QUARTET-IN-RESIDENCE
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, BELFAST
SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND SONIC ARTS
Queen’s University Belfast has established an exciting new residency for an international professional string quartet. The residency will be based at the School of Music and Sonic Arts, which is one of the largest and most vibrant academic music departments in the UK. The School boasts an excellent reputation for scholarship in traditional musicology and composition and includes the renowned Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), one of the foremost establishments in the world for research and performance using new technology.
The residency represents a significant opportunity for outstanding musicians to develop their repertoire and performance practice alongside composers, musicologists and performers within the School. The University hopes to attract an ensemble with an established international profile, distinguished both in concert and on disc or through broadcast recordings. The quartet should have a broad repertoire and be willing to contribute to the development of new work for the quartet medium, both on its own and also in collaboration with colleagues within the School.
The residency is a part-time appointment. The quartet selected will be encouraged to continue its concert and recording schedule in the UK/Ireland and abroad, while maintaining an active and visible presence in the University and contributing significantly to the work of the School. Among other activities, the residency will involve:
- a minimum of 16 public events per year in Belfast/NI, including concerts, open rehearsals, masterclasses and composition workshops
- participation in research projects
- some teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level
- some outreach activities, such as community-based performance, school visits etc
The quartet appointment is at senior lecturer level, with individual salaries of £46,510-58,917 per annum pro rata (equal to £23,255 - £29,459), including contribution points. The appointment is for one year, renewable for up to a maximum of 3 years.
For any quartet interested in applying, each musician in the quartet should make a separate application, indicating the quartet to which he or she belongs. Applications should be made online: full details, application instructions and the application form are available from: http://tinyurl.com/qubquartet.
The closing date for applications is Monday 14 February 2011. Interviews for the residency are expected to take place between 1 March and 10 March 2100.
Informal enquiries can be made to the Head of School, Professor Michael Alcorn, at somasa@xxxxxxxxx
Belfast is a dynamic, vibrant and modern European city, with a thriving cultural life and a rich and fascinating history. Music is an important part of artistic life here, and is a significant driver of the city’s rapidly growing tourist industry.
Belfast has two main concert halls, the 2200-seater Waterfront Hall and the Ulster Hall which seats around 1000, in addition to Queen’s University’s own Whitla Hall (capacity 1200) and Great Hall (capacity 160). QUB’s Harty Room (capacity 120) regularly hosts professional and student performances of chamber music and new/experimental music, and the Sonic Laboratory at SARC is used as a venue for jazz, improvisation, acousmatic, live electronics and networked performances. Other venues for live music in the city include the BT Studio at the Waterfront, the Black Box, Elmwood Hall, the two Cathedrals and various significant churches, not to mention pubs and clubs around the city that host live music on a regular basis.
The School of Music and Sonic Arts at Queen’s has links with professional classical music and music-related organisations throughout the city, including the Ulster Orchestra, BBC NI, the new Opera Company NI, Belfast Music Society, Belfast Festival at Queens and Moving on Music.
The arts and cultural sector in Belfast boasts the magnificently refurbished Ulster Museum, the Lyric Theatre, currently undergoing a major re-build, the brand new Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC), due for completion in 2012, and the Grand Opera House, designed by Frank Matcham in the 1890s and recently enhanced by the Baby Grand studio. The city supports a large number of international festivals throughout the year and the Cathedral Quarter, the oldest part of the city, has become a major cultural hub.
With a population of c. 300,000, Belfast is a compact, ‘human-scale’ city. It is easily reached by air, with two airports close by (Belfast International and George Best City airports) and good rail and bus networks. Belfast is an excellent base for life in Northern Ireland, as the province’s renowned areas of outstanding natural beauty and sites of historical and special scientific interest are all within easy reach of the city.