Make some noise to save the School of Music: Musicians gather in mass demonstration to protest proposed axing of Cardiff University’s School of Music on Saturday 22 February

Last month (28 January), Cardiff University confirmed plans to close Cardiff University School of Music, a facility that has produced outstanding musicians, boasting a wealth of alumni, including lWelsh composers Karl Jenkins, Grace Williams and Alun Hoddinott, as well as contemporary composer David John Roche and current Head of Composition at Royal Academy of Music, Philip Cashian. 

The School also hosts a number of well-known academics, including the composer Arlene Sierra, researcher and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres awardee Caroline Rae, and concert pianist Kenneth Hamilton. The School of Music consistently ranks as one of the highest performing schools in the university with particularly high student satisfaction.

On Saturday 22 February, musicians from across the country, including past and current staff and students from Cardiff University’s School of Music as well as concerned musicians from across the sector, will gather in a musical protest against proposed course closures, job losses and cuts. Musicians will play in solidarity for the staff and students at the institution, who face the loss of a secure place for work, study and education. 

The demonstration will see concerned musicians, students and alumni gather from 12pm outside the University of Cardiff Chemistry Building before marching up Museum Avenue to Gorsedd Gardens where the performance will continue to the public. There will be performances by the specially formed, Cardiff University Salvation Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, conducted by a talented line-up of conductors, as well as Cardiff University Brass Band and other ensembles who will gather for the occasion with repertoire championing Welsh music making, featuring Cardiff University alumnus Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus and Palladio, as well as alumna Morfydd Owen’s Threnody, plus Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, the ‘Hallelujah chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah, and the Welsh national anthem   

Any musicians wishing to attend are requested to register their interest on the Google form provided https://forms.gle/YdY5TwA9ubGRj74e7 to allow sheet music and information about the performances to be circulated.

We also encourage readers to sign the original change.org petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-cardiff-university-school-of-music

And recent petition to the Senedd: https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/246499