Your News - February 2011 e-newsletter
Lost part of Beethoven masterpiece lives again thanks to Professor of Music, Barry Cooper
A piece of music composed by Beethoven in 1799 and lost for over 200 years has been painstakingly reconstructed by Professor Barry Cooper.
The piece was played by Quatuor Danel, the University's resident string quartet for the first time in September 2011 since Beethoven’s day.
The performance which took place at the University's Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama received widespread media interest and was covered by hundreds of media outlets worldwide.
Prof. Barry Cooper’s reconstruction of the slow movement of Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 18 No. 2 has now been taken up by three internationally known quartets – the Minguet Quartett, the Vogler Quartett, and the Belcea Quartet – in addition to our own Quatuor Danel; each of these ensembles intends to include the work in a future programme.
Seen in the News:
Art History Graduate Sam Lackey Appointed Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield
Sam Lackey graduated from Manchester with a BA (Hons) in History of Art in 1996.
After completing her MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art, U. of London, she returned to the University and completed her PhD in 2005.
Sam has been appointed as a curator at The Hepworth Wakefield which opened in May 2011. She previously worked at the Whitworth Art Gallery as an Assistant Curator and Curatorial Research Fellow.
Sam Lackey will return to the University to deliver a seminar based upon the genesis and development of The Hepworth Wakefield.
The event, organised by the Centre for Museology takes place on Wednesday 22nd February 2012 at 5pm.
For more information
Class of '81 Reunion
Music graduates from the class of 1981 met up during April 2011 in Manchester.
The event, organised by Hugh Levey included a tour of The Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, the University's performance space which hosts over 100 concerts each year.
The attendees had an enjoyable weekend sharing fond memories and recollections of their time together at University.
If you are interested in organising a reunion contact our Alumni team
Drama Graduate Wins Bruntwood Prize 2011
Talented drama graduate Alistair McDowall (pictured left) was one of the playwrites awarded the Bruntwood Prize in 2011.
He won the award for his play, Brilliant Adventures which was described as “theatrically playful” and as having “a sense of magic”.
The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is Britain’s biggest playwriting competition and searches for great new plays and great writers.
As part of the prize all four award winners will now develop their play with the Royal Exchange, with a view to production. In addition, leading theatre publishers Nick Hern Books will publish all winning plays that receive a production at the Exchange.
For more information
Centre for New Writing Graduate Success Stories
In the last few months alone, more than a dozen graduates of the M.A in Creative Writing (English and American Studies)
have achieved great success. Here are just a few of their stories: Chris Smith and Belle Crawford (2008) have become filmmakers The Busking Project and, Chris Killen, whose first novel, The Bird Room, was published in 2009, has also written and directed a feature film.
Ming Liu (2010) has been shortlisted for the Impress Prize. Susan Luddem (2010) scored a commendation in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Richard Hirst (2006) made the Manchester Fiction shortlist (Oct 2011) and won joint first prize in the MMU Manchester Fiction Prize. Percy Herbert (2010) won 2nd prize in the Dublin Review of Books Flash Fiction prize (2011) and Alys Conran was shortlisted for the Lorca in England competition. Laura Ellen Joyce is due to have her her first novel The Museum of Atheism published in July 2012 by Salt Publishing. Laura also graduated with a first in 2009 in Classical Studies.
For the latest news and student success stories visit the website or join us on facebook
Gender and Medieval Studies Conference
The Annual Gender and Medieval Studies Conference took place in the Martin Harris Centre in January 2012.
This is an annual conference hosted by a different university each year, allocated according to a successful bid. This is the first time Manchester was chosen to be the host, and the topic was 'Gender and Punishment'.
For more information
Two of University's Longest Serving Staff Retire from Religions and Theology
Dr Adrian Curtis and Prof Philip Alexander FBA
Dr Adrian Curtis was both an undergraduate and postgraduate student at the University and after only one year away from Manchester joined the staff to teach Old Testament, retiring as Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible in 2011. With interests in the finds from Ugarit and the archaeology of ancient Israel, he has also written books on Joshua and the Psalms as well as producing the Oxford Bible Atlas. Dozens of students over the years will have appreciated his love of Hebrew and his support for local rugby.
Professor Philip Alexander FBA has served the University for almost as long, first in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and then in Religions and Theology. The breadth of his knowledge of Judaism in the first millennium CE has been widely appreciated well beyond the University, but many alumni will especially recall their first encounter with Judaism through his introductory course for which he compiled a textbook of primary sources that remains the most used book for such courses in several countries. The Targums, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Genizah, the Midrashim and countless other topics have all been given a fresh reading by his rigorous scholarship.
Update Your Contact Details
Please tell us if any of your contact details change to ensure you receive up-to-date news from The School of Arts, Histories and Cultures.
Please email any changes to yourlink@manchester.ac.uk