OUR STAFF

Andrew Kirkman came to Birmingham in 2012 as Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Music. On Colin Timms’s retirement the following year he assumed the role of Peyton and Barber Professor and hence, in the words of the Trust Deed, of supervision and control of the Concert Hall.

Andrew studied at the universities of Durham, London (King’s College) and Princeton, and has worked at the universities of Manchester, Bangor, Oxford and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. At Rutgers he directed the University Collegium Musicum, a Renaissance chamber choir, and Musica Raritana, a period-instrument orchestra providing postgraduate students with learning and performance opportunities in baroque and classical performance styles, coached by major players in the field. Recordings by the ensembles are available on the DTR, Centaur and Affetto labels.

He has continued that work at Birmingham as director of the Collective for Early Music Performance and Research (CEMPR), which provides students with opportunities for early music performance and study, coached by professionals in the field, and in directing small Renaissance vocal ensembles and annual projects by the Baroque-Classical Orchestra.

Andrew’s scholarly work features in numerous monographs, edited volumes and articles published by Cambridge and Oxford University presses, among others, and in the major journals in the field. It is closely entwined with his work as a performer, chiefly with The Binchois Consort, a small professional Renaissance vocal ensemble which he founded in 1995. Programmes by the Consort focus on music’s role in specific historical and cultural contexts, including the Court of Savoy, the Hundred Years’ War, and a series of projects juxtaposing late-medieval English music and alabaster. Programmes presented at the Barber have addressed the Barber’s own magnificent alabaster panel of the Coronation of the Virgin and, most recently, in conjunction with the Jan de Beer exhibition, music from early sixteenth-century Antwerp.

The Consort has performed widely in Europe and the United States, and its thirteen recordings to date, all on the Hyperion label, have received universally strong critical approbation and many music industry prizes, including Gramophone’s ‘Early Music Recording of the Year’ and ‘Recording of the Month’. Andrew has also been active as a freelance violinist, and, with pianist Clipper Erickson, in 2013 released on the Affetto label (distributed by Naxos) a recording of world premiere performances of violin sonatas by Cyril Scott.

A.Kirkman@bham.ac.uk

Jo Sweet is Head of University Music and Concerts at the University of Birmingham, a strategic role encompassing performance and concert activity at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, in the Department of Music, and for the University’s music-making body, University Music.

Responsible for the development and planning of concert, festival and resident ensemble activity, overseeing both professional and student-based projects, she enjoys a varied work life – including the role of Executive Producer for Barber Opera productions. Jo’s expertise has led her to teach Arts Management as part of the Department of Music degree course, being invited to work with the CBSO as a guest speaker for education projects, and work on a freelance basis with a variety of performing artists and ensembles as a producer and stage manager.

In addition to her role at the University she enjoys a diverse career as a freelance musician, having performed with groups including the English Symphony Orchestra, BCMG, Orchestra of the Swan, various big bands, and with her brass ensemble, Sennet Brass. Recording credits include Paul Dunmall’s album Maha Samadhi, and Worcester Cathedral’s Christmas from Worcester.

j.e.sweet@bham.ac.uk

Lucy Baker

L.V.Baker@bham.ac.uk