The King’s-St George’s Widening Participation in Music Project aims to widen access to music-making by providing free weekly music lessons to children aged 7-11 in Southwark.
Developed by Senior Research Fellow Esther Cavett alongside King’s Music academics Katherine Schofield, Matthew Head and Flora Willson, the project involves a core team of King’s Music students as teaching assistants. They are mentored throughout the year-long project by Jonathan Pix, an experienced local music teacher and community music leader.
At a time when music provision in the state system is often minimal and opportunities to study music at GCSE and beyond increasingly limited, the KSG Project intervenes early in children’s education, providing opportunities for pupils from all backgrounds to make music together. Teaching a range of musical skills through activities and games, the project seeks to benefit all participants – broadening the horizons of pupils involved while offering valuable experience to King’s Music students.
The Choir of King’s College London is one of the leading university choirs in England. The choir’s principal role at King’s is to provide music for chapel worship, with weekly Eucharist and Evensong offered during term, as well as various other services. The choir also gives concert performances across the UK and tours widely abroad, with recent destinations including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria and the USA. Their recordings on the Delphian Records label have achieved considerable acclaim, and a recent performance with Britten Sinfonia was described in The Times as ‘sung beautifully, the voices judiciously blended’. Choral scholars receive a stipend and free voice lessons with Berty Rice. Auditions take place in January-March for the following academic year: applicants should contact choir@kcl.ac.uk to arrange one.
“Inside Opera – Why Does It Matter?” is the world’s first free online introductory course about opera, devised and led by King’s Lecturer in Music Flora Willson and produced in collaboration with the Royal Opera House and the V&A.
The course features Music Department opera experts and online mentoring from King’s Music students, interviews with key Royal Opera House personnel and an exclusive perspective on opera’s history drawn from the V&A’s collections.
Hosted on the FutureLearn platform and suitable for anyone new to the art form, this four-week course provides a fresh look at opera. It explores how it works, navigates its 400-year history and debates its status today. It tackles opera’s bad reputation head-on, and aims, above all, to generate discussion: does opera still matter in the 21st century?
Almost 15,000 people have enrolled so far. If you’d like to join them, you can register your interest here.