by Kennedy Blair Miller Photo credits: Ben Reason I’ve always felt an affinity with Ally. We’re both from Southern USA (Ally’s from Nashville, Tennessee, just one state over from my home state of North Carolina); we both studied music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and now, we’re both graduate singers at…
Read MoreFive Period Songs – an interview with Mia Serracino-Inglott
by Jonty Watt One of the more exciting projects to come out of RAM recently was Mia Serracino-Inglott’s performance of her own composition at the Southbank Centre, titled Five Period Songs. Mia is a mezzo-soprano who regularly performs and creates new music, and who is challenging conventions of what it means to be a classical…
Read MoreInspiring composer: Margaret Bonds
By Kennedy Blair Miller For a long time, I struggled to believe my identities as a classical musician and an activist were compatible. The history of classical music is filled with misogyny, racism, and homophobia, so I sought out an alternate history – one where musicians used their art as a vessel for progress. Margaret…
Read MoreRAMpage Spotlights: Josie Campbell
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…
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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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