music

Michael de Groot - Interviews with BBC Hereford and Worcester

 

I’m a Dutchman and I’m hugely passionate about storytelling.

My quest is to enable small business owners become better storytellers and share engaging stories about themselves and their businesses.

I do this through my own small business, Staying Alive UK, where we enjoy producing visually impactful cartoons and animation campaigns, engaging audiences and giving them a unique insight into an organisation’s story and value proposition. One of our future aims is to deliver these stories via Augmented Reality (AR) too. In addition we also deliver the ‘Share Your Story’ Storytelling Workshops online to help business owners develop their own story blueprint.

I am the host and producer of the ‘Share Your Story’ Podcast, where I invite small business owners to share their own stories with the aim of inspiring new and existing business owners.

In my personal time, I’m a student of Taiko Drumming, Yoga, Mindfulness Meditation and Minimalism. Just my own way of developing a more meaningful life.

Michael de Groot
Chief Storyteller at Staying Alive UK

Website: /stayingaliveuk.com
LinkedIn: /linkedin.com/in/stayingaliveuk
Twitter: /twitter.com/stayingaliveuk
Facebook: /facebook.com/stayingaliveuk
Instagram: /instagram.com/stayingaliveuk
YouTube: /youtube.com/c/MichaeldeGroot
Podcast: /pod.link/shareyourstory
Book an interview: /zoom.as.me/podcast

Anthea - Spring's Calling - Culture Central

 

Saturday 20 March 2021

Spring’s Calling is the latest in the series of regional online events co-ordinated by the West Midlands Culture Response Unit, and marks one year since the country went into its first lockdown.

The event will be made up of 3-5 minute audio artworks, including spoken word, podcasts, music and singing – from artists and organisations across the region.

Coinciding with the Spring Equinox on Saturday 20 March, the event focuses on nature, spring, outdoors, reflection, restarting and growth; as the cultural sector looks ahead to returning to live events, re-opening venues and welcoming back audiences.

To enjoy the event, audiences should search for the hashtag #SpringsCalling across social media channels from 20 March.

Audio artworks will be available to listen to across Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud, along with captioned versions on YouTube.

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I interviewed Anthea who is 79 years old and lives in Stourport on Severn, Worcestershire. She shares her experience through the UK’s Lockdown and her shielding. I felt it was an appropriate reflection on the past 12 months since we went into Lockdown and to hear a short story by someone who was significantly affected.

Please feel free to share widely.

~ Michael

http://styin.me/youtube-springs-calling

https://soundcloud.com/culture-central/sets/springs-calling


YouTube playlist below:

Culture Central is sector support organisation and collective voice for Arts and Culture in the region. We drive strategy with an ambitious, inclusive and relevant vision for the role of the arts and artists in society. Culture Central advocates for the sector, acting as a catalyst to generate radical new approaches to investment and sustainability and brokering cross-sector collaborations and partnerships. 

We work with the sector to develop audiences, provide and promote opportunities for learning, build networks and nurture employment opportunities and share expertise from the talented, diverse communities in the region.

Liz Johnson - Composer

Liz Johnson (b.1964) is an award-winning British composer based in the Malvern Hills, Herefordshire ‘a major composer deserving wide recognition’ (Divine Art). Her music encompasses an immense range from the smallest miniatures to expansive, large-scale, ambitious and multifaceted works. Liz was selected as one of Sound and Music’s first ‘New Voices’ in 2018 which has led to her directing a ground-breaking multidisciplinary project Scintilla weaving music, poetry, dance and live electronics, working with internationally renowned choreographer/ dancer Dane Hurst.

Several of Johnson’s works engage with wider issues of wellbeing: Scintilla explores issues of isolation and mental health, and the series of Triptych pieces for early instruments focuses on female body image after major surgery, inspired by the artwork Triptych – a scarred series by Dora Williams. Johnson has herself recently overcome serious illness leading to isolation. Having now regained her health she is passionate about creating work that allows people to engage with the most difficult issues. Colwall Requiem for Aleppo – a Requiem for Refugees – juxtaposes music for amateur choir and children’s choir with virtuosic meditations and transcriptions of traditional Arabic music for the viola soloist.  ‘I can’t remember the last time I actually dripped tears during a concert. And then she brought us back to a place of hope by the end of the piece so we were emotionally safe to head back into the real world.’ (Liz Garnett) http://www.helpingyouharmonise.com/colwall

Johnson’s debut double album Intricate Web (2017) has been met with wide critical acclaim ‘The Cello Suite is stunning… The music explores a vast canvas… To me, this suite is Johnson’s masterpiece (so far). It is not too much to say that it takes its place beside Bach, Britten and Ligeti.’(Musicweb-International). Johnson’s close working relationship with the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, who recorded the album, has given rise to two impressive large-scale works: the clarinet quintet Sea-change, featuring twenty-five different instruments, including string quartet with Swannee whistles and egg shakers and five different sized clarinets from Contrabass to E flat, and Sky-burial for female voice and string quartet. 'The music is in turn rugged, anguished, languid, and resigned, producing a haunting scenario that will not quickly be forgotten' (Fanfare), sung by vocalist extraordinaire Loré Lixenberg.

Liz Johnson started her career as a Primary School teacher and it was not until her mid-30s that she began studying composing for the first time. Taught by Philip Cashian she went on to gain her PhD at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2006. She lectures at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and is currently overseeing a new creative collaboration between student musicians and composers with choreographers and dancers at the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Music clips on the podcast from Liz Johnson's Intricate Web album MSV77206 available to download from Divine Art Records.

Website: http://www.lizjohnson.co.uk https://lizjohnsoncomp.wordpress.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizjohnsoncomposer

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0FwmqhVsY9A3oxyXgpLiH8?si=vXJkOr5UT0-FRrJa0R6eCg 

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lizjohnsoncomposer

Intricate Web Album: https://divineartrecords.com/recording/intricate-web-liz-johnson