Music

A great Italian opera by Franz Liszt – which was left incomplete and has lain largely forgotten in a German archive for nearly two centuries – will be given its world premiere this summer after being resurrected by a Cambridge academic. David Trippett, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge, first discovered the opera languishing in an archive in Weimar more than ten years ago. Known only to a handful of Liszt scholars, the manuscript – with much of its music written in shorthand and only one act completed – was assumed to be fragmentary, often illegible and consequently indecipherable. However, after Trippett spent the last 2 years working critically on the manuscript, a ten-minute preview will now be performed for the first time in public as part of the world-famous BBC Cardiff Singer of the World contest in June. Filming by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Christ's College, Jesus College and St. John's College, University of Cambridge. Cre

A great Italian opera by Franz Liszt – which was left incomplete and has lain largely forgotten in a German archive for nearly two centuries – will be given its world premiere this summer after being resurrected by a Cambridge academic. David Trippett, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge, first discovered the opera languishing in an archive in Weimar more than ten years ago. Known only to a handful of Liszt scholars, the manuscript – with much of its music written in shorthand and only one act completed – was assumed to be fragmentary, often illegible and consequently indecipherable. However, after Trippett spent the last 2 years working critically on the manuscript, a ten-minute preview will now be performed for the first time in public as part of the world-famous BBC Cardiff Singer of the World contest in June. Filming - by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Christ's College, Jesus College and St. John's College, University of Cambridge. C

King Henry the VIII is chiefly associated with gluttony, lechery and murder. Surprisingly, it turns out he was also a deeply sensitive soul, who liked to express himself by penning his own musical compositions. Even more surprisingly, he was rather good at it. Love, longing, desire and passion; this is Henry as you've never heard him before. In this audio slideshow you can hear a selection of this stunning early music, sung by the group Alamire, to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry's coronation. Reporter Fred Dove spoke to David Skinner, Alamire's director and Director of Music at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, about Henry's juicy musical legacy.

An early work by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is to be performed for the first time after being spotted in an exhibition at Cambridge University Library. The score of A Cambridge Mass was written by Vaughan Williams for his doctoral examination and has never been heard. It has been in the safe-keeping of Cambridge University Library for more than 100 years. Vaughan Williams studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the 1890s. Here short excerpts of A Cambridge Mass are played at Trinity by 20-year-old Kausikan Rajeshkumar, currently a final year music student at the college. A Cambridge Mass has been transcribed from the original score by Alan Tongue who will conduct it at a concert next year. He first saw the score in an exhibition of manuscripts at Cambridge in 2007. The score of A Cambridge Mass will be published by Stainer & Bell Ltd in 2011. Excerpts played with kind permission of Stainer & Bell.

Eight pianos, nine musicians, four cameras and one dog. For two weeks, the 'Play Me, I'm Yours' event inspired choirs, ballerinas, pianists and poets to tickle the ivories at fifteen piano hotspots in parks and streets across the city of Cambridge. Nine students from the University's Faculty of Music volunteered, each lending their own particular playing style, which is reflected in the video. In order to maintain a level of artistic control, the volunteers were asked to memorise the same chord progression and play along to a beat played off an MP3 player. Playing in whatever style they felt most comfortable, the pianists followed the same tempo allowing for more than one recording to be played simultaneously, creating the illusion of a musical collaboration.

Fryderyk Chopin is one of the most enduring composers of all time, universally celebrated for the originality and expressive power of his music. But Chopin is as frustrating as he is fascinating, because he rarely left behind just one version of his works. More often, there are three, four or more versions -- any number of which might be an authoritative representation of how he wanted the piece to sound. Listeners, performers and researchers alike may find this liberating as well as bewildering because there are so many options from which to choose. John Rink, Professor of Musical Performance Studies at the University of Cambridge, is director of a project that is transforming the way in which we understand Chopin's work by bringing this compositional cornucopia together in one place. Launched in 2005 with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Online Chopin Variorum Edition will eventually provide digital images of all the available primary sources of Chopin's music -- inc

Churchill Jazz Band know a tune that'll please their audience, whether it’s a May Ball, a wedding or playing background music for a volleyball game. Listen to them go through some of their repertoire for the end-of-year FREE garden party at Churchill College, featuring: 0:00 - 'I Will Survive' 0:36 - 'Uptown Funk' 1:27 - 'September' 2:10 - 'Summertime'

Listen to Cambridge University Hip Hop Society's first Reclaim The Mic night showcasing female and non-binary rappers, poets, singers and dancers, some performing for the first time in public. Visit the Society's Facebook page for more info: /cuhiphopsoc Featuring: 0:09 - Semi Delore performing 'Sober' by Mahalia 0:43 - Lucy Nicholls performing 'Blue Lights' by Jorja Smith 1:57 - Zareen Roy-Macaulay performing own poetry 2:10 - Timi Sotire performing 'Happy' (own song) 2:46 - Chay Graham aka 'Work in Progress' singing 'Little Dreams'