Miss Jane Chapman
Turner Sims Fellow
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Miss Jane Chapman is a Turner Sims Fellow in Music at the University of Southampton.
As Turner Sims Fellow I have a very creative and collaborative role in the Music Department. I’m keen to encourage all students to explore the infinite world of the harpsichord from its early baroque origins to the present day. As well as principal study students I work with all keyboard players who are interested in playing the harpsichord and coach baroque ensembles. Projects with composers, particularly at postgraduate level are ongoing, with public performances at the Turner Sims, and recordings as possible outcomes.
Described in The Independent on Sunday as 'Britain's most progressive harpsichordist', I am at the forefront of creating and inspiring new music for harpsichord. I have premiered over 200 solo, chamber and electroacoustic works for the instrument worldwide. Equally passionate about baroque and contemporary music, I have collaborated with ground-breaking composers, artists and dancers, working with musicians from the worlds of Indian music, jazz, and the avant-garde. I am a frequent partner in chamber ensembles, such as Trio Aporia, which specialises in contemporary and baroque music on period instruments. Through my innovative performances, I aim to bring the harpsichord to a wider public, and to combine repertoire in ways that engage and challenge my audiences.
My recordings include a three-CD set of 17th century music from the Bauyn Manuscript, described by The Times as 'stylish and eloquent', and selected as a Critics' Choice by Gramophone Magazine. My other recordings for Collins Classics under the title of 'The Lady's Banquet' - harpsichord and spinet music of the 18th century - have been highly acclaimed, and Volume 1 was chosen by BBC Music Magazine in its top fifty recordings for that year. I have recorded contemporary works for NMC, Sargasso and ARGO, and my recording of 'Rounds' by Berio for the New York based Mode label was NY Times pick of the year. Other releases include Three Windows (Dark Energy) - a CD of contemporary works for harpsichord and electric guitar by Mark Wingfield featuring jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy, and WIRED (NMC) - which includes premieres of solo and electroacoustic works for harpsichord by James Dillon, Paul Whitty and Paul Dibley, Sam Hayden, Mike Vaughan, Roger Redgate, Paul Newland, and Sohrab Uduman. I have also recorded for the NMC Song Book, and electroacoustic works by Simon Emmerson (Sargasso).
Recent performances include the premiere of 'Drip Feed' by Benjamin Oliver commissioned by Playlist in Southampton and playing at Peckham Car Park as part of London Contemporary Festival, juxtaposing works by the 18th century composer Royer with electroacoustic pieces by Paul Whitty, contrasting with a recital of 17th century repertoire at Hatchlands, on the virginals that belonged to King Charles II. I have adjudicated for the British Harpsichord Society Composition Competition, the Horniman Composition Competition, where young composers were invited to write specifically for the newly restored Kirckman harpsichord, the Historical Keyboard Society of North America Jurow International Harpsichord Competition, and the Prix Annelie de Man in the Netherlands. Recent research examines the first transcription of Indian music for harpsichord, the Oriental Miscellany (1789) which was supported by a fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust. The disc of this collection (Signum) received the Bestenliste Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik - Keyboard Instrument Award, and went to number 14 in the Indian iTune Classical charts. Shortly to be released by Moon June Records is a new venture with electric guitarist Mark Wingfield and percussionist Adriano Adewale. My current area of performance and research is THRUST, taking inspiration from Newton’s third law, in collaboration with new generation women composers, creators and scientists. I am also harpsichord professor at the RCM.