By Kennedy Blair Miller Josie and I step out of a pub on Marylebone High Street and let out a unified sigh at the pelter of rain and the sharp touch of wind. “Did you know it’s already like 70 degrees back home?” I ask Josie, relieved to be talking to a friend who understands…
Read MoreRAMpage Spotlights: Will Gardner, composer
By Ellen Wilkinson Will’s desire to compose started early on, as he recalls strumming chords and writing basic songs on the guitar at age four. His affinity with vocal music also emerged young, and after singing in the internationally renowned Trinity Boys Choir he had a range of professional opportunities, including performing the role of…
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Kate Soper and the Musical Chimera
live performance, two-headed monsters, and our complicated relationship with the self By Jonty Watt There is a moment in American composer Kate Soper’s philosophy-opera IPSA DIXIT (2016) when Soper, in her role as prima donna, walks over to violinist Josh Modney and begins a strange assault on his violin. Specifically, she fingers notes on the…
Read MoreRAM’s Bicentenary Playlist
By Ruby Howells As we surely are all aware, 2022 has seen the Academy celebrating its bicentenary. Over the course of 200 years, the Academy has helped music grow and develop, itself producing some of the most significant figures in the creative arts. To celebrate this, I want to create a ‘bicentennial playlist’ which spans…
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Concert Spotlight: The Dias Ensemble presents “Time Travellers”
By Jonty Watt On the 8th of July, the Dias Ensemble will give a concert in the Academy’s Duke’s Hall that promises to be an exciting evening. Five student composers present their unique perspectives in this polystylistic spectacular. Over the course of the programme, listeners will be taken through the twentieth century, with each composer…
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Soundtracks to get your Summer Started
By Jonty Watt Headhunters – Herbie Hancock 1973, Sony Music Entertainment Inc. I dare you to listen to the first minute of Herbie Hancock’s 1973 album Headhunters and not tap your toes, nod your head, waggle your hips, or otherwise let its sheer funkiness come bursting out of you. It’s literally impossible, I’m convinced. In…
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An Interview with Alina Pogostkina: founder of Mindful Music Making
By Emma Baird Violinist Alina Pogostkina has already had an international solo career spanning over three decades. A child prodigy who began to perform on stage from the age of five, Alina subsequently won first prize at the 1997 International Louis Spohr Competition and the 2005 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, establishing herself at the…
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Concert in Review: Louise Drewett’s Daylighting
By Jonty Watt For four evenings in February, RAM was treated to performances of Daylighting, a new chamber opera by composer Louise Drewett, current Manson Fellow and PhD student in composition. In the beautiful setting of the Susie Sainsbury Theatre, the most memorable feature of Daylighting was its consistently charming—and at times downright brilliant—use of…
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Concert in Review: Gweneth Ann Rand and Friends
By Jonty Watt
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Music and Motherhood: an interview with Dr. Noemi Gyori
By Ruby Howells
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