Sound.Vision.Place

Boxwood & Brass – Happy Birthday Mr Reicha!

2020 marks the 250th birthday not only of Beethoven, but also his childhood friend from the Bonn court, Antoine Reicha. Czech-born Reicha settled in Paris where he taught many of the 19th Century’s most important composers. Wind ensemble Boxwood & Brass celebrate Reicha’s anniversary with a special concert of his ambitious and conversational wind quintets, performed on original instruments.

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The J.B. Priestley Lecture with Bernardine Evaristo

The Huddersfield Literature Festival presents the J.B. Priestley Lecture, delivered by Bernardine Evaristo. Bernardine won the Booker Prize in 2019 with her bestselling novel Girl, Woman, Other, which Barack Obama selected as one of his favourite books of 2019. She is the author of eight novels, two of which have been adapted as BBC Radio 4 dramas. She is also a prominent academic and critic, and a powerful advocate for writers of colour.

Tickets available at www.huddlitfest.org.uk (online only).

Juice Vocal Ensemble

Experimental vocal trio Juice Vocal Ensemble present three new commissions for voice and electronics from three pioneering composer-vocalist-artists: Gazelle Twin, Nwando Ebezie and Olivia Louvel. The pieces draw inspiration from: the 'dark side' of Venus and its somewhat mangled folkloric and ritualistic traditions; the Haitian Vodou goddess versions of Venus and her role as fierce protectress; and textural elements of erosion and volcanic activity present on the planet, contrasting with the common imagery of Venus as an embodiment of love.

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Gideon Klein: Portrait of a Composer

A young man's determination to make music under Nazi occupation

Written and devised by David Fligg

Dramatisation by Brian Daniels

Featuring the Theseus Quartet (Royal Northern College of Music)

Based on eyewitness testimony and letters, ‘Gideon Klein: Portrait of a Composer’, relating the extraordinary story of an outstanding composer and pianist, has been performed in the USA, Czech Republic, Germany and the UK. Written and devised by David Fligg, in a dramatisation by Brian Daniels, musicians and actors recreate Gideon’s precocious childhood, the exciting artistic environment of pre-war Prague, and the remarkable musical activities of his imprisonment. The performance will be followed by Q&As.

Tickets are free but must be booked here

The Rose Consort of Viols – Flights of Fancy

For English musicians from Tallis to Purcell the fantasia or ‘fancy’ was the highpoint of a composer’s craft, ranging from ‘songs without words’ to pieces of great contrapuntal ingenuity. We explore these riches, together with more recent pieces composed for the Rose Consort by Ivan Moody and Pavol Šimai.

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The Rose Consort of Viols and University of Huddersfield Chamber Choir – Sing we and chant it: music from renaissance England ‘apt for voices and viols’

When the Italian madrigal arrived to be ‘Englished’ by composers like Morley around 1600, it joined a wealth of music designed for voices and viols, including consort songs from choirboy plays and verse anthems. We explore something of this varied repertory, from homegrown madrigals by Weelkes and sacred music by Byrd and Gibbons to Latin motets by Peter Phillips, whose career took him to work in Brussels.

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Huddersfield Drama Festival ‘Common Grounds’

The Common Grounds Festival is a week-long event filled with live performance, immersive experiences, and artistic installations produced by the University of Huddersfield year 3 Drama students. As their final projects before graduation, each performance is the culmination of everything they have learned and experienced over the course of their degree. Come and see!

To book tickets and see the full line-up visit hud.ac.uk/dramafest

Where They are Now.

Companies including: Make, DO Theatre, Brick Wall Ensemble and Lee Grant

What happens to drama students out in the real world? This evening presents a selection of works from alumni of the Drama Department at University of Huddersfield as they make their way in professional theatre.  The companies showcased here include artists who have made the leap to become professional companies or solo artists, largely due to their own initiative and passion for theatre and performance. We like to think we have given them some of the skills that helped them on their way.  Come to see some innovative, spirited, comic and moving work being created and toured by our talented alumni.

Tickets available at dramatech@hud.ac.uk

Babel Lecture 2020: Professor Jean Berko-Gleason

A 1-hour talk from Professor Jean Berko Gleason, psycholinguist and inventor of The Wug Test. Jean will discuss her research, which has made fundamental contributions to the understanding of language acquisition in children, aphasia, gender differences in language development, and parent-child interactions.

Tickets are free but need to be booked via this link