Genre Diversity in the Concert Series

by Jennifer Lucking (Oct 2022)

From Folk to Barbershop to Gamelan, the University of Leeds International Concert Series has it all. In the past month, our Concert Series has hosted a wide range of concerts including solo bass guitarist Dave Edwards, whose original works draw on jazz, classical and electronic styles. Another recent performance was from Kabantu - a Manchester-based world music collective with a South African musical philosophy; Ubuntu – “I am who I am because of who we all are.” They performed a set inspired by multiscale modelling, with guest folk artist Will Pound on the harmonica, and even asked the audience to bring their own instruments and get involved with their organic improvisation; bridging the gap between the performers on the stage and the audience.

Last July the Concert Series hosted a weeklong Summer Festival, which was comprised of a multitude of genres. During the week, the Concert Series hosted Opera North’s collaboration with South Asian Arts UK; a bringing together of South Asian and Western musical traditions to imagine a prequel to Monteverdi’s opera, L’Orfeo. Later in the week, the Concert Series held an Industry Day which included talks and workshops. These sessions concentrated on career development in the music and performance industries and included topics such as mindfulness practice, our emotions and performance anxiety, and a whistle stop opera Q&A.

Jazz and folk are other popular genres in the Concert Series, with names like Ivo Neame and the Anglo-Scottish duo Janice Burns and Jon Doran featuring in our autumn lineup. Janice and Jon embraced the stage in early October, performing a number of traditional folk ballads, accompanying each other’s vocals on guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, and harmonium.

Pianist Ivo Neame redefines the sound of British jazz with his quartet, The Ivo Neame Quartet. Each of their concerts is uniquely crafted through the quartet’s penchant for improvised jazz, with a wide range of style and emotion in their set. Ivo will be joined by three highly renowned jazz musicians; George Crowley (tenor sax); Tom Farmer (bass); and Dave Hamblett (drums).

The Concert Series also gives upcoming musicians a stage to perform on. We frequently hold student highlights and have just introduced a new open-mic night for students - these events are both well supported by peers, friends, and family!

There are many different concert series all over England. Just over the Pennines there is Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall International Concert Series hosting orchestral and chamber concerts (and talks and performances from the likes of Leona Lewis, Anton du Beke, and The Bootleg Beatles).

All the University of Leeds International Concert Series’ performances are livestreamed online too, so if a concert has grabbed your attention and you’re unable to attend in-person, fear not. In the next month we are looking forward to hosting The Ivo Neame Quartet, the classical and contemporary chamber music group Pixels Ensemble, and the RNCM Alumni brass quintet Cobalt Brass. We hope to see you there!