The Faculty of Music is delighted to be contributing two events to the Cambridge Festival, which starts this Friday 17 March and runs until Sunday 2 April.
On Wednesday 22 March Prof Bettina Varwig will lead 'J.S. Bach in the Flesh', a performance workshop, in which audiences will be invited to hear and feel Bach’s music as an emotional force that has the potential to profoundly affect the bodies, minds and spirits of those who encounter it. Prof Varwig will talk through some of the powerful ways in which this music could bring about bodily and spiritual transformation in Bach’s own time, and think about how we can harness this affective power as performers and listeners today. Renowned musicians Prof Maggie Faultless (violin) and Nicholas Mulroy (tenor) will discuss their experiences of performing this repertory with their fellow musicians, and try out different ways of embodying the emotive force of this music in situ. Expect some surprising and marvellous moments of musical intensity! (Emmanuel College Chapel, 3.30-5pm, free entry).
Then on Saturday 1 April, Robinson College Chapel will host a very special concert organised by Dr Peter Asimov - 'Discovering the Music of French Pianist and Composer Yvonne Loriod (1924-2010)' - in which musicians from the Paris Conservatoire will give the U.K. premiere (and only second ever performance) of Yvonne Loriod’s song cycle 'Grains de cendre' (1946). This will be followed by a performance by Cambridge music students Greg May and Hannah Dienes-Williams of the song cycle 'Harawi' (1945), composed by Loriod’s soon-to-be husband, Olivier Messiaen.
The concert will be preceded by a talk at 3pm with Dr Asimov and Prof. Christopher Brent Murray (Conservatoire de Paris/Université libre de Bruxelles), chaired by Dr Jeremy Thurlow (University of Cambridge). Learn more about Dr Asimov's research on Loriod in his post for the Faculty Research blog. (Concert in Robinson College Chapel, 4-5pm; pre-concert talk in the Auditorium Lounge at Robinson College, 3pm. Both free entry).