Trinity Laban has launched a new, flexible, nationwide professional development programme for music leaders.

Trinity Laban’s Learning and Participation Music Fellowships are an exciting investment in the talents of UK-based music leaders who specialise in participatory arts, creative and collaborative learning practices.

Each fellowship includes a bespoke package of individually tailored mentoring with internationally experienced educationalist and music leaders Dr Robert Wells and Dr Dave Camlin and paid placement time.

The combination of opportunities delivered across six months is specifically designed to support and develop music leaders’ practice and enterprise, connect to industry, and engage across the wider sector.

Open to all individuals working in any participatory music setting, the programme is supported through by the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

This year, Trinity Laban is delighted to support eight fellows:

• Sonia Allori, a composer and community music therapist who is currently researching D/deaf performance and performing in Sound Symphony, a sensory theatre show for young people with autism

• Amy Bowles, a musician working in healthcare settings who is currently developing a project running singing groups for people living with dementia and mental health issues

• David McFarlane, a Boltonian composer, artist and participatory music leader who works for a range of music organisations in and around Greater Manchester including pioneering music charity Brighter Sound

• Annalise Morley, a Lewisham-based guitarist, tutor and music leader

• Grace Smith, a Derbyshire-based music tutor who leads workshops for young people and adults at Folkworks Summer Schools, Lancashire Music Hub and North East Fiddle School

• Nicola Wydenbach, a vocal coach and workshop practitioner who runs mental health choirs D’Vine Singers and Mind and Soul Choir, and is a specialist working with people with Parkinson’s

• Lucia Vernon-Long, a vocalist and music leader who works closely with opera companies across Ireland and UK and is the creator and of Royal Opera House’s under-fives programme Opera Dots

• Sarah-Nell Moullier, a vocal coach and Programme Director for South London-based music charity School Ground Sounds working to empower young musicians and adults through music

For full biographies, visit our 2019 Fellows page.

On the fellowship, Amy Bowles comments –

“This fellowship has come at exactly the right time for me. With the guidance I’ll receive from my mentor and the practical opportunities I’ll be able to create will enable me to develop a lot further than I would on my own.”

Folk music workshop leader Grace Smith shares –

“I applied to the programme as it sounded like a great opportunity to improve and reflect on my music teaching practice and leadership skills. I was so pleased to be accepted and am really enjoying it so far – my mentoring sessions have been very helpful and inspiring and I’m looking forward to getting involved in training and workshops as the year continues. I’m hoping the programme will lead to new ideas for my work in learning and participation settings, and support my professional development for future projects.”

Kate Atkinson, Head of Community & Professional Development comments –  

‘Trinity Laban recognises the unique role it has to play in supporting the diverse range of practitioners in the learning and participation workforce and we’re delighted to be supporting the next generation of musicians through this tailored professional development scheme.’

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To find out more about our Learning and Participation programmes, visit our Take Part pages or subscribe to our mailing list.

 

As part of the Dance Legends Historical Project, second year undergraduate students will perform Drumstick, a re-imagining of Rudolf Laban’s The Dancing Drumstick (1913) based on research by Trinity Laban dance artist and alumnus Alison Curtis-Jones.

Choreographer and dance theoretician Rudolf Laban is perhaps best known for his choreological notation system, published in 1928. However, his work The Dancing Drumstick (1913) which precedes it was never notated and only scant material evidence remains. In the absence of photographs, notation or film, Alison Curtis-Jones studied Laban’s letters and other documents housed at the University of Surrey’s National Resource Centre for Dance, the Kunsthaus in Zürich and Trinity Laban’s own archives in order to re-imagine the work. She explained –

“It’s not about exhuming a relic; it’s not about trying to restore something as it was, because I don’t actually know what it was in its entirety. It is about re-imagining it with today’s dancers while making a reference to Laban’s ideas. It’s more of a resurrection of ideas.” 

Alison’s re-imagining is titled Drumstick and makes reference to Laban’s early experiments with the inherent rhythms of dancers’ bodies and movement. This challenged the accepted choreographic principle that movement should respond to music. In Alison’s Drumstick, dancers determine the rhythmic phrasing live on stage and musicians improvise in response to what they see. Alison commented –

“This is about the rhythm of the body made audible. You’ll hear breath; the rhythm of the feet. In fact, in one of the documents I read, Laban was referring to the body as ‘Morse code apparatus’.” 

Drumstick was premiered in 2015, performed by Alison’s award winning company Summit Dance Theatre in Monte Verita, Switzerland, on the site where Laban first conceived the work. It has subsequently been performed in the UK and Canada. Alison commented –

“For me, it’s not about fixing its form because, true to Laban’s ideas and his experiments with improvisation, the dancers actually improvise during the performance. Every time I re-stage my re-imagined works, they are constantly evolving because I’m working with the dancers I have in front of me. It is about generating something new each time.” 

The upcoming Dance Legends performance of Drumstick will take place in the Laban Theatre on THU 20 & FRI 21 JUN at 14.30 & 19.30 alongside an exhibition of visual art works by Jack Bullen inspired by the movements he has observed during rehearsals at Trinity Laban. The Dance Legends programme will also include re-stagings of Merce Cunningham’s MinEvent, Lea Anderson’s Yippeee!!! and Michael Clark’s OH MY GODDESS.

Drumstick will also be performed later in the year as part of Insiders/Outsiders Festival’s nationwide, year-long programme of exhibitions, performances, screenings, lectures and walks celebrating the cultural impact on Britain of refugees fleeing Nazi Europe. Having arrived in the UK in 1938, Laban had a profound impact on British dance, making him a key historical figure to be celebrated in the Festival. He raised the status of dance in the UK as an art form and his choreological notation system and principles of Effort and Choreutics transformed the nature of dance scholarship.

For more information and to book tickets, please visit our What’s On page.

This month our second-year students take musical theatre to Blackheath Halls with rock and roll inspired Bye Bye Birdie (14-15 June) and Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, and Neil Simon’s iconic Sweet Charity (21-22 June).

Ahead of the performances, we caught up with Sweet Charity director Charlie Westenra and student James Dodd, who plays lead OscarLindquist, to get the low down on the show.

Sweet Charity was first performed back in 1966. What makes it continue to be a relevant story for audiences today?

James Dodd (JD): Sweet Charity was revolutionary for how real women were portrayed on stage. With the recent rising of the #MeToo movement, the passing of abortion laws across Alabama, and the lack of equal pay – to name but a few issues that prevent our society from being truly equal across genders – our production still feels as modern and relevant as ever as it highlights the injustice that the female characters faced 50 years ago and still do today.

Charlie Westenra (CW): The story follows Charity, a young woman who very much wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s open, kind, warm, romantic and desperate to be loved, but she struggles to find love because of her past. It’s a story all of us can relate to. Today there’s still inequality between the sexes. Women are still being judged by their pasts, their sexual history, and their work in a way that men aren’t. The story will also resonate as it’s about searching to find your place in the world. All these different people are trying to make sense of the world they live in.

Tell us a little bit about your production

CW: We’re producing Sweet Charity in its entirety. The writing is too good to meddle with! 

JD: Our production is set in 1965, only a year before it was originally produced. We found that ‘65 stood out as a year of such political change in American history – the USA joined in the Vietnam War and it was the peak of Free Love and ‘Flower Power’ – and this made so much contextual sense with the script.

CW: Seeing Charity negotiate life in that time of change allows us to question how far we’ve come since. 

JD: Other than changing the actual context of the show, we haven’t changed the script, except for the genders of a couple of the characters to fit within our cast of 21. 

How has the creative process been so far?

JD: It’s been incredible. We are incredibly lucky to receive exposure to external creatives on such a regular basis. On these particular projects, we are working with Olivier Nominated Creatives, people that have worked in the West End and with the RSC. These experiences teach you so many other skills as well as singing, dancing, and acting, like professionalism in the work room, audition etiquette, deep analysis of text, movement and self. It’s been great fun and by the end of week two of rehearsals we’ve staged all dances in Act 1, learnt all the music in the show and began exploring the script on such an intellectual level that I didn’t think would be possible for myself. To say that I have been pushed in so many incredible ways would be an understatement.

CW: The students are phenomenal. They’ve wanted to get stuck in right from day one. They’ve been looking into life in the 60s, the composer, librettist and lyricist, hippy culture, the rise of feminism and civil rights in the era. They’ve also been learning incredible dance routines by our choreographer Steven Harris and practicing them every morning before we start work. I’ve been working on finding the detail, truth and rhythm in Neil Simon’s very funny libretto. The music department at Trinity Laban have commissioned a new orchestration to showcase the exceptional musicians. We have a band of 10 and it’s going to sound incredible. 

Have there been any particular challenges?

CW: We’ve double cast the show so you can come to two shows and see two different interpretations! This has been very fulfilling for me as a director as I get to see each scene in a new way depending on who I’m working with. It does make rehearsals tricky though as you have to direct two shows in the time it takes to direct one! 

JD: This is my first ever lead role. To learn so many lines in such a short period of time has been extraordinarily challenging but also so much fun. I have found that the Creatives have pushed us out of our comfort zones to try and create the best work, but have always been ready to catch us should anything fail, not that it has yet. The support that I have felt from the whole network at Trinity Laban, but especially during rehearsals for this show, has made coming into school at 8am the only thing that I could possibly be wanting to do every day!

Finally, how do you hope the audience at Blackheath Halls respond to seeing the show?

CW: Sweet charity is a classic musical and audiences will know and love the music. I hope when they hear those incredible numbers again – Rhythm of Life, Big Spender, There Must be Something Better Than This – they’ll feel like they’ve seen these numbers anew.

JD: It has a lot of heart and a very important message that I hope strikes change in the way we view women, masculinity and love. I want the audience to have fun, enjoy watching us have fun, and very much fall in love with the world that we are creating onstage.

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Tickets are on sale now at blackheathhalls.com/whats-on

Learn more about our musical theatre programmes on our Study pages

 

 

This month our second-year students take musical theatre to Blackheath Halls with rock and roll inspired Bye Bye Birdie (14-15 June) and Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, and Neil Simon’s iconic Sweet Charity (21-22 June).

Ahead of the performances, we caught up with Bye Bye Birdie cast members Mollie Kate Angus and Ciaran McCormack to get the low down on the show.

Tell us a little bit about your production: When have you set it? Have you altered any details from the original script / score? 

Mollie Kate Angus (MKA): We’ve set our production in its original time period of 1950s American, but made relevant cuts to satirise the American Dream.

Ciaran McCormack (CM): Our Musical Director, David Randall, has taken a traditional musical theatre score and added a contemporary twist.

How has the creative process been so far?

MKA: We’ve had a lot of creative input on this production which has been a brilliant. So far it’s been a collaborative workshop process, developing ideas and finding out what works and what doesn’t, which has been exciting to see. 

Bye Bye Birdie was first staged back in 1960. What makes it continue to be a relevant story for audiences today?

CM: Everyone has really stepped up to the challenge of generating ideas around how to stage the show to make it relevant and interesting for today’s audience. The show’s themes, such as teenage fixation on celebrity figures, really resonate.

MKA: The storyline involving Conrad Birdie relates to the effect of the media and not knowing what’s real, which really mirrors current events. 

Have there been any particular challenges?

MKA: It’s been challenging to come up with certain ideas which will poke fun at the era and not celebrate it.

CM: It has been difficult to find a way of telling the story without suggesting that we as actors and creatives agree with the beliefs and views that the show holds, but everyone has really stepped up to the challenge of generating ideas around how to stage the show to make it relevant and interesting for today’s audience. Another challenge is that this is the first time Trinity Laban Musical Theatre have performed in the newly renovated Blackheath Halls, which is a big space. We have had to find a way to stage the show that keeps the audience engaged at all times. 

Finally, how do you hope the audience at Blackheath Halls respond to seeing the show?

MKA: We ultimately hope they enjoy it, but realise how ridiculous that era was.

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Tickets are on sale now at blackheathhalls.com/whats-on

Learn more about our musical theatre programmes on our Study pages

Our monthly round-up of some of the successes for Trinity Laban alumni.

This May, mezzo-soprano Kate Howden competed in the final of the 2019 By Voice Alone opera competition, held at Kings Place in London. She was selected from over 400 entrants nationwide.

Trumpeter Lily Carassik released a single, What If, inspired by her experiences of mental health, via Bandcamp. The proceeds from downloads of the song will all go to Samaritans. Carassik commented –

“Having battled with depression for seven years and had moments where I thought suicide would be the only option for me, I’m lucky enough to say that [I have] come out the other side. Looking back, something that always stopped me from going through with it was the thought, ‘but, what if this gets better?’ So I wrote a song to remind people to keep asking that. Because it can.”

Carassik, who is now touring Europe as a trumpet player with mainstream artist George Ezra, is not the only alumnus performing alongside internationally renowned artists. Jazz guitarist Oscar Jerome played as special guest at a series of tour dates throughout the UK supporting American jazz virtuoso Kamasi Washington. He also released a music video for his latest single, Misty Head / Sunny Street, exploring themes of gender, identity and self-expression. The video stars his brother Alfie Lawrence, also known as drag performance artist Moth. Jerome commented –

“The main reason for starring Moth was … a desire to help people see what a creative, multifaceted art-form drag can be. I hope we can challenge perceptions of … gender expression and … open some people’s eyes, as my brother has done for me.”

A host of jazz alumni performed at a special event at Trinity Laban’s King Charles Court celebrating the Honorary Fellowship of Tomorrow’s Warriors Co-Founder and Artistic Director Gary Crosby. He was interviewed by jazz saxophone tutor and alumnus Martin Speake. Performers included Cherise Adams-Burnett (voice), Moses Boyd (drums), Peter Edwards (piano), Camilla George (saxophone), Axel Kaner Lidstrom (trumpet), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Alam Nathoo (saxophone) and Rosie Turton (trombone).

Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning alumnus and former Principal of the Royal Ballet Sarah Wildor was one of six judges on the panel for the English National Ballet’s tenth annual Emerging Dancer competition. Held at Sadler’s Wells in London, the event was live-streamed worldwide.

Dancer Olly Bell performed with Rosie Kay Dance Company in 10 Soldiers, a new work telling the stories of men and women serving on the front line in the British Army. Featuring Kay’s trademark intense athleticism, 10 Soldiers takes a fresh look at issues of equality and diversity in the armed forces.

Luca Silvestrini is artistic director of Protein Dance. He has developed a new programme working with refugees, young people in pupil referral units and older people in care homes, helping them find expression through dance.

Tamsyn Butt has been running a six week course of contemporary dance classes for beginners at the University of Bath. She has worked as a professional dancer and dance teacher for over 19 years and was co-founder and artistic director of XS Dance Theatre. She is currently proposing her practice research PhD.

Olivia Paddison joined Fertile Ground, a premiere touring dance company based in the North-East of England. She is one of four dancers performing in the Twilight Dances 2019 tour which includes works for film, with live music and workshops with students. She commented –

‘Joining Fertile Ground … has been the start of a very intensive period of professional development for me as a dancer. I feel that I am being presented with many opportunities to increase my versatility and grow in confidence with the skills necessary to progress in the profession.’

Musical Theatre alumnus James Darch joined the cast of the touring production of The Rocky Horror Show. Playing the role of Brad Majors, he will be performing at venues across the UK until the end of October.

Our piano alumni have been giving performances across Europe. Pianist Giulio Potenza gave a musical lecture as part of the A Master Speaks Young Artists Piano Solo series for Roma Tre University in the Italian capital. He was praised for his ‘supreme sense of colouring and … subtle use of the pedals to create a very particular atmosphere.’ Potenza plays regularly in a prize-winning piano duo, Volt & Potenza, with fellow alumnus Oda Voltersvik.

Pianist Plotinos Micromatis performed a concert of Italian songs alongside two singers at Technopolis 20 Cultural Centre in Paphos, Cyprus and Theodoros Iosifidis performed music by Mozart as soloist with the Athens Youth Symphony at the Varonos Kimonos Rallis Hall in Athens, Greece. Violin alumnus Jesper Gasseling performed music by Mozart and Brahms at the opening concert of the Bürgenstock Resort’s Classics with a View four-part concert series in Switzerland of which he is Artistic Director. He invited fellow young musicians from around the world to join him at Lake Lucerne, including star soloist and fellow alumnus Lana Trotovšek.

Our composition alumni have been building their reputations at home and abroad. Cassie Kinoshi was listed in DJ Mag’s 12 Emerging Artists You Need To Hear This May and Anna Stereopoulou presented her project, SYN, as part of the Sonora Series at the Real Antico Casino in Castellón, Spain. SYN is the most recent of her ‘Cymatic Environments’ which she describes as ‘moving sound images’. It is an audio-visual installation that questions the extent to which ‘the human mind (brain and soul) perceives infinite realities … existing and moving con-currently’.

Alumnus composer Ben Corrigan’s podcast, Excuse the Mess, won bronze in the Best Arts and Culture Category at the 2019 British Podcast Awards. He commented –

‘It’s really amazing to get recognition for all those cross-fades.’

Excuse the Mess, in which Corrigan collaborates with a different artist each episode to create an original work, will return for a new series in 2020.

Our alumni have also been busy working on new albums. The Elliot Galvin Trio, featuring alumni Elliot Galvin (composition), Tom McCredie (bass) and Corrie Dick (drums), released their fourth album, Modern Times, which was live-mixed and recorded direct to vinyl, each side in one continuous take. The album was launched with a performance in the Brunel Museum’s Tunnel Shaft.

Ibrahim Aziz released his debut solo album, Risonanze, on the First Hand Records label. Featuring music for viola da gamba, the album includes works by J.S. Bach, Carl Friedrich Abel and Johan Schenck alongside the contemporary works Summer Suite by Carlos Martinez Gil and Journeying by Rebecca Rowe, written especially for Aziz.

 

DON’T MISS

South London’s Cross the Tracks day festival will feature a host of Trinity Laban alumni including Oscar Jerome, Joe Armon-Jones, Nubya Garcia and Steam Down, a Jazz FM award-winning collective founded by Wayne Francis. They will join mainstream acts including Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Masego and Chaka Khan.

Cross the Tracks Festival
SUN 9 JUN 12.00 – 22.00
Brockwell Park, London

Musical Theatre students wowed crowds and critics alike with the fabulous production

Last weekend (24–25 May) final-year Musical Theatre students rounded off their three years of undergraduate training at Trinity Laban with the fantastically fun Legally Blonde The Musical.

Showcasing their singing, dancing and acting, the accomplished cast of 24 delivered four entertainingly energetic and enjoyable performances at Stratford Circus Arts Centre to sold-out audiences, earning 5 stars from Chris Omaweng at LondonTheatre1.com

The reviewer summarised – “Omigod you guys, the future of musical theatre is looking very positive indeed. What a show. What an Elle of a show.”

Read the full review at LondonTheatre1.com

Situated in the UK’s musical theatre capital, Trinity Laban has an outstanding reputation for its rigorous and dynamic performance training, with recent graduates performing in West End shows – including Trevor Nunn’s Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre – and in UK and international touring productions.

Next month, our second-year students take musical theatre to Blackheath Halls with rock and roll inspired Bye Bye Birdie (14-15 June) and Cy Coleman, Bob Fosse and Neil Simon’s iconic Sweet Charity (21-22 June).

Tickets are on sale now at blackheathhalls.com/whats-on

 

Image Credit: Tas Kyprianou

Trinity Laban is a partner organisation of the Mayor of London’s new Creative Enterprise Zone SHAPESLewisham

Last December the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced six new Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ), a ground-breaking initiative to provide investment and support for artists and creative businesses in the capital, ensuring that London remains one of the most entrepreneurial and innovative business centres in the world.

SHAPESLewisham, the CEZ for Deptford and New Cross, is delivered in partnership with Trinity Laban, Second Floor Studios & Arts, Studio Raw, The Albany, Lean, Goldsmiths, University of London, and Lewisham Council. The initiative aims to retain creative talent from the borough’s education institutions and increase affordable spaces for the fast-growing creative sector.

On Wednesday 15 May Trinity Laban students were among a vibrant and diverse range local creative talent showcased at the launch of the new zone, which saw the opening of 85 purpose-built affordable studios and workspaces, and the launch of a new online platform for local creative businesses.

Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, Justine Simons OBE, joined Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan and other council members at the day’s events.

Justine Simons OBE said –

“London is overflowing with talent and imagination, and its creativity makes the capital a place where people want to live, work and visit. The influence of our artists is felt in every corner of the city, but artists and creative businesses are under threat from rising rents, development and the uncertainty of Brexit. It is more important than ever that we support the creative sector and send a clear signal that London is open to creativity, talent and innovation.”

 Anthony Bowne, Principal, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance commented –

“Trinity Laban is delighted to be a partner organisation of SHAPESLewisham Creative Enterprise Zone and part of the launch event for Second Floor Studios and Arts & Deptford Foundry.

“As London’s Creative Conservatoire, our work engages our local community – reaching 10,000 young people and 40,000 overall with music and dance programmes – as well as putting Deptford on the map nationally and internationally with our world-class training and facilities and RIBA award-winning Faculty of Dance building. We applaud this recognition of all the creativity energy and enterprise in Deptford and New Cross, and the growth it will continue to bring to the area.”

 

 For more information on CEZ visit the shapeslewisham.co.uk

Stars of the new jazz generation join forces to honour the jazz legend

Last night, an all-star ensemble of jazz artists performed a specially curated programme of live music to celebrate the awarding of a Trinity Laban Honorary Fellowship to Artistic Director of Tomorrow’s Warriors Gary Crosby OBE.

In recognition of Gary’s contribution to music education, two-time MOBO Awards winner Moses Boyd (drums & ensemble lead) and Jazz FM Breakthrough Artist Peter Edwards (piano & ensemble lead) were joined by Jazz FM’s Vocalist of the Year Cherise Adams-Burnett, Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Axel Kaner-Lidstrom (trumpet), Camilla George (saxophone), Alam Nathoo (saxophone) and Rosie Turton (trombone) – all artists who have come through both Trinity Laban and Tomorrow’s Warriors. Fellow Tomorrow’s Warriors musician Menelik Claffey stepped in to replace Daniel Casimir on bass.

“He hasn’t been to Trinity Laban – yet!” joked Peter when thanking Menelik for filling in last minute.

The ensemble delighted 130 invited guests with a set that included John Coltrane’s Equinox and Thelonious Monk’s Blue Monk, and culminated in a roof-raising rendition of Duke Ellington’s Caravan, which had people dancing in the aisle.

Lucy Nicholson, Trinity Laban’s Communications and Alumni Relations Manager, commented –

“It was wonderful to have alumni back to perform and to honour and celebrate Gary Crosby at this very special event, and strengthen our relationship with Tomorrow’s Warriors.” 

 

Speaking to long-time friend, British saxophonist Martin Speake (pictured above) during the evening’s Q&A, jazz double bassist, band leader, music arranger and educator Gary explained –

“I enjoy what I do: making gigs happen, working with young people. I enjoy that as much as playing.”

Founded in 1992 by Gary and Janine Irons MBE to increase racial, cultural and gender diversity in mainstream music in the UK, Tomorrow’s Warriors is a pioneering music education and professional development organisation which has given many talented young people the opportunity to develop their musical skills.

Tomorrow’s Warriors and Trinity Laban are organisations which have laid the foundations for much of the current UK jazz scene, and the Conservatoire has a history of nurturing music pioneers, including father of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti. The influence of artists like Kuti can be heard in the music of today’s artists who are shunning the genre’s elitist stereotype and revitalising the scene with genre-blind, rhythmically direct music.

On his fifteen-year relationship with Trinity Laban, Gary commented –

“I knew Simon Purcell [former Head of Jazz] from his Guildhall days, I used to play with him quite a lot. When he came to Trinity Laban it switched something on. I would have loved to have studied here. Trinity Laban has always had an open policy. I love the ethos.”

He continued –  

“The last year has been an amazing journey for me. As low as you can go at points, but as high as you can go at this present moment. Tonight feels funky, informal and authentic.”

To find out more about jazz at Trinity Laban, visit our study pages.

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Images: all credit Tas Kyprianou

Lily Carassik releases new song for mental health awareness

A 2017 study commissioned by Help Musicians UK to explore the effects of a career in music on musicians’ mental health found that musicians are three times more likely to experience depression, panic attacks and anxiety than non-musicians, pointing towards a potential mental health crisis in the UK’s current music industry.

This is an issue that trumpeter Lily Carassik is all too familiar with, and she’s turned to song-writing to help others who are suffering –

“Having battled with depression for seven years, it hasn’t always been this smooth sailing and I wanted to write a song to reflect on having come through a tough mental health journey, and to reach out to others who may be going through it. I’m lucky enough to say that now I know how it feels to come out the other side. It can get better. I’d like to raise awareness for what is such a big issue, especially amongst musicians.”

Lily has collaborated with a host of professional musicians on her debut track ‘What if’, produced by James Wyatt, and all proceeds from downloading the song are being donated directly to The Samaritans, a charity dedicated to reducing the feelings of isolation and disconnection that can lead to suicide.

On writing and recording her song Lily comments – “I’ve grown in confidence and felt more a part of the London music community than ever before.”

On Monday 6 May, many of the musicians Lily has worked with or been encouraged by – including trombone giant Trevor Mires and members of Ezra Collective – showed their support for the song by posting videos on Instagram of themselves singing to the backing track, soloing over the bridge, and interpreting the track in their own styles.

“The support on social media has already been incredible,” Lily enthuses, “and I hope people continue to spread the question ‘what if it gets better?’”

Since graduating from Trinity Laban in 2016 with a BMus in Jazz Performance, Lily has enjoyed a career as a freelance musician and is part of Apex Horns with fellow Trinity Laban alumnus Yasmin Ogilvie.

Excitingly, both Lily and Yasmin are currently touring Europe with pop giant George Ezra, having played at the BRIT Awards in February in a collaboration between Ezra and the Hot 8 Brass Band. Following the tour, they will play Latitude Festival, the Isle of Wight Festival and the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this summer.

Lily comments – “Getting the call for the tour brought a wonderful change and an exciting new experience!”

To find out more and download ‘What if’, visit lilycarassik.bandcamp.com/releases

Monday 13 – Sunday 19 May 2019 is Mental Health Awareness Week.

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Image: Yasmin Ogilvie & Lily Carassik 

 

Musical Theatre students will share the stage with current stars of Broadway and The West End this summer for a spectacular night of show tunes as part of Greenwich Music Time.

Performing against a stunning City backdrop and accompanied by a 32-piece orchestra, 30 future stars from Trinity Laban’s vibrant Musical Theatre Department will join the cast of West End Proms for a spectacular breath-taking evening of live music on Thursday 4 July.

Taking place in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College on the River Thames, the show will feature numbers from across seven decades of musical theatre, from iconic tunes from Les Misérables to hit songs from Dear Evan Hansen, which has taken the world by storm since its premiere in 2015.

Trinity Laban students will perform alongside stars including Marisha Wallace (Waitress, Dreamgirls), Rachel John (Hamilton) and winner of ITV All Star Musicals and much-loved Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank.

Situated in the heart of the UK’s musical theatre capital, Trinity Laban has an outstanding reputation for its rigorous and dynamic performance training, with recent graduates performing in the West End – including Trevor Nunn’s Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre – and in UK and international touring productions.

Ahead of West End Proms, Trinity Laban students can be seen in three hit shows with third-year students presenting the fabulously fun, award-winning Legally Blonde The Musical at Stratford Circus Arts Centre (24-25 May), before our second-year students take musical theatre to Blackheath Halls with rock and roll inspired Bye Bye Birdie (14-15 June) and Bob Fosse and Neil Simon’s iconic Sweet Charity (21-22 June).

Tickets for West End Proms are on sale now at cuffeandtaylor.com

To find out more about studying at Trinity Laban, visit our Musical Theatre pages.

Our monthly round-up of some of the successes for Trinity Laban alumni.

International Jazz Day 2019 saw the Jazz FM Awards annual ceremony at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. Trinity Laban alumni were at the heart of the accolades: composer and saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi won Breakthrough Act of the Year; rising star Cherise Adams-Burnett was named Vocalist of the Year; saxophonist Nubya Garcia won UK Jazz Act of the Year by public vote; South London collective Steam Down, founded by alumnus Wayne Francis, were double winners, receiving both The Innovation Award and the Live Experience of the Year Award for their residency show featuring US jazz giant Kamasi Washington.

Cherise Adams-Burnett was also awarded a new music prize, the Drake YolanDa Award, receiving £3,000 towards touring, marketing and recording. The award was established this year to help redress the balance between emerging acts and mainstream domination. Adams-Burnett was selected from 200 entries as one of 10 recipients of the inaugural award by a star-studded panel of industry judges including choirmaster Gareth Malone and Music Editor of The Independent Roisin O’Connor.

Our alumni have been at the forefront of some of the most prestigious events in their fields. Dance alumnus Emily May was one of ten participants in the illustrious Aerowaves Springback Academy 2019, a course for emerging dance writers that ran alongside Spring Forward Festival in Paris. Mentored by leading dance critics, she wrote reviews of performances from the festival which are available to read online. Read more about her experience in an interview she gave for Trinity Laban.

The BBC’s 2019 Proms have been announced and will include a concert presented by ENO conductor Martyn Brabbins featuring variations on an anonymously written theme by fourteen living composers including alumnus Dai Fujikura. His work will be played alongside that of some of Britain’s best known composers including Judith Weir, Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Sally Beamish.

Violin alumnus Eder Paolozzi joined Brazilian producer Fabio Tabach as co-artistic director of Funk Orchestra at the world-renowned Rock in Rio festival. Funk Orchestra is a group formed of 28 young musicians from Rio de Janeiro’s orchestras alongside DJ duo 2FAb.

Alumni from our Faculty of Dance have been making their mark internationally. Sebastian Abarbanella presented his work Parasites at the Gdansk Dance Festival in Poland. The piece, performed by César Brodermann and Leal Zielinska, deals with the parasitic relationship between humans and the Earth. Also in Poland, choreographer Maciej Kuźmiński’s project un-becoming was premiered at the Vuk Karadzic Cultural Centre. un-becoming explores the themes of developing technologies and socio-cultural transformations. Kuźmiński is the artistic director of the Maciej Kuźmiński Company and founding director of the Polish Dance Network.

Dance alumnus Taylor Han, who has toured the world from Belgium to India with the National Youth Dance Company of Scotland, returned to her home town of Dundee to perform at The Space in Dundee & Angus Dance College. She performed with members of EDGE, the postgraduate performance company of London Contemporary Dance School.

Alumni from our faculty of music have also been busy performing around the world. Mezzo-soprano Zandra McMaster was guest soloist with the South-West German Philharmonia in a performance of Berlioz’s dramatic cantata The Death of Cleopatra at the Stadthalle Singen in Konstanz, Germany.

Trinity Laban music alumni are also embarking upon successful careers closer to home. Alumnus percussionist and Trinity Laban Honorary Fellow Tim Wright has been appointed the new Head of Guernsey Music Service. He commented, –

“I am looking forward to working closely with teams responsible for the development of secondary education as well as the primary sector and independent colleges to ensure that students in Guernsey continue to have the opportunity to access the inclusive and excellent work of the Music Service … which plays such an important part in Island culture.”

Soprano Héloïse Werner was featured by Rhinegold in an interview about her recent work. She is co-director of The Hermes Experiment, a group with the unusual line-up of soprano, clarinet, harp and double bass, which has steadily gained acclaim over its five year tenure. Also discussed in the interview is her solo opera project about her French-English dual nationality, The Other Side of the Sea, performed as part of the Venus Unwrapped season at Kings Place.

A large-scale transatlantic celebration of the life and work of American dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham took place simultaneously at London’s Barbican Centre, Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and Centre for the Art of Performance at UCLA, Los Angeles. The London leg of Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event, directed by Trinity Laban lecturer Daniel Squire, featured a performance by alumnus Elly Braund, while alumnus and former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company Dylan Crossman was assistant stager at the Los Angeles event.

Our Musical Theatre alumni having been going from strength to strength. James Darch was cast in the lead role of Patrick Casey for the London revival of hit musical Maggie May at the Finborough Theatre. Meanwhile, 2018 graduate Laura Barnard is female understudy with the cast of the UK premiere of hit musical Amour, a tale of Parisian romance and the supernatural. The show runs from THU 2 MAY to SAT 20 JUL at the Charing Cross Theatre.

Ella Jane Thomas won Best Newcomer at The Great British Pantomime Awards 2019 for her role of La Fool in Loughborough’s 2018 Christmas pantomime Beauty and the Beast. Her triumph was announced at The New Wimbledon Theatre, London at an event hosted by Christopher Biggins.

 

DON’T MISS

Composition alumnus Heather Stephenson will be presenting a new 21 minute work for handheld percussion alongside Trinity Laban Head of Composition Dominic Murcott‘s The Harmonic Canon at Love Classical Festival as part of a UK tour. The tour has already seen five performances across the UK.

Royal Albert Hall and Nonclassical presents:
Love Classical Festival
WED 8 MAY 20.45
Royal Albert Hall Gallery