hello i'm Carolyn Sampson i was at birmingham university from 1992 to 95. I did my BMus here
hello my name is Joseph Middleton and i was here from 1999 where i came to do my
BMus and then i stayed on for an MPhil as well and we're here to do a concert this morning
for some students over in the Bramall building which of course didn't exist when we were here
so that's amazing to go and see the new space but for us it's very evocative really to come back
here and soak up the atmosphere of this place which although it's still changed and moved on
since we were here it still feels very much the same old familiar building doesn't it yeah it does
i can remember coming here for my open day and just instantly falling in love with this place and
the fact that you had music and art side by side really meant a lot to me scraping away at the back
of the seconds in there and then doing things like painting the set for the operas in there
and playing in chamber groups and then doing my final recital and then coming back for years and
years and years i've come and played about once every year and it's a hall that i really love
yeah and i've got really strong memories of going around the corner there into the library i don't
even know if it's still in the library and you know before it was electronic and stuff we used
to wander in and out and it was very easy just to take grab some music and go down to the practice
rooms in the basement and all that sort of thing just that i just used to dig out so much music
just taking things going and singing it putting it back it was very relaxed and
it's probably different now but doing operas in there like you said and it was always on a rake
and we were always in togas and that sort of thing but really strong memories and also
some really cool pieces that even now i'm thinking oh i'd love to do that piece again
i think as well as being aware of the great history of opera in there as well and when
i first came just wandering around to the left there and seeing a sign with people like janet
baker coming to do her first opera and i think they think you know i think i'm thinking wow
this is an artist that i really love and i'm on the same stage as them and i think for the realm
of work that we've both ended up working mainly in which is chamber and song this hall is just
perfect for that and even after you've been and played and sung in vienna and amsterdam and all
over the world there's something about coming back to that hall the sound in there is just
perfect for a small a small uh chamber chamber evening and actually the size of it as well
it's just right isn't it yeah yeah you feel like you can really talk to people
i mean we've both done a couple of concerts here and there since the
the pandemic started just in the last month or so really it's just started to get going again and
everyone's doing it slightly differently so we've been in Wigmore Hall where you've got
an audience and filming we were in oxford last week where there was no audience it was like
being in a film studio cameras everywhere there was no pretence in a way that this one concert
and today i mean actually it felt quite relaxed yes
it just makes you really long for the day when you can step on stage and there's a full hall and
people are there with their ears open with their hearts open and you can really speak directly to
them there's just nothing there's nothing like that and i think particularly something about
working in the sphere of the human voice hearing an unamplified voice live with text speaking
yeah i think it's something when it's back back it'll feel extremely special and something that we
really need to kind of fight to keep keep there yeah and actually sharing that you know for us
even though there weren't many people there this morning because that's how it has to be
still sharing it with with those people so for us as performers to share
the music and to feel you do still feel other people in the room however few and i think as
an audience member as well to be experiencing something with other people it's very different
and all the online activity has been amazing but i don't think it's a substitute for live
i think what you were just saying as well about this hall is that there's a real magic
about playing in a space that's quite small and with an audience there that are really listening
intensively and with an acoustic as well which is rich and warm but also extremely clear it means
you you can really take take risks you can play extremely big and it won't become overblown and
you can also take real risks and play and sing in an extremely intimate way and it will still read
and that's what that all helps you do and while you know obviously a lot of people
will be listening online to the recital that couldn't be there in person um hopefully it still
comes across that we were very much enjoying the atmosphere of being able to perform together and
and for real live people but and for being in this place as well i mean as we both came in
the same car as you kind of um turn off the m6 we both have this like wash of oh this
place we really loved it here you know it's um i think we both had a really really great time