Music at UCC
Performing Thought, Thinking Performance, a symposium hosted by the School of Music and Theatre, features keynote presentations and performances by David Toop and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck. Further information here.
Posted by Chris Morris on 05/16 at 10:45 PM in
Permalink
School of Music and Theatre (UCC) in association with CACSSS Graduate School (UCC) and Cork Midsummer Festival present FUAIM Theatre and Music Symposium, Saturday 15 June 2013. Full details here.
Posted by Chris Morris on 05/10 at 08:58 PM in
Permalink
Head of School Mel Mercier has been nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for the sound design of Testament of Mary.
Posted by Chris Morris on 05/10 at 08:51 PM in
Permalink
Chris Morris’s recently published Modernism and the Cult of Mountains: Music, Opera, Cinema has been reviewed on the German theatre research forum Theaterforschung
Posted by Chris Morris on 04/11 at 03:20 PM in
Permalink
Department of Music PhD student Irene Buckley is featured in the Irish Examiner. Click here to view the article:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/making-music-to-enhance-the-moving-image-223805.html
Posted by John Hough on 02/26 at 04:44 PM in
Permalink
We are inviting all our graduates to participate in our online graduate survey for 2013. This is the first step in an initiative designed to help the School keep you up to date with its activities and facilitate greater communication between graduates. Graduates who complete our survey will be automatically entered into a prize draw for a weekend for two in the beautiful River Lee Hotel.
http://www.music.ucc.ie/gradsurvey
FLÅTPÄCK, an “Opera in 5 rooms”, composed by Tom Lane, the inaugural recipient of the CACSSS Seán Ó Riada PhD scholarship, has been nominated in the Best Opera Production category in Irish Times Theatre Awards. Tom, who is currently studying for a PhD in Composition for Theatre at UCC School of Music and Theatre, under the supervision of Dr Mel Mercier and Dr Roisín O’Gorman, wrote the music and libretto, which consists entirely of IKEA product names.
The cast was comprised of 4 post-graduate students from the Royal Irish Academy of Music accompanied by a small ensemble of piano, accordion, cello and percussion. Directed by Conor Hanratty, musical direction was by Cathal Synnott, set and costumes were designed by Deirdre Dwyer, and lighting design was by Kevin Smith. The opera was the first production by Ulysses Opera Theatre which is produced by Matthew Smyth. The piece examines the IKEA phenomenon from the perspective of separate yet inter-locking scenes depicting situations from everyday domestic life. FLÅTPÄCK was performed in the CHQ building in Dublin’s docklands from the 8th-15th of September 2012 as part of the Dublin Abslout Fringe Festival and was funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.
Before coming to UCC, Tom Lane studied Music and Composition at Balliol College, Oxford, the London Royal Academy of Music, and the Berlin University of the Arts. Other recent creative work includes composition of music for DOGS by Emma Martin Dance, as part of the Dublin Absolut Fringe (winner of the Fringe Festival Best Design and Best Production awards) and the music for Bird with Boy by Junk Ensemble at the 2012 Dublin International Theatre Festival. Tom also composed and directed Experimental Evensong in 2010 and Corokinesis in 2011 for the choir of Christ Church Cathedral Dublin. http://www.tom-lane.com
Irish Times music critic, Michael Dervan, described last Saturday’s FUAIM/Cork Opera House production of John Cage’s Roaratorio An Irish Circus on Finnegan’s Wake as “…crazy. It was fascinating. It was meaningless. And yet it all felt so significant.” Read the full review here
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2012/1106/1224326172021.html
The RTE VSQ be playing in the Hugh Lane Gallery this Saturday, Nov 3rd. The programme includes Moeran’s Eb Quartet and two pieces by and with UCC Music graduate Niall Vallely: “The Red Tree” and “The O’Riada Room”. The concert will be recorded for later broadcast on Lyric FM and through the EBU to several million listeners.
Music staff Danijela Kulezic-Wilson and Christopher Morris and PhD candidate Jessica Shine co-edited the current issue of Alphaville, an international, peer-reviewed online journal hosted by Film Studies at UCC. The special issue, devoted to the theme ‘Sound, Voice, Music’, can be accessed here.
Posted by Chris Morris on 09/29 at 08:36 AM in
Permalink
Recent Music graduates Joanne Quirke and Aoife O’Mullane received ‘highly commended’ awards for essays entered in the 2012 Undergraduate Awards competition. Theirs were among only 15 essays selected for the finals of the ‘Modern Cultural Studies’ category from hundreds of international submissions. Congratulations, Joanne and Aoife!
Posted by Chris Morris on 09/29 at 08:11 AM in
Permalink
Applications are invited for a four-year funded PhD research project on the Seán Ó Riada Archive, preserved in the library of University College Cork. The deadline for this special project in UCC’s Digital Arts and Humanities (DAH) doctoral programme is extended to 15 July 2012.
For full details about the research project and how to apply for the scholarship, see http://www.music.ucc.ie/UCC_PhD_DAH_ORiada_Archive.pdf As mentioned in the document, enquiries may be directed to the co-supervisors of the research: Dr Karen Desmond and Dr Mel Mercier.
For explanation of UCC’s Digital Arts and Humanities doctoral programme, click here.
Posted by Paul Everett on 06/22 at 10:36 AM in
Permalink
The Department of Music is pleased to offer three fee-waiver scholarships for 2012-13, one for each of its three 1-year taught MA programmes: MA in Composition, MA in Ethnomusicology, and MA in Music and Cultural History. Co-funded by the School of Music and Theatre and the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, each award will be at the value of the MA fee for the year in question at the EU rate, approximately €5,770.
The award-winner will be selected, later this summer, from among the successful applicants for each MA programme. To be eligible to be considered for an award, candidates should apply through the PAC system for the MA programme of their choice (see the links to the MA programmes, above) and should in addition submit an application for the scholarship: see http://www.ucc.ie/en/cacsss/postgraddegrees/funding/
General enquires may be sent to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Chair, Graduate Studies Committee, Department of Music).
Posted by Paul Everett on 05/09 at 11:04 AM in
Permalink
Note: The deadline for applications has been extended to 15 July in the case of the PhD scholarship for research on the Seán Ó Riada Archive. See the latest details at
http://www.music.ucc.ie/index.php?/news/comments/PhD_DAH_ORiada_Archive/
University College Cork invites applications for 5 four-year funded doctoral studentships on selected topics within the structured PhD programme in Digital Arts and Humanities (DAH). Successful candidates will be registered with the full-time inter-disciplinary structured PhD programme co-ordinated with an all-Irish university consortium. Within the programme candidates will pursue an individual research agenda based on a project proposed as part of the application process.
Subject areas:
Currently scholarships are available in History, English and Music. Although applications are invited for any project in Music (including practice-based research in digital media and theoretical engagement with digital media), scholarships are only available for a project related to the music manuscripts in the Seán Ó Riada Collection held in the Boole Library. For details see the following: http://www.earlynewsnet.org/LIBRARY_PROJECTS_WEB/index.htm
What is DAH?
The ever-evolving developments in computing and their performative and analytical implications have brought about a quantum leap in arts and humanities research and practice. Digital Arts and Humanities is a field of study, research, teaching, and invention at the intersection of computing and information management with the arts and humanities.
The DAH Structured PhD programme will create the research platform, the structures, partnerships and innovation models by which fourth-level researchers can engage with a wide range of stakeholders in order to contribute to the developing digital arts and humanities community world-wide, as participants and as leaders.
Programme Structure
Candidates will complete core, training and career development modules, including main modules shared across the consortium and others institutionally-based. The overall aim of the taught modules are threefold: 1) to introduce students to the history and theoretical issues in digital arts/humanities; 2) to provide the skills needed to apply advanced computational and information management paradigms to humanities/arts research; 3) to provide an enabling framework for students to develop generic and transferable skills to carry out their final research projects/dissertations.
Year 1 of the four-year programme includes core and optional graduate education modules delivered in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Maynooth. These modules provide a grounding in essential research skills and transferable skills together with access to specialist topics. In years 2 and 3 work on PhD research projects is supplemented with access to elective modules. Year 3 features practical placements in industry, academic research environments or cultural institutions.
University College Cork has a strong track record in Digital Humanities and has been a pioneer in the development of digital tools for language study and historiography. The College of Arts (CACSSS) has particular strengths in European and Irish history, Renaissance Studies, English language and literature, Music and musicology, among others.
See http://www.ucc.ie/en/cacsss/grads/grep/dah/ for specifics.
For further information contact:
Brendan Dooley
Professor of Renaissance Studies
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Posted by Chris Morris on 05/03 at 05:55 AM in
Permalink
NEW: Applications are invited (deadline 1 June 2012) for a new three-year PhD scholarship: the Seán Ó Riada PhD Scholarship in music-composition for theatre. Click here for full details.
Posted by Paul Everett on 04/20 at 04:18 PM in
Permalink
Ibiza Voice features and extensive interview with Jeff Weeter and DJ collaborato Kate Simko.
Click here to read the article: http://www.ibiza-voice.com/story/news/3894
Posted by John Hough on 03/23 at 03:25 PM in
Permalink
Shane Keating and Breffni Molloy have been awarded the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann Scholarships 2012.
Shane writes:
I have being playing Irish traditional music for 15 years. I started playing tin whistle at the age of 5 and later progressed to the uilleann pipes and flute. I attended lessons at the Cork VEC and numerous summer festivals and workshops around the country. I have competed often in the Fleadh Cheoil, winning 14 All- Ireland titles, 9 of them in the solo category. I have traveled abroad performing concerts with several groups. Currently, I am teaching music and playing with Ballincollig Comhaltas.
Breffni writes:
I am a first year Music and Arts student here in UCC and am also a member of the UCC Trad Society. I have been playing Irish traditional music since the age of 9, beginning with the fiddle, and since then I have been very passionate about it. I won my first all-Ireland medal on the fiddle at the age of 10 and have since taken up the harp and the piano. I perform on a regular basis in my locality and have also begun to teach Irish music to children in the area, in the hopes of passing on my love of the tradition to others.
Posted by John Hough on 03/14 at 12:10 PM in
Permalink
Every year, Ireland’s most renowned New Music group, the Crash Ensemble, presents a concert of works by young Irish composers. ‘Free State 7’, the next concert in the series, will include works by UCC students Conal Ryan and Irene Buckley, selected by curator Andrew Hamilton from more than a hundred submissions. Irene is a composer of concert, film and theatre music as well as an established Electronica artist, and has developed an international profile of performances in Ireland, the USA and throughout Europe; she is completing a doctorate in composition. Conal completed an MA in Composition at UCC last year, with an unprecedentedly high first class award, and has just commenced a PhD in Composition. He is a joint winner of last year’s West Cork Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, and has been frequently performed in Ireland. Both are under the supervision of John Godfrey. The concert takes place on April 5th in the National Concert Hall, and will be broadcast by RTÉ lyric fm. For more information, please visit http://www.crashensemble.com/concert_detail.php?ID=153, http://www.irenebuckley.com/read-about.php
Claudia Schwab (3rd Arts Music) has been awarded this year’s World Music Travel Scholarship. Each year the scholarship is awarded to one Music student to support a study trip to Java, India or Africa.
Claudia writes: “I feel incredibly lucky and honoured having received this award and feel very excited about this opportunity. I am going to go to Banares/ Varanasi in Northeast India for a month towards the end of May to continue my studies of North Indian Classical music under the guidance of violinist Sukhdev Prasad Mishra, which I started in 2008 when I first visited India. This music has deeply inspired me and I am looking forward to get to know more about it.”
Claudia has a background in classical music, Austrian folk and vocal traditions, as well as eastern European and Balkan music. Involved in Irish traditional music since moving to Ireland in 2005, she is currently a final year student of music and psychology at UCC, discovering her passion for composition, expanding on her studies of North Indian Classical music and ethnomusicology. Alongside working on her own solo project, she is currently playing with bands such as Tucan, Catmelodeon and Ants on Glass.
Here is a clip of Claudia performing with the UCC Eastern European Traditional Music Ensemble.
PhD student Grainne McHale and the Fuaim SoundOut project are featured on an episode of this weeks Nationwide.
Skip to 8 minutes in the video:
http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1136498
UCC School of Music Traditional Flute tutor Aoife Granville has been included in a new publication on traditional Irish flute styles entitled ‘An Fheadóg Mhór’. The publication, by renowned flute player Conal Ó Gráda, examines different approaches and styles of traditional flute playing today and includes chapters on eight of the country’s top exponents of traditional flute. An accompanying CD includes tracks from all eight flute players: Harry Bradley, Catherine McEvoy, Patsy Hanley, Eamonn Cotter, Mike Rafferty, Tara Diamond, John Wynne and Aoife.
Conal writes of Aoife’s playing: “Listening to Aoife, the first thing that strikes me is the masterful control she has over the basic sound that she produces and which in turn makes me really comfortable as a listener, knowing that I will be sitting in this luxurious audio carriage for the duration of my journey. This technical mastery of tone is almost like an anchor in her playing and is complimented by a natural feel for phrasing and variation. Having listened to Aoife for many years I know that she puts a lot of thought into how she presents a tune and this trait is very evident when you listen to how she crafts her performance. Her music possesses exceptional poise and grace.”
Aoife has been the traditional flute tutor in UCC’s School of Music and Theatre since 2003 and is completing a PhD in Ethnomusicology under the supervision of Dr. Mel Mercier.
An Fheadóg Mhór is available online at http://www.conalograda.com
To listen to Aoife performing with UCC bodhrán tutor Colm Murphy follow this link:
http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/sound/rechnoic-mna-duibhe-granville/
Reviews of the CD ‘io 0.0.1 beta++’ (SLAMCD 531) by former UCC tutor Han-earl Park, with Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder, released by SLAM Productions. Recorded at the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music, the recording features the machine musician-improviser constructed with support from the Arts Council of Ireland and UCC Department of Music. The recording preceded the performance at Blackrock Castle Observatory which was presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from Blackrock Castle Observatory, the Castle Bar and Trattoria and the UCC Department of Music.
“This quartet (or faux-quartet, if you prefer) performs demanding free improvisation calling on a range of extended techniques. Pieces of dismantled gestures, destabilizing timbres, and impressive synergy.” — François Couture (Monsieur Délire)
“An idea that would be pleasing to the Futurists of a century ago, a total hymn to modernity…. The completely improvised session requires a lot of attention from the listener, to be fully repaid by that which is a successful experiment.” — Vittorio (MusicZoom)
“Closing track here, Return Trajectory is a good for instance of the excellent rapport existing among the aforementioned [“flesh-and-blood”] players, whose parallel traveling seems to suggest a good dose of telepathy—check the final moments…. Were the album as good as its closing track, well… we’d only have a good album, nothing more. But—surprise!—as per its title, we have an ‘unknown quantity’ called io 0.0.1 beta++: a ‘musical automaton’ created by Han-earl Park whose improvising—so rich when it comes to timbres… so mysterious when it comes to its decision-making—works as a valuable stimulus for its fellow musicians…. Here the work as it’s offered to the listener appears to highlight the issue of the decisional process which is at the basis of improvisation when seen as a conscious ‘discipline of choices’.” — Beppe Colli (CloudsandClocks)
More information about this CD is at http://www.io001b.com
UCC Department of Music lecturer Dr Derek Cremin performs with We Cut Corners on the rock duo’s Meteor Choice Music Prize nominated album Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards. The Meteor Choice Music Prize shortlist is announced in January each year, with the judges meeting in March to select the winning act at the Meteor Choice Music Prize live event. Congratulations Derek!
FUAIM: Music and Community is delighted to receive the prestigious ‘Arts Participation Project Award’ from the Arts Council of Ireland for the development of a new intergenerational arts project – FUAIM: LifeSounds.
FUAIM: LifeSounds, will bring together in an equal and safe environment, professional artists and musicians, UCC Music and Theatre students, and groups of older adults from a local residential home and a day care centre in Cork City. Running from June – October 2012, this project will facilitate the collaborative development of new creative work. The FUAIM: LifeSounds project will culminate with a sharing of this new work with the wider community through a range of public performances and skills sharing seminars in the Residential home, Day Service Centre and UCC.
FUAIM: LifeSounds is delighted, both from a historical and creative perspective, to welcome back as a guest artist to Cork, Molly Sturges of LittleGlobe, New Mexico. Molly was the artistic director of the inspirational Arts in Community project MOMENT in 2005 – produced by Mel Mercier and Margaret O’Sullivan.
FUAIM: LifeSounds hopes to learn from these past experiences in order to inspire, build capacity and provide further professional development opportunities for project participants, as well as local students, artists and practitioners.
For More information please email FUAIM: Music and Community Coordinator Gráinne McHale on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Head of UCC School of Music and Theatre, Dr Mel Mercier has been nominated
for a prestigious Irish Time Theatre Award in the category Best Designer:
Sound, for music he composed for Sétanta (written and directed by Paul
Mercier for Fíbín and the Abbey Theatre).
Mel has been writing music for theatre for 15 years. He has composed the
music for many critically acclaimed, award-winning productions that have
been presented on the stages of the national theatres of Ireland, the UK and
France, the West End and Broadway. He collaborates often with two of the
world’s most respected theatre practitioners - director Deborah Warner and
actor Fiona Shaw - and he has also composed music for several productions
by the Cork theatre company, Corcadorca.
Understanding Music: An Introduction to Music Appreciation
Dr Eva McMullan and Dr. Estelle Murphy School of Music, UCC
Times/Dates: Thursday 26th January to 29th March, 7-9pm
This course is designed to introduce contrasting musical styles and genres that have existed throughout the history of Western Classical Music. The aim of the course is to create an awareness of the particular musical styles themselves, and to identify the contrasting cultural contexts in which the selected works were composed. Each lecture will comprise of two parts. The first part will be dedicated to learning about a particular period in musical history, while the second part will include listening and responding to some of the most popular works from the genre being studied.
1. Introducing Medieval Music
2. Rituals and Royalty: Music, Power and Ceremony in the Baroque Period
3. The Reign of Bach and Handel
4. Introducing the Symphony
5. Mozart: The Man and the Artist
6. An Invitation to Opera
7. The Last Romantic: The Piano Music of Rachmaninoff
8. Classical Music in the Twentieth Century: Tradition and Innovation
9. Understanding Contemporary Society through Popular Music
10. Music and other Arts (Visual Art, Architecture, Literature)
For more information:
http://www.ucc.ie/en/study/ace/what/short/jan/music/
The Staf Gebruers Memorial Award, 2011 was awarded to Ms Ide O’Sullivan in recognition of her excellence in Music at UCC. Ide is currently pursuing a postgraduate qualification at the University of Roehampton, London.
The annual award is in honour of Staf Gebruers (1902-70), who from 1924 was carillonneur, organist and choirmaster of St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh and for almost fifty years played a major role in the musical life of Cork and of Ireland. The award is sponsored by Mr Tom and Mrs Ann Jago. Mr Jago is a native of Cobh and was a pupil of Staf Gebruers.
UCC Choir has made it on to RTE Lyric FM Carols for Christmas 2011. The choir was newly formed in October 2011 under the baton of Dr Eva McMullan and consists of students and staff.
Extract from RTE e-mail:
“I am delighted to inform you that your choirs have been already scheduled for airplay on RTÉ lyric fm (96-99fm) commencing this Thursday December 8th.
Full transmission details will be posted on http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/choirsforchristmas
available online from Wednesday evening, 7th December – *please keep an eye on the page as the order may change in exceptional circumstances. There are no specific broadcast times allocated, choirs can be heard between 10am and 2pm.
If you happen to be unable to tune in at the time of broadcast there is also a listen back facility on our website http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/daytime
. “
The UCC Choir will be giving a Christmas Concert on Monday next 12th December in De Vere Hall at 1.00pm; please come along and join us in our Christmas celebrations.
On March 3–6, 2011, 150 people gathered at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland, for the first Ireland Sacred Harp Singing Convention. Here is a short article by an American sacred harp scholar on the international impact and catalytic experience of the convention. http://southernspaces.org/2011/irelands-first-sacred-harp-convention-meet-part-no-more
The Department of Music is delighted to announce that recent graduate Gráinne Blake has won second prize in the Fifth Undergraduate Musicology Competition hosted by the Council of Heads of Music in Higher Education. Gráinne was awarded the prize for her final-year dissertation entitled Opera’s Rejuvenation: Experimentalism, Innovation, Transformation. As part of the award, she has been invited to present a paper at the next Postgraduate Students’ Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama on January 20-21, 2012.
The Department of Music is delighted to announce that Sara Wentworth and Rachel Deloughry have been awarded four-year scholarships in the new structured PhD programme in Digital Arts and Humanities ( http://dahphd.ie/). Both will be based in the Department of Music and work under the supervision of John Godfrey and Jeffrey Weeter. A multimedia artist, Sara will undertake research leading to the construction of reusable, transposable tools for integrated media performance.
Rachel is a clarinettist whose practice-based research will explore new forms of performer interaction with technology.
The Department of Music is delighted to announce that Roslyn Steer (currently a student in the MA in Music and Cultural History) has won a national Undergraduate Award for her essay “The Influence of Music on Modernist Literature”. Rosyln has been invited to the Undergraduate Awards ceremony where she will receive a medal from the President of Ireland in Dublin Castle.
“These awards encourage our top undergraduates to believe in the validity of their work and in their entitlement to a public place of respect within scholarly discourse.”
President Mary McAleese
http://www.undergraduateawards.com
Posted by John Hough on 10/05 at 10:36 AM in
Permalink
Culture Night 2011 will take place on Friday 23rd, September 2011
In Cork with over 75 venues taking part, over 200 events taking place and over 30,000 people expected to attend, this year’s Cork Culture Night will be biggest yet!
Running from early evening until very late, there will be something for everyone, young and old alike. Theatres, galleries, observatories, public laboratories, artist studios, historic houses and Churches are staying open late and putting on a range of special programmes, all for FREE.
For full details of Cork Culture Night 2011, click here.
To download a copy of the programme, click Culture Night Programme 2011.
Posted by John Hough on 09/09 at 03:08 PM in
Permalink
During her time at UCC, Gráinne developed a strong interest in Musicology. This impending academic year, Gráinne will be furthering her musicological studies at the University of Nottingham, where she has been awarded a Research Preparation Masters Studentship by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of England.
The Mary V Hart prize is awarded to the successful candidate obtaining first place at the BMus (Hons) Degree.
Dr. Juniper Hill has been awarded two prestigious fellowships, the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship from the European Research Council and the Fulbright Fellowship from the American and Finnish governments. She will be in residence at the Sibelius Academy in Finland for fall semester 2011, and in residence at Cambridge University from January 2012 through December 2013. Her research project explores sociocultural enablers and inhibitors of musical creativity in multiple cultural contexts.
Posted by Juniper Hill on 09/03 at 08:08 AM in
Permalink
Click here to go to the Hotpress feature.
An open evening for the Certificate and Diploma in Music at UCC takes place this Thursday, September 1.
This Thursday at 6pm you will be able to find out how you can take part in the Gamelan as part of a course offered by the School of Music & Theatre. Whether you are an aspiring musican, a closet composer or just someone with a keen interest in music who would like to develop your knowledge, a course beginning soon at UCC Music Department provides a far-reaching perspective in the many facets of one of life’s more enjoyable pursuits.
Since it was first established in 2002, the course has not only included students hoping to go on to study the music degree at the university, but also tradespeople and professionals. The course also welcomes adults, who wish to re-discover their passions for music or who may now have a little time aside to try something new.
Initially a one-year certificate, the course’s popularity has since extended to a two-year diploma with further credits towards entering the degree course. Starting in September, classes take place at the UCC Music Department in Sundays Well every Tuesday night over 24 weeks.
The course offers an inspired and exciting mix of subjects with modules from the history of music, aural recognition, music criticism, to performance. The performance area of the course encompasses some fascinating types of music; from Indonesian Gamelan through to African and Indian traditional music.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a high level of music proficiency or you are starting from the beginning, everyone will be in the same boat when it comes to trying out and performing on the only full Gamelan set in Ireland!
The Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters, featuring UCC BMus graduate Sean O’ Mahony, provides the music for the new Beck’s Vier commercial in Ireland throughout the month of August. It’s exciting times for the band that just recently
released its debut album The Devil In Music. Congratulations to Sean and the band. For more, check out their website: http://www.foxjawbountyhunters.com/
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich presented a composition seminar at the Department of Music on Wednesday 27th July. During the seminar Reich discussed his recent composition WTC 9/11 and fielded questions from an enthusiastic audience of composers, musicians and musicologists. The seminar was followed by a performance by the UCC Gamelan, with soloists cellist Kate Ellis and fiddler Geraldine O’Callaghan. For full details of The Reich Effect, a five-day festival celebrating the 75th year of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich at http://reicheffect.tumblr.com/
Click image for slideshow. Photos by John Hough
Posted by John Hough on 08/03 at 11:35 AM in
Permalink
The Department of Music is delighted to announce that Gráinne McHale has been awarded the PhD Scholarship in Music and Urban Regeneration. The scholarship is generously funded by CACSSS, UCC. Gráinne’s research supervisor is Dr. Mel Mercier. As part of her project, Gráinne will develop the Music and Community strand of FUAIM.
Gráinne graduated from UCC with a BA Arts-Music (2005) and BMus (2006), before going on to complete the MA in Community Music at the University of York, where she received a distinction for her research on the use of music technology as a tool for social inclusion in music education.
Gráinne has researched, developed and managed a wide range of community music and music education projects within various education, health and community settings in both Ireland and the UK. She adopts a cross-arts approach and works extensively with a wide range of interactive multi-media technologies. Gráinne also delivers in-service, inclusive music training in schools, organisations and community groups throughout the country.
As project manager for Cork Music Works, an organisation that provides music making and performance opportunities for people with disabilities, Gráinne has received generous support for her work, training and research from many sources, including Cork City Council, Arts Council Ireland, Health Service Executive (Southern Services), Social Inclusion Division of the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs and Cork City and County VEC.
She has lectured on the MA in Community Music course at the University of York, presented her research at various local and national conferences, and has facilitated ACCESS workshops for CIT and UCC. She has devised and delivered the Expressive Arts Music module for the UCC Contemporary Living Course, which is a third level certificate for students with intellectual disabilities. Through her research and practical work, Gráinne continues to develop creative partnerships between Universities and arts organisations in the UK, Europe and the US.
Music software giant Ableton have featured a story on the collaborations of Jeff Weeter and Kate Simko.
‘How do you make a different live music video every night? After a long history of static audiovisual collaboration, musician Kate Simko and video artist Jeffrey Weeter are exploring fluid mixing of sound and vision with the tour for Kate’s forthcoming debut album, Lights Out’ Click here for more..
This group of UCC music students plays ‘Eleanor Plunkett’, a tune composed by the 17th century blind harper-composer Turlough O’Carolan. The group is joined by dancers Tara Breen and Fiachra Ó Corragáin for ‘Miss Monaghan’s Reel.’ Tara and Fiachra dance a treble reel using steps created by the old dancing masters, which were taught to them by UCC School of Music and Theatre dance tutor, Peggy McTaggart.
With the support of a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant, the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame has awarded its NEH Keough Fellowship for 2011-12 to Dr Deirdre Ní Chonghaile. Deirdre studied for her PhD at the Department of Music, UCC, under the supervision of Dr Mel Mercier. Whilst at Notre Dame, Deirdre will be working on a book that is based on her recently completed PhD entitled ‘ag teacht le cuan’: Irish traditional music and the Aran Islands. For this work, she has also been awarded the 2010 Adele Dalsimer Prize for Distinguished Dissertation in Irish Studies by the American Conference for Irish Studies. For more information, see: http://nationalirelandgalway.academia.edu/deirdrenichonghaile
Posted by John Hough on 03/31 at 08:16 AM in
Permalink
A new way of writing music, and all that jazz
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0329/1224293291783.html
The winner of this year's Fleischmann Composition Competition is 4th-Year undergraduate Kevin Terry.
Kevin's piece, 'Sang There', was one of 15 excellent entries; 8 of these were shortlisted and performed last Wednesday night by outstanding musicians Kate Ellis (cello) and Andrew Zolinsky (piano). The standards were high, and there was an incredible, exciting variety of styles. It was a wonderful concert!
The musicians also decided to offer a 'Performers' Prize' to a work that they felt was particularly idiomatically written for the instruments, Andrea Bonino's 'Last Minute to Axum'. Both Kevin's and Andrea's pieces were then given public performances to a large and appreciative crowd in the lunchtime concert last Friday.
Congratulations to both!
The Fleischmann Composition Competition is a yearly prize, inaugurated last year at the Fleischmann Centenary Celebrations. In keeping with the ethos of the Department of Music, it is open to all students taking music courses at UCC, whatever their musical backgrounds, and to music in any style. The competition is an invaluable opportunity for talented young composers to air their work; the winner receives a prize of €500 to further their compositional career.
Posted by John Hough on 03/22 at 10:30 AM in
Permalink
In celebration of St Patrick’s week, UCC have published a video featuring Department of Music students performing in the Quad. The piece is introduced by Mary Mitchell-Ingoldsby, lecturer in Traditional Irish Music at the Department of Music.
Posted by John Hough on 03/14 at 04:16 PM in
Permalink
Announcing the 2nd Annual
Fleischmann Composition Prize
Wednesday 16 March, 7 pm, Ó Riada Hall, Music Building UCC
The School of Music and Theatre, UCC, is delighted to announce the second annual Fleischmann Composition Prize.
The prize, launched in 2010 during the Aloys Fleischmann Centenary celebrations, is a significant new landmark in the School of Music and Theatre’s ongoing commitment to studies in music composition. The competition is open to any student studying music at UCC.
Shortlisted works will be publically performed on Wednesday 16 March at 7 pm, in the Ó Riada Hall of the Music Building. The prize-winner will be announced at this performance.
The performers will be Kate Ellis, ‘cello, and Andrew Zolinsky, piano. They are both outstanding musicians with international profiles and extremely extensive experience of playing a very broad range of music.
Open to all; admission free
The following review of Mathilde 253 by Brian Morton appeared in the current issue of Point of Departure (Issue 33, February 2011):
“Mathilde 253 is one of those ‘name’ groups that sprang fully-formed from a single playing moment - in fact the very moment at London’s Café Oto last April that is documented on this debut CD – but seems to have been around for much longer. As far as the individual players are concerned, trumpeter Ian Smith is now a significant figure on the Emanem axis of British improvisers; news that Mathilde 253 are shortly to tour Ireland with Wadada Leo Smith has certain comic potential but also prompts the thought that a second trumpeter, even a distinguished international guest, might be gilding the lily. Ian Smith is a formidable technician and a profoundly intuitive music maker, with the ability to deliver exactly the right sound, or very often the right sonic texture, at the psychological moment. An ideal group or ensemble player, he seems remarkably free of ego in performance, often preferring to wait out passages before delivering a tiny killer stroke. One knows that this was a Miles Davis stratagem, but it’s the other Smith he resembles most completely, though some of his articulations here sound as if they might be influenced by Bill Dixon.
“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher. He works in a variety of fields, develops low-intensity electronic devices, often for context-specific performances, and like his playing partner never insists on grabbing the spotlight. One of the delights of this live session is that one very frequently can’t distinguish who is making particular sounds. There’s not much idiomatic guitar-playing, though Park is very much in the Derek Bailey rather than the Keith Rowe line; he uses relatively orthodox technique to unorthodox ends.
“Drummer (and occasional melodica player) Charles Hayward is perhaps the best known of the three, largely due to this role with pioneering, Camberwell-based This Heat, one of the most experimental ‘punk’ groups to emerge on the London scene during the late ‘70s. The group’s sessions for John Peel and the bootleg of their 1980 concert at the Institute of Contemporary Arts are key documents in British creative music of the last thirty years. It’s fascinating to find Hayward in this setting, taking up the mantle – different as they were – of the late Steve Harris. Mathilde 253 has something of the guttural authority and generosity of gesture one associates with Zaum, which Harris led until his untimely death. They also make a specific virtue of building other musicians into the group language. Leo Smith is on the face of it a surprising addition. Lol Coxhill makes more immediate sense. An immensely thoughtful, but eternally self-effacing player, he slots in here for just the two final cuts, ‘Aachen’ and ‘Oaxaca’, and in a curious way acts as a kind of chorus/facilitator, summing up and simplifying aspects of the group language, rather than challenging or antagonising it, as guest players very often do.
“It’s a long set, but has sufficient underlying momentum to pass with deceptive speed. It takes an alert listener to distinguish occasional quietuses in the process with track endings, and there is a moment between ‘Ishikari’ and ‘Jixi’ when it sounds almost as if one aspect of the previous piece has been filleted out for more sustained attention. Smith favors long mongrelly growls and scales that ascend and descend in illogical ways, like the stairs in an M C Escher print. Hayward has a very distinct sense of time underneath the freedom. It’s not untypical of British free drummers to imply some kind of steady pulse. Eddie Prévost does it, John Stevens did it far more often than anyone supposed, Tonys Oxley and Levin almost always do. I’d have picked Hayward out as a Brit even if there had been no accompanying details.
“This is an exciting new venture for him and for the others. One can reasonably expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter and Smith always repays the closest attention, and claims it with sudden open-horn breakouts if the fabric of the music gets too smooth and uninflected. Great stuff and a disc that reassert’s Slam’s importance as a free music imprint.”
As part of FUAIM Music at UCC, Mathilde 253 will perform with Ishamel Wadada Leo Smith on March 30, 2011 at the Half Moon Theatre (Cork Opera House, Emmet Place). The concert begins at 8:00 pm, and tickets: €11 (€6 concessions) from the Cork Opera House (http://www.corkoperahouse.ie or +353 (0)21 427 0022).
Presented with funding from the Music Network Performance and Touring Award, and support from UCC School of Music and the Cork Opera House.
Irene Buckley is one of five finalists in the TANSMAN 2010 - VIII International Competition of Musical Personalities Composers Competition. Her piece Stórr, for orchestra, was selected from 245 entries from 50 countries, and will be performed by the Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra on the 19th November 2010 in Lodz, Poland. The international jury consisted of Zygmunt Krauze, Louis Andriessen, Michael Nyman, Ana Lara, Hwang-Long Pan, Aaron Jay Kernis and Jose Manuel Lopez. Top prize is €12,000.
Posted by John Hough on 10/26 at 10:44 AM in
Permalink
Press Release from Cork Opera House:
On behalf of the Board of Cork Opera House, Chairman Damian Wallace today announced the appointment of the new Chief Executive Officer of Cork Opera House, Ms Mary Hickson.
Mary has been a senior arts administrator, programmer and director for the last ten years in Ireland. After studying music in UCC and a Masters in UL, Mary was part of the original management team for the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire, before moving to being Director and Manager of the O’Reilly Theatre in Dublin. She has managed the Crash Ensemble, and retains a position on their Board of Directors to the present day. Having spent ten years in Dublin, Mary has returned to her native Cork recently, to resume teaching and other projects with the UCC Music Department. This included the management of a delegation of 20 musicians to the World Expo in Shanghai (with funding and collaboration from UCC, Cork City Council, and Culture Ireland). Her recent projects also include working on the FUAM programme for UCC Music Department, Music Producer of ‘From The Sources’, Managing and playing in TRASNA, artistic advisor for Music Network, Deis Panelist for the Arts Council, and various other collaborations with Cork City Council and Culture Ireland.
Mr Wallace said, “On behalf of the Board and staff we wish to sincerely welcome Mary to the organisation. We are extremely pleased to secure somebody of her calibre to fill the position and look forward to her positive contribution in leading Cork’s premiere cultural institution and in implementing the recently drafted strategic plan which will secure the financial viability of the company into the future”.
Congratulations Mary!
On Sunday night next (17 Oct), the Quiet Music Ensemble and composer David Toop will make a live appearance on RTÉ Lyric’s NOVA.
The QME and Toop will improvise and perform his specially- commissioned piece night leaves breathing; Toop will read from his new book Sinister Resonance; and host Bernard Clarke will talk with
Toop and the QME about their experimental and improvised music.
Tune in between 9 and 10 pm or listen online. The Quiet Music Ensemble is a Cork-based Experimental music group launched in 2008 and led by composer and performer John Godfrey. The QME is dedicated to music that invites deep attention; music that is immersive, reflective, and introspective; music that is an experimentation with, and meditation on, sound itself.
Since 2008, Qme has worked with, and commissioned, many of the world’s leading figures in Experimental music and Sound Art, promoted Ireland’s only international festival of Experimental music, presented several prestigious performances, worked with prominent irish traditional musicians and visual artists and continues to develop unique and extraordinary ideas.
Listen to the performance here.
The Cork Folk Festival and Ceilí Mór are delighted to announce that the Live in the Classroom schools outreach programme will take place again this year as part of the festival celebrations. On the week of September 27th, a group of Irish traditional performers will visit a number of primary and post-primary schools in Cork city and surrounding areas
The ensemble consists of well-known performers in the city and students and graduates from University College Cork. The group will perform a program of Irish traditional music that is adapted for a young audience. The performances will feature participatory elements allowing students to engage in an interactive way. The group will perform to over 1,000 students as part of the programme.
Performers:
Stella Rodriques - Fiddle
Fiachra Ó Corragain -Harp, Concertina,Fiddle
Karl Nesbitt - Bouzouki, Bodhrán, Flute
Caoimhín Ó Fearghail - Uilleann Pipes, Flute, Guitar
Schools:
Scoil Naisiunta Naomh Antoine, Ballinlough, Cork City
St Vincent’s Girls Secondary School, St Mary’s Road, Cork City
Kilbarry Primary School, Kilbarry, Co. Cork,
Scoil Mhuire, Macroom, Co. Cork
For more details on The Colk Folk Festival Live in the Classroom Series please contact the Live in the Classroom Co-ordinator, Michelle Finnerty
UCC students, staff and alumni are among the performers in an upcoming Irish premiere at the East Cork Early Music Festival. A vibrant and compelling mix of visual drama, spoken word and live music, Sacred Hearts, Secret Music is the result of a unique collaboration between novelist Sarah Dunant and the directors of Musica Secreta and the Celestial Sirens, Laurie Stras and Deborah Roberts, visiting masterclass teacher at UCC. The premier Irish performance will take place at St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh at 4pm on Sunday, 19 September 2010. The performers include UCC music lecturer Melanie Marshall singing with the Celestial Sirens in the role of Quirina, UCC music undergraduate Hayleigh Clement-Doyle, and UCC music doctoral composer Irene Buckley.
An audience with Sarah Dunant takes place on Friday 17 September at 1pm, co-presented by UCC School of Music and Theatre, UCC School of English and East Cork Early Music in partnership with the Lewis Glucksman Gallery. The Head of UCC School of English, Professor James Knowles, will be joined by Musica Secreta ‘band boffin’ Laurie Stras and author Sarah Dunant to discuss the creative interaction of literature and music, history and fiction, and the challenges of bringing the past to life.
A soundtrack to the final novel in Sarah Dunant’s Italian Renaissance trilogy, Sacred Hearts, Secret Music conjures the atmosphere of a sixteenth-century convent, where internal divisions and spiritual scandal threaten the tranquility of centuries. The young novice Serafina is blessed with the voice of an angel, yet her struggle against enclosure is anything but holy. The performance interweaves dramatic readings from Sarah Dunant’s Sacred Hearts with searing chants from ancient holy Offices. The convent choir, played by the Celestial Sirens and the newly-established East Cork Early Music Festival Singers, sings music by two major composers of the sixteenth century, Cipriano de Rore and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
The project sheds light on the performing practices of Italian Renaissance nuns. Music historians knew for years that sixteenth-century nuns celebrated the Offices with multi-part polyphonic music on special occasions but sacred music has survived primarily in arrangements for male voices. Musica Secreta and the Celestial Sirens have been at the forefront of creative experiments to work out how nuns could have performed this music using instrumental accompaniment, moving parts around, and exploring the lower reaches of women’s voices. The result is ethereal, haunting and ravishing by turn.
The newly-established East Cork Early Music Festival Singers includes a number of UCC staff, students and alumni, among them Hayleigh Clement-Doyle (undergraduate music student), Irene Buckley (postgraduate composer), Áine Uí Cheallaigh (visiting tutor to MA students), and alumni Áine Ní She, Catherine Frost, Deirdre Long, Bebhinn Ní Mheara, and Aiveen Kearney.
The audience with Sarah Dunant is free. Tickets for Sacred Hearts, Secret Music are available from the Everyman Palace Theatre (021 450 1673).
The TRASNA ensemble, established in 2009 as a UCC School of Music response to the developing intercultural landscape of Cork. has just arrived home from a successful trip to EXPO in Shanghai where the ensemble represented UCC, Cork City and Ireland.
The ensemble performed for the first time in February 2010 in the Pavilion, Carey’s Lane Cork, where the huge potential of the group was evident. TRASNA went on to headline the closing event of the Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures where they collaborated with a Moroccan Gnawa ensemble, traditional Irish music Powerhouse Guidewires, virtuoso Basque Txalaparta duo Ttukunak and dancer Colin Dunne.
For the trip to Shanghai, the ensemble was joined by several leading Irish performers, including Julie Feeney and Iarla Ó Lionáird and some exciting young UCC student traditional Irish musicians, Caitlin Nic Gabhann and Tara Breen. The combined members of TRASNA and the Cork Music Collective were, Mel Mercier, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Paul O’Donnell, Niwel Tsumbu, Dylan Gully, Mary Hickson, Eamonn Cagney, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Danny McCarthy, Mick O’Shea, Michelle Mulcahy, Niall Vallely, Kate Ellis, Tara Breen, Caitlín Nic Gabhann, John Godfrey and Julie Feeney.
During the week-long visit to Shanghai, TRASNA and the Cork Music Collective performed in the Irish Pavilion. The group also participated in a unique collaborative performance with the famous Chinese musician, Xiaohui Ma, (who plays the two-stringed Chinese fiddle on the soundtrack of the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) in the Australian Pavilion. In addition, the group will performed a concert with traditional musicians from Shanghai University and presented several workshops in local Shanghai schools.
In the Media
Extract from Shanghai Expo Website
Bringing Ireland and China together … in Australia - By Zachary Franklin/China-Files 2010-09-13
Chance performance at Expo blends cultures, giving visitors truly different experience.
With the threat of rain looming in the skies and the musicians opting to use the stage at the Australia pavilion, the additional element of performing in “Aussie” territory brought a unique cultural experience to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Originally scheduled to perform at the Ireland pavilion Sept. 9, contemporary Irish band Trasna joined China’s Ma Xiaohui, most recognized for her duet alongside Yo-Yo Ma for the soundtrack to the 2000 film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” in what was to be a fusion of music cultures.
The event turned into a collision of sound against the backdrop of the Australia pavilion, with more than 20 performers collaborating at the evening concert.
“It’s very unique to be doing something like this,” said Ma before the concert. “And to think that just because of the weather we’re now here at the Australia pavilion, and I’m seeing a whole new pavilion and musical setting. At first, we were a bit stressed about moving venues, but I’m happy right now. We’re all enjoying this very much.”
With the elevated stage located by the exit hall of the Australia pavilion, visitors were given an extra treat before leaving, a chance to sample the sounds of Ma’s traditional Chinese music – Ma plays the “erhu,” a string instrument that looks like a violin – alongside the array of musical sounds from Trasna, which included a pianist, tambourine player, harpist and cellist, to name a few.
“The group Trasna is about inter-culture music collaboration,” said Mel Mercier, head of the School of Music and Theater at University College Cork in Ireland. “It is perfect for us to be performing with one of China’s highest regarded musicians at the Expo. This is real world music.”
Part of Trasna’s appeal is the group’s ability to, according to singer and pianist Liam Ó Maonlaí, “take the mystery out of music,” and perform in a way that allows listeners to hear their own culture in Trasna’s songs.
“China is so rich in culture, and they have a strong connection with the past,” said Maonlaí before the concert. “We’ve performed several times at the Expo, and visitor’s response is always one of recognition. If you bring culture to people with culture, they will respond.”
http://www.shanghaiexpo.eu/Page/266/SourceId/733/InfoID/930/language/en-US/default.aspx
Click Here for images of the performances
Rehearsals take place on campus every Wednesday at 7:30 in the Geography Building. Why not come along. Contact Eva at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 086-8051316 for further details.
Conductor: Anne Barry
Assistant Conductor: Eva McMullan
Accompanist: Dr. Rhoda Dullea
Posted by John Hough on 09/01 at 09:34 AM in
Permalink
Congratulations to Grit Glass (BA Arts-Music 2010) who has been awarded the Staf Gebruers Memorial Student Award 2010. The award is designed to support postgraduate study. Grit will take the MA in Ethnomusicology at UCC in 2010-11.
The annual Staf Gebruers Memorial Student Award was established in 2007 in association with the School of Music, UCC, to honour the memory of Ireland’s first carillonneur, Staf Gebruers. The award is generously sponsored by Cobh man, Tom Jago and his wife Ann.
Born in Antwerp (Flanders) in 1902, Staf Gebruers received his early education at the local Jesuit schools and then at the Antwerp Conservatoire and the Lemmens Institute for Church Music in Mechelen. He also studied under Jef Denyn who was responsible for the renaissance of the carillon art in our time, and with the charismatic composer Jef van Hoof. In 1924, he was appointed Carillonneur, Organist and Choirmaster of St Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh and for almost 50 years played a major role in the musical life of his adoptive town and country. He also fulfilled regular guest engagements abroad. He taught singing in primary and post-primary schools and for many years was Professor of Music at Mount Melleray Seminary in County Waterford. He was responsible for countless musical productions in Cobh and elsewhere, ranging from operetta through oratorio to grand opera. A prolific composer and arranger, he was also a gifted conductor, particularly of choral music, and was much in demand as a lecturer. He did a considerable amount of work for radio and television. He was a frequent prizewinner at the Oireachtas and the Dublin Feis Ceoil and on at least five separate occasions was the recipient of the much-coveted Milligan Fox Gold Medal for original composition. Other honours received included the Key to Washington DC (1957), the Medal of Honour of SABAM (The Belgian Artists’ Association) (1958) and the Papal medal “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” in recognition of outstanding work for church music (1969). He died in 1970
Áine Mangaoang (BMus 2007, MA Music and Cultural History 2009) has been awarded the 21st Anniversary IPM (Institute of Popular Music) Anniversary Scholarship to carry out PhD research at the University of Liverpool.
Áine will be supervised for her PhD by Dr. Anahid Kassabian, who is the James & Constance Alsop Chair of Music and the Departmental Director of Postgraduate Research in the University of Liverpool. Áine will be continuing her work on the use of pop music as a form of discipline and rehabilitation, research she began for her dissertation as part of the MA in Music and Cultural History at UCC.
The Institute of Popular Music was established in 1988 as the first academic centre in the UK created specifically for the study of popular music. It continues to play an important part in popular music scholarship internationally, attracting students and visiting scholars from around the world, and contributing at international levels to the body of popular music scholarship. In 2003, the IPM became part of the School of Music at the University of Liverpool.
Congratulations Áine!
Raymond Considine is this year’s recipient of the THE MARY V. HART MEMORIAL PRIZE IN MUSIC.
The prize is awarded to the student who achieves the first place at the BMus (Hons) Degree Examination.
Congratulations Ray!
The prize is awarded to the final-year BMus student “who has, in the judgment of the examiners, displayed the deepest understanding of the nature of Irish Traditional Music either at an academic or performance level, or both”.
Congratulations Vivienne!
Michelle Finnerty (part-time lecturer in Music at UCC) has been awarded a prestigious National Children’s Strategy Doctoral Scholarship from the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Research Scholarship Programme.
The three-year funding commences in 2010/11 and is awarded to Michelle to fund her research on the musical culture of children in Ireland. Michelle will be co-registered at UCC and DCU, and co-supervised by Mel Mercier (UCC) and Dr. John O Flynn (Head of Music at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra).
Congratulations Michelle!
Evening Echo June 1st
Irish Examiner June 17th
http://www.journalist.ie
Up another set of stairs, at the top of the gallery, Mel Mercier offers another kind of escape with his beautifully presented exploration of Aloys Fleichmann’s seminal Sources of Traditional Irish Music c1600 – 1855. Part of the Fleichmann centenary, 94 traditional musicians (all UCC graduates, tutors or students) were filmed playing 7 or 8 of the first 836 dance tunes and airs in the Sources (there are around 6000). The installation fills the top floor of The Glucksman with the sound and images of them playing simultaneously shown on flat-screens, walls and a sheet of gauze. It should result in a kind of cacophony but interestingly it doesn’t. It’s more like listening to birdsong: you can tune into individual airs as you listen or just hear the whole as a kind of multilayered aural landscape. It’s quite magical, largely due to the clever way in which it has been produced and presented, paying homage to John Cage’s multi-track Roaratorio: an Irish Circus at Finnegan’s Wake (1979) –but also because of the fairytale/celtic myth associations the modern mind brings to tunes like these. It speaks of heritage, and stirs our cultural consciousness in a very gentle, but persistent way. Hours long, it’s one to pop in and out of, the kind of show you can visit several times while it’s on.
Read the full article here.
Irish Independent 8th August
Irish Times 7th August
Extract from http://journalist.ie/2010/06/art-and-music-at-the-glucksman/
Up another set of stairs, at the top of the gallery, Mel Mercier offers another kind of escape with his beautifully presented exploration of Aloys Fleichmann’s seminal Sources of Traditional Irish Music c1600 – 1855. Part of the Fleichmann centenary, 94 traditional musicians (all UCC graduates, tutors or students) were filmed playing 7 or 8 of the first 836 dance tunes and airs in the Sources (there are around 6000). The installation fills the top floor of The Glucksman with the sound and images of them playing simultaneously shown on flat-screens, walls and a sheet of gauze. It should result in a kind of cacophony but interestingly it doesn’t. It’s more like listening to birdsong: you can tune into individual airs as you listen or just hear the whole as a kind of multilayered aural landscape. It’s quite magical, largely due to the clever way in which it has been produced and presented, paying homage to John Cage’s multi-track Roaratorio: an Irish Circus at Finnegan’s Wake (1979) –but also because of the fairytale/celtic myth associations the modern mind brings to tunes like these. It speaks of heritage, and stirs our cultural consciousness in a very gentle, but persistent way. Hours long, it’s one to pop in and out of, the kind of show you can visit several times while it’s on.
Both shows are at The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, UCC, Cork until 24 October 2010.
Irish Independent 8th August
Irish Times 7th August
Posted by John Hough on 06/01 at 09:57 AM in
Permalink
Applications are now being accepted for the Certificate & Diploma in Music. The programme is intended to appeal both to those aspiring to deepen their existing knowledge of music and those who may be seeking to gain accredited recognition in order to apply to the full-time Music degree course. This programme is available on Tuesday evenings from 5pm-9.30pm and will commence in late September 2011. Click here for more details.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, May 21, 2010
STARS in their Eyes could be the title for a unique concert next week when musical machines are unleashed to an audience eager to hear improvisation in the widest possible meaning of the word.
One of those due to perform at the Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork is Han-earl Park’s robot-like io 0.0.1 beta++, a machine made from plumbing parts, kitchenware, missile switches, speakers and a microphone stand.
The tutor at University College Cork’s school of music has been developing the machine, which he prefers to call an automaton rather than a robot, since he received an Arts Council grant in 2007. The music it plays is generated from software Han-earl has developed and he likens its sound to something between a saxophone and an oboe.
Although it doesn’t necessarily play in key with accompaniment and can be a bit unpredictable, he rejects suggestions it does not sound melodic.
“It all depends on your definition of melody. A little bit like humans, the machine has good and bad days, but hopefully it will be a good day when we perform,” Han-earl said. The show will feature a combination of solos and accompaniments from Mr Park and saxopohonists Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder. Another UCC music school lecturer, John Godfrey, will demonstrate his musical improvisation machine, the iWife (standing for I Will Improvise For Everyone). It does not have a robotic form like the io 0.0.1 beta++ but operates on a similar technology.
The event is intended to demonstrate alternative modes of interfacing music and technology.
Mel Mercier, head of UCC’s music school, suggested a few more of the machines might be produced. “Maybe we could create a new student category, instead of EU or non-EU, and class them as aliens. That way, we could charge inter-planetary fees, which I’m sure the university bosses would like,” Mr Mercier said.
Details of the event are available here
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/sound-of-music-from-a-machine-120349.html#ixzz0oYrJUIBd
Congratulations to Francis Heery, a composer and performer, currently in his third year of a PhD in Composition at UCC, who was recently awarded the first Fleischmann Composition Prize. His winning composition, Three Orbits, was performed at a concert of new music by UCC students as part the Fleischmann Day in the School of Music, UCC, on April 14th. The competition was adjudicated by Michael Alcorn (QUB), John Godfrey (UCC) and Jesse Ronneau (UCC). Frances has a Masters in Music and Media Technology and writes for both acoustic and electro-acoustic forces. His compositions have been performed on many occasions in both Ireland and England. As a performer he is primarily interested in electronic improvisation, either solo or in collaboration with others.
On receiving the prize, Francis wrote:
“I was very happy and surprised to win the first ever Fleischmann composition award, especially since the standard of pieces on the day was so high. The fact that there is such a strong interest in composition in the school, with so many talented student composers here, is very encouraging and a testament to the enthusiasm and encouragement of the staff. “
Francis discusses the composition of the winning piece, Three Orbits:
“My compositional interests for the past couple of years have been about finding ways to avoid being obviously expressive while still hoping to make music that’s engaging and worth listening to. With Three Orbits I tried to do this in two ways. The first way was to base the pitched material on the overtone series of a C fundamental. I’m attracted to this spectral approach primarily because of the limitations it sets in terms of pitch and the potential for ambiguous ‘blurring’ of timbre and pitch that is possible when using natural harmonics on string instruments. The second way was to organise the piece in terms of a strict structure. The idea that initially came to mind was of a hanging mobile where different objects swing and revolve at different rates, catching the light at different moments and creating a kind of mesmerizing effect. By simplifying this model considerably I used temporal cycles of different lengths for each instrument. In the score the players each have cells lasting for seven beats in which they play but each player has a pause of a different length between these cells. Because of this the entrances of all three instruments briefly converge and then diverge and create different combinatorial patterns as they progress through the piece.”
Mark Noonan is one of two recipients of this year’s Gerald R. and Corinne L. Parsons Award http://www.loc.gov/folklife/grants.html#parsons from the American Folklife Center in Washington DC. The fund will support three weeks of archival work in the Library of Congress this autumn. This forms part of a research project on variation in American Shape Note Singing which he will begin this summer. Mark is an MA in Ethnomusicology student at UCC, where he sang Shape Note music (under the direction of Dr Juniper Hill) for the first time.
Daniel Walsh, 3rd Arts (Music) student, recently completed the Berklee in Dublin Improvisation Workshop and has been awarded a further full tuition scholarship for the Berklee five-week performance programme next year.
Daniel writes:
“The workshop focused on improvisation within many styles in a way that catered for everyone’s interests. They gave classes on harmony, rhythm, performance and ear-training. There were jam sessions everywhere, both scheduled and impromptu. It was a great and beneficial week and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in improvisation, no matter what their level of experience is.”
Congratulations Daniel!
• General load-in/soundcheck 10.30-11.30 am
• BILLY QUINN
12.40 pm – 1.20 pm set-up/sound check
1.20 – 2.00 pm Performance
• 2.00 pm – 2.30 pm: Sound engineer break
• ORLAITH FITZGERALD
2.30 pm – 3.15 pm: set-up/sound check
3.15 pm – 4.00 pm: Performance
• PAUL BRADY
4.00 pm – 4.45 pm: set-up/sound check
4.45 pm – 5.05 pm: Performance
• EILÍS LEE
5.05 – 5.45 pm: Set-up
5.45 pm – 6.25 pm: Performance
• ROSS WHYATT
5.15 pm – 6.00 pm Set-up
7.00 pm – 7.40 pm: Performance
• RUTH LYDON
12.00 – 12.30 pm: Set-up
12.30 pm – 12.50 pm: Performance
• 12.30 – 1.25 pm: General load-in/soundcheck
• ROBERT MC DONNELL
1.25 pm – 1.55 pm set-up/sound check
1.55 – 2.15 pm Performance
• TRACY HARRINGTON
2.15 – 3.00 pm: Set-up
3.00 – 3.45 pm: Performance
• ÁINE O’SULLIVAN
6.00 – 6.45 pm: Set-up
6.45 – 7.30 pm: Performance
• OWEN SUTTON
7.30 – 8.15 pm: Set-up
8.15 – 9.00 pm: Performance
• VIVIENNE MURPHY
11.20 – 12.00 am: Set-up
12.00 – 12.40 pm: Performance
• CLAIRE SPILLANE
12.40 – 1.20 pm: Set-up
1.20 – 2.00 pm: Presentation/performance
• RUTI LACHS
2.40 – 3.00 pm: Set-up
3.00 – 3.20 pm: Performance
• CÁIT BUCKLEY
4.00 – 4.20 pm: Set-up
4.20 – 4.40 pm: Performance
• MARIA GRIFFIN
4.40 – 5.00 pm: Set-up
5.00 – 5.20 pm: Performance
• DANIEL WALSH
5.20 pm – 5.40 pm: set-up
5.40 – 6.00 pm: Performance
FIDELMA HANRAHAN
Installation - 6pm, Music Building
The following is a an extract from the Irish Times on Saturday, March 27, 2010. See the original article here.
UCC’s unique Javanese gamelan – a single musical instrument that sounds like a full orchestra – makes its spring appearance tonight, writes DENYSE WOODS
EVERY SPRING, a cultural event unlike any other in Ireland takes place in Cork: the UCC Javanese gamelan concert. It goes largely unadvertised, is always packed to the rafters – and it packs its own considerable punch.
The gamelan is the Javanese equivalent of a western orchestra, and the UCC gamelan is made up of 66 bronze gongs (kenongs and bonangs), metallophones, drum, flute, zither and a two-stringed, two-eared, spiked fiddle. These combine to create an exhilarating sound, and tonight’s concert at the Aula Maxima, which will carry the audience into another culture and musical tradition, should be quite an experience.
Mel Mercier, head of music at UCC, is responsible for bringing the gamelan to Cork. A traditional music percussionist, he first came across the Javanese gamelan as a Fulbright Scholar at the California Institute of the Arts.
“I studied with the senior Javanese musician, KRT Wasitodiningrat,” he explains, “who inspired me to think that it was possible to play traditional music but also write new music for the gamelan.”
In 1994, on behalf of UCC, he went to Java to commission the leading gongsmith, Pak Tentrem Sarwanto, to make a full Javanese gamelan.
In 1995, the instruments were first played by leading musicians as part of a traditional naming ceremony. Not every gamelan is named, although each is unique, but this one was considered significant because it was taking Javanese gamelan to Ireland. Its sound was deemed to have a female character, so it was named Nyai Sekar Madu Sari, or Venerable Flower of Honey Essence. Then the instruments were blessed “in the yard outside the forge”, says Mercier, “but it was the most auspicious event I’ve ever attended, and I felt a strong sense of responsibility for these instruments”.
Shipped to Ireland wrapped in Javanese newspapers, the gamelan arrived in Cork in 1996, was unloaded by its first students and set up in a deconsecrated church. This orchestra of new bronze had quite an aura.
“We stood back and thought, ‘God, how magnificent’,” Mercier says. It has been an intrinsic part of music studies at UCC since.
The Javanese gamelan is democratic, with no conductor and no soloists. It makes for truly ensemble music, which appeals to students, who quickly acquire Javanese customs, such as leaving their shoes outside the seomra gamelan and never stepping over the instruments. Every year the ensemble presents a public performance of traditional Javanese music and new compositions.
Tonight’s concert will feature singer Caitríona O’Leary and cellist Kate Ellis, while Colin Dunne will be the first contemporary Irish dancer to dance with Javanese gamelan. One of the pieces performed will be Fleischmann in Java, written by Mercier for composer Aloys Fleischmann’s centenary. But the students are the real stars.
“They bring extraordinary energy to it,” says Mercier. “I work them hard, but the pay-off far exceeds their expectations.‘
Many get hooked. Since the gamelan came to UCC, it has sent its students far and wide. Many go to Java or do postgraduate gamelan studies elsewhere. Whenever they can, graduates return to play with the UCC ensemble.
Mercier is as motivated as ever. “The thing I like to do most is sit on the floor in the gamelan room with my students and make music,” he says. “I love it.”
To see and hear some of UCC’s 2009 gamelan concert, search for “UCC” and “gamelan” in YouTube
The Telephones and Gongs Concert takes place at 8pm tonight in Aula Maxima, UCC, but is likely to be sold out. Denyse Woods is a novelist and is artistic director of this year’s West Cork Literary Festival
Roslyn Steer (BA Music 2nd year) was presented with the award of University College Scholar in Music by Professor David Harold Cox, Head of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences at a ceremony in the Staff Common Room on Monday 22nd March. The award is made in recognition of Roslyn’s academic achievements and her contribution to the university and wider community over the last three years. Congratulations to Roslyn from staff and students of Music at UCC!
Posted by John Hough on 03/30 at 11:10 AM in
Permalink
The School of Music (formerly the Department of Music), University College Cork is delighted to present FUAIM, a season of concerts, lectures and music projects which brings together scholars, students, artists and audiences to reflect and celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of Music at UCC. Under the direction of the recently appointed Head of School, Mel Mercier, FUAIM amplifies the University’s contribution to the cultural life of the city, region and country, and marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of music studies at UCC.
Concerts in the FUAIM spring season are open to the public and admission is free to most events. Artists in the spring series include UCC artists-in-residence The Vanbrugh Quartet, Cork-based contemporary traditional music ensemble Buille, Dublin-based European traditional music specialists Yurodny, Irish fusion frontiersman, sean nós singer Iarla O Lionaird, and the outstanding pianist Andrew Zolinsky. In two special evening events, the UCC Gamelan Orchestra will be joined by special guests Colin Dunne and Kate Ellis in a concert of new and traditional Javanese music, and Liam Ó Maonlaí appears in concert at the Pavilion, an event that will also feature the launch of the intercultural music project, TRASNA.
The School of Music at University College Cork also presents a lecture series as part of FUAIM, which is open to the public. Amongst the offerings in the spring, Dr. Karen Fricker will discuss the Eurovision Song Contest in The Eurovision Song Contest: Kitch, Camp or Otherwise and Iarla Ó Lionáird will discuss modern day sean nós singing in The Iconoclastic Spirit: Searching for Creativity and Inspiration from within our Music Tradition.
In 2010, the School is especially delighted to be marking the centenary of the birth of Aloys Fleischmann (1910-1992). Fleischmann was Professor of Music at UCC for 46 years, during which time he established the Department of Music as an important and vibrant cultural centre for the University, Cork City and Ireland. The School of Music, UCC, is proud to honour his legacy in a series of special events in Spring 2010.
The School of music is delighted to announce the launch of our new Spring brochure. It provides listings and information on whats going on over the coming months.
- Fleischmann Centenary Events
Sound-art environment and audio-visual archive.
In summer 2010, the Lewis Glucksman Gallery in association with Cork Film Centre and the School of Music (UCC) will present From the Sources, an ambitious new work created by musician, composer and academic Mel Mercier. Based on Aloys Fleischmann’s Sources of Irish Traditional Music c. 1600-1855 (1998), From the Sources will feature film footage of 100 solo traditional musicians performingthe first 986 dance tunes and songs contained in Fleischmann’s monumental opus. Some 20 hours of fi lm footage, capturing almost 1000 performances, will be edited for six simultaneous projections in the Glucksman’s upper gallery to create a John Cage-like sound-art environment. In addition, a digital archive of all the recorded performances will be developed to serve as an audio-visual companion to Fleischmann’s written sources. Glucksman Gallery, Main Campus, UCC
Séamas de Barra ‘Re-visioning tradition: Aloys Fleischmann and the making of modern Irish music’
5 pm, Ó Riada Hall, School of Music (UCC), Sunday’s Well Road, Cork
The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (UL) and the School of Music (UCC) present a one-day seminar celebrating the life and work of Aloys Fleischmann.
Introduction: Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin
Panel discussions:
i Fleischmann: A Life
ii Composing Ireland: Aloys Fleischmann, Music and Identity
iii The Sources of Irish Traditional Music – Finding the Key
A concert of new music composed by staff and students of the School of Music (UCC) in memory of Fleischmann.
performed by Dearbhla Collins
11 am – 5.30 pm, Ó Riada Hall, School of Music (UCC), Sunday’s Well Road, Cork
Congratulations to UCC graduates Sarah O’Halloran (BA, 2004; MPhil, 2006) and Ann Cleare (BMus, 2005; MPhil, 2008) who are taking up scholarships for doctoral study in composition in the USA. O’Halloran is the recipient of a Jefferson Scholars Graduate Fellowship at the University of Virgina McIntire Department of Music where she is following a program in Composition and Computer Technologies. Ann Cleare will study composition with Chaya Czernowin, the new Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music (Composition) at Harvard University.
The musical world of Italian Renaissance convents is little known today yet in many sixteenth-century cities the passionate, ornamented singing and instrumental playing of women who were heard but not necessarily seen was a tourist attraction and source of civic pride. Sacred Hearts, Secret Music, a new recording by the women’s voice ensembles Musica Secreta and the Celestial Sirens co-directed by Dr Laurie Stras and Deborah Roberts (visiting voice teacher at UCC), explores this world with performances of sacred music by Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina and Cipriano de Rore. The recording complements Sarah Dunant‘s new novel, Sacred Hearts (Virago). The project featured on BBC Radio 3 ‘In Tune’ on 29 June while the dramatization of the book with music from the recording can be heard on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Book of the Week’ from 29 June to 10 July. Among the ensemble performers is Dr Melanie L. Marshall, a lecturer in music at UCC. A special event with readings and live music opens the London Literature Festival at the Royal Festival Hall at 7pm on 2 July. In shops in September, the recording will be available from the Divine Art download centre from 2 July 2009.
The participation of fifty organisations is currently being negotiated: there will be concerts and recitals, exhibitions, dance performances, broadcasts, conferences, public lectures, and a number of publications. The town of Dachau in Bavaria, from which the Fleischmann family came to Cork 130 years ago, will also celebrate its emigrant musician family.
The Fleischmann family invites anybody who knew, studied or worked with Aloys Fleischmann to participate in the planning of his centenary. Some of you may have choirs or ensembles and might consider performing a Fleischmann work; those of you who are music teachers might perhaps set up a Fleischmann project in your school. We would be most grateful for ideas and suggestions.
During Aloys Fleischmann’s centenary in 2010, we hope to make many of his compositions freely available on the internet. The process of creating Sibelius files from manuscript scores is laborious and therefore expensive. We appeal to anybody who is able to create Sibelius files to help us with this task or to sponsor the making of a file. You would be creating a monument to Fleischmann’s memory.
The names of the file-maker or sponsor will be inscribed in the Sibelius file
For more information, please see the Fleischmann Centenary website of Cork City Music Library.
Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Page 1 of 1 pages
Subscribe To News
