Alumni Round Up July 2023
Fri 4 August 2023In this month’s Alumni Roundup, we have a variety of news about performances, festivals, album releases and podcast episodes across both music and dance.
To start off, Dai Fujikura’s Wondrous Steps was amongst the great music featured on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline in celebration of the 200th episode of the show.
TL jazz alum Reuben James recently released his debut album Champagne Kisses. Listen to Champagne Kisses or read about James.
Joe Armon-Jones and Maxwell Owin gave a CDR Artist Talk about their new album Archetype, their creative processes, and diverse careers at Corsica Studios on 11 July.
British saxophonist Camilla George performed “the perfect opening for jazz in the North Sea” at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2023 opening night, which celebrated its 46th year.
Xhosa Cole Quartet performed at INNtöne Jazz Festival in Austria which was held between 21 and 23 July.
The Waldstein Quartet comprising Greta Papa (violin), Daniel Pukach (violin), Natalia Solis Paredes (viola) and Miguel Villeda (Cello) performed a programme of English music at Mary the Virgin, North Stoke on 29 July.
Grammy award-winning, Emmy and BAFTA nominated composer, Lorne Balfe composed the music for The Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning opening titles. Read about how Lorne used over 555 musicians and recorded over 14 hours of music across Europe to put together the score for the movie. Lorne has since been back at AIR Studios finishing recording the score for Argylle, an upcoming spy action thriller which will be out in 2024.
Elliot Galvin released a new album policepolice with another TL alum, Martin Lee Thomson, on the euphonium. Listen to policepolice here.
Oscar Jerome led a guitar masterclass for Day 3 of Tomorrow’s Warriors Summer Runnings 23.
Here is a video of Stjepan Hauser the cellist from 2CELLOS playing his cello on fire. Read more about Stjepan and his career.
TL alum Nivanthi Karunaratne joined Queen Charlotte’s Orchestra, a 70+ member orchestra made of women of colour, to record and perform Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You, on the song’s 20th anniversary. This orchestra was created by Netflix, Shondaland, and Alicia Keys to celebrate the release of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Nivanthi recently performed Poliuto with Teatro Nuovo at the Lincoln Center Debut.
Ezra Collective‘s Where I’m Meant To Be was nominated for the 2023 Mercury Prize with FREENOW. Watch what they have to say about “representing cool jazz” below.
Onto some Musical Theatre news, May Tether will be playing Jessie in Halls the Musical which premiered at the Turbine Theatre in Battersea at the end of July.
At the beginning of July, acclaimed director and choreographer Susan Stroman’s much-lauded revival of Crazy for You celebrated its official opening at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre. Completing the company was Musical Theatre alum Jason Battersby.
Operation Mincemeat has extended its limited run in the West End yet again up until 4 November with Christian Andrews as part of the cast. They have now introduced a new loyalty scheme for repeat attenders where anyone who has watched the production at the West End twice or more can apply for £10 off per ticket when booking in groups of six, while stock lasts.
Moving onto some dance news, Sarah Hirsch and Philip McDermott, the duo are working on Magnetoreception and have collaborated with TL staff member Florence Meredith on the costume designs for their performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Dance Science alum, Kendall Baab, founder of BodyKinect explains how different muscles in the body serve various purposes in this reel on Instagram.
Dr. Gemma Harman’s ResDance podcast is now third in FeedSpot’s list of the 15 Best UK Dance Podcasts.
Dance alum Vince Virr has performed in three countries over the past three weeks and will be performing in two more. Have a look at his aerial spectacle as part of BD:Festival.
Wayne McGregor talks about his latest premiere for the Royal Ballet, his programme for the Venice Biennale and his game-changing collaboration with ABBA in RAD’s podcast, Why Dance Matters.
Elena Alava Hilgert speaks to RAD about her dance teaching experience and how dance benefits her physical and mental wellbeing.
Amy Dalton-Hardy facilitated Season 5: People Focused Producing on 31 July on the topic Start with the Why – A Value-led Approach to Producing.
Thomas Page worked with Rambert School students on a process and dance research, Connectivity towards Commonality.
Alum Kate Scanlan, who is the Creative Director and Chief Executive of East London Dance, spoke on David Watson’s new podcast, Before the Applause about navigating the evolving world of creative arts. Listen to the episode here.
Dance Movement Therapy alum Ana Sanchez-Colberg will once again serve as Artistic Director for VisionAI.R-e, which will take on the production of Festival Videodanza de Puerto Rico. Ana says they have expanded their reach to include choreographic work in VR, AI and XR. For more information click here.
Read what Zinzi Minott had to say about making art about the Windrush scandal in The Guardian.
Iris Athanasiadi collaborated with Olga Ntenta, Carolina Cury and Konstantinos Damianakis combining her love for architecture, dance and performance-making to present Witching, an immersive performance at Theatre Deli London. Witching is an ode to the mysterious, fierce, and magical creatures; women. Throughout history, women have been demonised and portrayed as witches, bringers of misfortune and evil. This performance aimed to change this narrative and celebrate the superpowers of the female body.
Coming up:
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is coming to Sadlers Wells Theatre, from 1 August until 2 September. Book your tickets to this passionate and heartbreaking performance by New Adventures.
Dance theatre alum James Pett will be choreographing and performing In The Absence at BALLET NIGHTS 2023, organised by former Scottish Ballet principal turned ballet producer Jamiel Laurence. This six-night extravaganza presents huge names in ballet this September, October, and November. Book your tickets here.
TL scholar Simone Tavoni is the Artist Director and founder of The Paisajes Piano Festival which will be taking place in Spain between 12 and 16 August. Carolina Cury, TL 2021 Gold Medal winner will be performing music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Bach, Ligeti, Brahms, and a world premiere piece by Helen Ottaway on 14 August. Find out more about the festival here.