Hello all,
I would like to share this update on behalf of the University of Nottingham Department of Music:
Dear Supporters of UoN Music,
Thank you so much for your energy and commitment to the Department of Music over the last three months. A lot has happened and continues to happen, and we wanted to update everyone on the situation. We are particularly happy to report that department alumni Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, Chris Ford, and Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins recently met with Alex Sobel MP, Chair of the All Parliamentary Party Group on Music, and the APPG have extended their support to us.
Department highlights
In the last three months, Department staff and students have continued to excel. Here are some of the highlights! Prof. Nick Baragwanath received a prestigious award from the Society of Music Theory. Prof. Elizabeth Kelly premiered a new composition ‘Cooling Cathedral’, which had its first performance in Ratcliffe-on-Soar cooling tower and was covered by media including Classic FM and BBC News. Simon Paterson has published a series of articles in the magazine Sound on Sound. Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins returned as a guest expert on the BBC Sounds history comedy podcast You’re Dead to Me. Dr Laszlo Rozsa performed a solo concert at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, including premieres of his own composition and another by Elizabeth. Dr Joanne Cormac was interviewed by the American Musicological Society about her article on the German symphony. Dr John Richards has created a new work Shifting Signals: Audio-visual Encounters for Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) that is being presented in the Lichthof of the ZKM, Centre for Art and Media – one of the world’s leading centres for media art. Prof. Lonán Ó Briain, in his capacity as General Editor, has published another issue of the flagship journal Traditions of Music and Dance.
Alongside these staff activities, students have been involved in composition and performance workshops with the BBC Concert Orchestra. In November, Mo Zhou, Nicholas Huaman, and Ella Townsend had compositions performed as part of a special Friday Night is Music Night from Nottingham. PhD student Joseph McHardy has co-edited a critical edition of the complete works of early modern composer Vicente Lusitano. Two of our PhD students Scott McHurley and Sharang Sharma also represented Music at the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Midlands4Cities Festival.
What next?
The university executive board will present their proposed business plan, including the intended closure of undergraduate Music, in May. Before then, the department has the opportunity to develop and submit alternative business cases and to continue to evidence our value and contribution to the institution. If you would like to support us further in this work, there are several ways you can do this:
1. If you are a former graduate of the Music Department, please consider signing this open letter, developed by Felicity Moore: UoN Music Department - Alumni Letter of Support
2. If you are a Nottingham alumni who did not study Music but benefited from your time in and around our department, please consider signing this open letter: UoN Music Department - Letter of Support from Non-Music Alumni
3. If you are a Music alum and might be interested in taking part in a department careers event, whether working in a field related to Music or otherwise, please contact Lonan O’Briain (lonan.obriain@nottingham.ac.uk) or Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins (hannah.thuraisingamrobbins@nottingham.ac.uk)
4. Join the alumni Facebook group to connect with others: https://www.facebook.com/groups/993757295008101
5. Please continue to share, discuss, and mention Music at Nottingham and spread the word that there is still time to influence change.
There is lots still to fight for and there will be many good news updates coming from the Department in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your time and energy so far,
Staff of the Department of Music