

We welcome nine new members who have joined the Association since the last edition of Fanfare: Stephen Abbey; Lyndon and Trudy Bray; Ms Dee Hawley; Henry Herford; Michael Lunn; alumnus (1965-68) Malcolm Thatcher; Dr Alan and Dr Penny Manford.

2017 Annual General Meeting and lunch The AGM and Lunch will be held at The Plough and Harrow Hotel on Sunday 25 June, 2017 – full details on the enclosed Notice and booking form.

At the end of the meeting, Principal Julian Lloyd Webber will give an update on the new Conservatoire and launch the Conservatoire Legacy Fellowship.

These are exciting times and we hope many members will join us on this occasion.

Conservatoire news

Peter Ward HonFBC. Picture courtesy of the Bromsgrove Standard

The 2017 Annual Service of Thanksgiving and Commemoration to celebrate the names of those inscribed in the Musicians’ Book of Remembrance will be held at 6pm on Tuesday 2 May, 2017 at St Sepulchrewithout-Newgate, the National Musicians’ Church. We are associated with alumna (1957-60) and annual member Dr Rosemary Dunn née Lee; Honorary Fellow and former Registrar Michael Hill; Honorary Fellow, former lecturer and Director of Studies Dr Peter James; former member of staff and CBSO oboist Karen O’Connor and Honorary Fellow and former member of staff Guy Woolfenden OBE.

Alumnus (1988-91) John Webb HonBC, who won the 2016 British Composers’ Award: Community or Education Project with his Into the Light. The work was commissioned by the Buckinghamshire Music Hub and Aurora Orchestra.

The late Antony Miller commissioned Andrew Downes’ Symphony No 2 for the Sutton Coldfield Chamber Orchestra. That work is included in a set of 2 CDs and a DVD of Andrew’s four symphonies and two orchestral overtures, recorded by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ondrej Vrabec, and released on the Artesmon label. It was launched at the Rudolphinum, Prague, in December 2015 and at the National Film Theatre, South Bank Centre, London in Apriĺ 2016, and can be purchased on amazon.com and amazon. co.uk, from most record shops, from Andrew’s website: andrewdownes.com and downloaded from iTunes and similar online shops.

News of BCA members We regret to report the deaths of • Linda Churchman née Reeve, known professionally as Linda Vaughan, singer and member of staff (1959-75), on 30 April, 2016 aged 95.

• Ann Harris née Troman, alumna (1950s) in September, 2016.

Alumnus (1968-79) Michael Jones gave a Recital entitled ‘Elgar and his Legacy’ at The Elgar School of Music on Friday 3 March, 2017. The programme included music

by Elgar, Ian Venables, John Joubert, Dorothy Howell, Herbert Lumby and Julius Harrison, all of whom have links with BSM/Conservatoire.

• Antony Miller HonFBC, honorary member, member of staff (1973-98) and former Head of Woodwind, on 11 January, 2017 - see page 27 • Dr Robert Meikle, member of staff (1963-71) and annual member, on 15 February, 2017.

Important note: Our Honorary Secretary’s email address will change to johnsmithhrs359@gmail.com with immediate effect.

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Celebration Concert for Gwyn Williams A celebration concert is being held for former CBSO violist and lifelong BCA member, Gwyn Williams who passed away in 2015.

Gwyn’s widow Stephannie has worked tirelessly to set up The Gwyn Williams Charitable Trust for Young Viola Players, which is dedicated to her husband’s memory and his legacy of

profound viola music accomplishment.

This inaugural concert on Sun 28th May at Birmingham Town Hall, launches the charity and is the first of many fundraising events planned to help students studying at Birmingham Conservatoire. Appearing on the night will be Michael Seal, Julian Lloyd Webber, Nick Bailey from Classic FM, Henry Fairs and Birmingham Conservatoire String Orchestra with friends and colleagues of Gwyn from CBSO. Tickets available from www.thsh.co.uk

Obituary

Antony Miller HonFBC 16 November 1926 - 11 January 2017

Antony Miller was born and educated in Bournemouth.

He studied piano and singing and was a church chorister. He studied the oboe with Clayton Oxley, principal oboe of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra, later Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

From 1974 to 1987 he was Director and conductor of weekly orchestral classes and annual one-day orchestral courses in Birmingham for the WEA (Workers Educational Association).

For twenty years he was an adjudicator for the Chamber Music Competition for Schools.

The Antony Miller Oboe Competition was established in 1999 to encourage young players to think of the oboe as a solo instrument, in addition to its more usual role in the orchestra.

After National Service, he began his distinguished orchestral career at the age of 22 by joining the oboe section of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. After a brief spell with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, he joined the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1952, serving as a member of this orchestra for 28 years, regularly playing oboe and cor anglais.

He married pianist Alison Pottinger HonFBC in 1953 and they had three daughters.

David Bruce-Payne HonFBC, BCA Honorary Member and former member of staff writes: “Tony was an excellent raconteur. Stories of his time with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra were endless, informative and highly amusing.

Teaching played a prominent part in Tony’s life and in 1953 he established his own private teaching practice.

Between 1959 and 1977 he held appointments as visiting oboe teacher at Shrewsbury School, Wrekin College Shropshire, Edgbaston High School for Girls, West Bromwich Grammar School and George Dixon Grammar School. During which time, in 1973, he was appointed visiting oboe teacher at Birmingham School of Music, becoming lecturer, senior lecturer and Head of Woodwind.

He retired in 1992 but remained as visiting oboe and cor anglais tutor until 1998.

Certainly Tony had the knack of superbly lightening up a potentially dull moment, and we had many a giggle over a coffee in the Conservatoire canteen!

I remember visiting him when he and Alison retired to Moreton-in-Marsh. They were so happy with their new house and the views of fields nearby. He showed me a large collection of scores, which was his new hobby, and he was deriving a lot of pleasure from having time to follow music with a miniature score in hand.

Conducting always held an interest and he conducted the Aurelian Chamber Orchestra, Sutton Coldfield Chamber Orchestra and Birmingham Schools’ Training Orchestra.

He was also woodwind coach of Birmingham Schools’ Symphony Orchestra.

He and Alison were very good at keeping in touch with former pupils and there was always a jolly story attached.

I noted how he had a positive approach to life and his sense of fun was often a much needed tonic for us all”.

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Upcoming events Sheku Kanneh Mason

Sheku Kanneh Mason Venue: Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire Price: £15 (£13) advance, £17 (£15) on the door Date: 5 May 2017 (1.05pm - 2.05pm) Sheku Kanneh Mason cello Isata Kanneh Mason piano Beethoven Sonata Op.5 No.2 in G minor Shostakovich Sonata Op.40 in D minor Winner of BBC Young Musician 2016, Sheku Kanneh Mason, is joined by his award-winning sister, Isata, for a special lunchtime recital.

Sheku was crowned winner of the prestigious televised prize when he played Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No.1 with The BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Grand Final at the Barbican.

This is a rare chance to see two of classical music’s most promising young stars in our intimate Recital Hall.

Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway Fundraising Gala Concert In support of our Woodwind Department Venue: Town Hall, Birmingham Price: £25 (£20), £10 for students and under 16s Date: 24 May 2017 (7pm) Programme includes: Briccialdi The Carnival of Venice Borne Carmen Fantasy

Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway

One of the world’s greatest living flautists Sir James Galway and his wife, Lady Jeanne perform in this fundraising event for Birmingham Conservatoire.

Nicknamed ‘The Man with the Golden Flute’, Sir James Galway is globally renowned as the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire and has sold in excess of 30 million records during a career that spans over 40 years.

Booking for both of these events and many more will be available on the Conservatoire’s website: www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar

Birmingham City University