Music at LSE continues to flourish. The LSE Orchestra, under the dynamic leadership of Matthew Taylor goes from strength to strength. At the recent LSE Spring Concert in St Clement Danes, the orchestra gave a vivid account of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, and a rousing performance of Matthew’s own work The Needles Overture Op. 26. (Matthew Taylor is a well-established composer/conductor;  his Symphony No 2 is being premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra later this year.) Meanwhile, the LSE Chamber Music Society, the LSE Jazz Society and the recent ‘LSE talent concert’ are witness to the impressive array of musical skill and proficiency existing within the student body and members of staff. Also, this term’s Thursday lunchtime concerts in the Shaw Library, co-ordinated by Nigel Rogers, have given members of the LSE community a chance to hear a number of wonderful musicians, some of international standing, including Natalie Clein, Jennifer Pike and Martino Tirimo.

The LSE Choir also flourishes. Since 2002 it has been my privilege to direct the choir, and during this time the choir has performed works including Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah and Dettingen Te Deum, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in G, and Requiems by Mozart and Faure. We have also sung works by Bruckner, Gorecki and William Harris. Every year the choir participates in the LSE Christmas and Spring Concerts in St Clement Danes, gives lunchtime recitals in St Mary-le-Strand, and sings at events such as the LSE Carol Service and the LSE Holocaust Memorial. In 2007/8 the Choir was also involved in an exchange with the Choir of the University of St Gallen, Switzerland ; this involved concerts in London and St Gallen, and was in my opinion greatly worthwhile from an artistic, cultural and social point of view. At this point I would like to thank the Conferences and Events team for their role in supporting the activities listed above, and also the office-holders past and present of the LSE  Music Society; the current student representative for the choir, Irene Song, has done sterling work. In recent times the choir has also benefited from the expertise of Christian Spielmann, assistant conductor, and Kazunari Shiraiso and Satoko Tada, accompanists.

What, for me, are the hallmarks of the LSE Choir? Enthusiasm, vitality, a desire to be challenged artistically, a commitment to supporting one’s fellow singer, a positive attitude to the varied and of course international nature of the membership (whilst the vast majority are students, alumni and staff are  welcome and highly valued), plus an appreciation of the fact that a choir can be greater than the sum of its parts. There is, I think, a refreshing absence of ‘jockeying for position’ that can affect groups in music colleges; there is also an absence of extreme competitiveness which is perhaps inevitable in other quarters within the ‘hot-house’ confines of LSE. Above all, I would like to think that the music always comes first. As a student once said to me: ‘Choir is one place where you can express emotion openly; the rest of the week at LSE is rather more bound by rationality.’ There is a well-known saying ‘Come for the music, stay for the people’, and the social aspect of the choir (of any choir) is not unimportant.

At this year’s LSE Spring Concert I was fortunate to have my own work, In Paradisum, for choir and orchestra, performed. The work, a setting of the traditional Requiem text, is dedicated to my grandparents, one of whom, Phyliss Campling (nee Webb) was a student at LSE in 1913/4.  Singers and instrumentalists performed with great conviction and no little skill and it was the kind of occasion which made me appreciate once again that a musician’s life, though sometimes tough, can be incredibly fulfilling. To quote the great Leonard Bernstein: ‘Life without music is unthinkable’.

‘The Kaleids’ is an acoustic project based in the city of Leeds. It sits on the cascading swells of folky acoustic guitar licks fused with delay, big harmonies and ambient effects….. The band started in early 2008 and they have shared a stage with Chris Helme (ex-Seahorses), ‘Four Day Hombre’, ‘The Troubadors’ and Andy Rourke (ex-The Smiths) amongst others and has also been featured on BBC6 Music as part of ‘BBC Introducing’ campaign….but none of that matters much…..step in, turn out the lights…..

http://www.myspace.com/thekaleids