Soloists' Biographies

Stef Conner

Royal Philharmonic Society Prize-winning composer Stef Conner draws on ancient poetry and song to create contemporary music shot through with imagined sounds of the distant past. Despite fancying herself as a female Indiana Jones as a child, she studied music at the University of York, graduating with a starred first and going on to complete a PhD in composition. In 2008, she joined the Mercury Prize-nominated folk band the Unthanks, whose honest, affecting approach to musical storytelling brought a deeper insight into the delicate relationship between words and music. Performers of her work include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ligeti Quartet, Juice, Blossom Street, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Her compositions and performances have been released on Naxos, Delphian, and Discovery Records, and are published by the University of York Music Press. She was fortunate to be the first Composer in Residence with the charity Streetwise Opera, which uses music to help homeless people make positive changes in their lives. Her current Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at University of Huddersfield allows her to indulge her passion for ancient soundscapes in greater depth, moving beyond composition into the dangerous but enticing realm of reconstruction, with a focus on the music of Antiquity.

www.stefconner.com

Upcoming Concerts

22 August 2024
Brauweiler, Germany (Abteikirche St. Nikolaus Brauweiler), 7.30 pm
Musen der Sphären (World Premiere)

24 October 2024
Prague, University of Prague (Boethius 150th anniversary)
Boethius - Songs of Consolation (Quartet)

14 February 2025
Kulturzentrum Peterskirche, Kempen
Musen der Sphären

See full concert schedule

News

Benjamin Bagby's teaching activities in 2019

In March 2019, Benjamin will give two weekend courses on the solo songs of Philippe le Chancelier (d. 1236). The courses are being hosted by the Centre de Musique Médiévale de Paris. Dates: 9-10 and 30-31 March.
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After retiring from his teaching position at the University of Paris - Sorbonne, where he taught between 2005 and 2018 in the professional masters program, Benjamin Bagby continues to travel widely in 2019 to teach practical workshops for young professionals:

Folkwang Universität der Künste (Essen-Werden, Germany).
Benjamin has joined the faculty of this renowned masters program for liturgical chant performance and medieval music. The dates of his courses in 2019: 5-7 April; 26-28 April; 17-19 May; 30 May–01 June.
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For the second year in a row, Benjamin will teach an intensive course in the 8th International Course on Medieval Music Performance (Besalú, Spain): Songs of the troubadours (for singers and instrumentalists).
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Amherst Early Music Festival (Connecticut College, New London CT) 21-28 July:
An intensive course on the solo cansos of the Occitan troubadours, with a focus on songs from the great Milan songbook Bibl. Ambr. R71 sup. (for singers and instrumentalists).
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