Jeffrey Skidmore’s practice led research has significantly expanded the choral repertoire and challenged received notions of the classical choral canon, leading to increased understanding of the diversity of baroque music as cultural heritage, and of new forms of expression through the co-production of contemporary music.
Summary of Research
Skidmore’s research largely focuses on the investigation of a large, under explored repertory of South American Baroque music. It explores the theme of cross-cultural dialogue through the commissioning of contemporary choral music. This research draws on community projects that bring together singers of all levels of experience as part of the methodological process of exploring and developing new choral repertoires.
How has the research been carried out?
Skidmore’s research has been felt internationally, both through recordings and worldwide broadcasts and through publication of performing editions sued by choirs and educational institutions worldwide.
Through extensive primary-source research in libraries in Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil and the USA, Skidmore’s research has influenced his performances within Ex Cathedra (choir, consort, and period-instrument orchestra). Skidmore has been involved alongside Ex Cathedra’s ground-breaking 3-volume set of world-premiere recordings and a further CD of Brazilian baroque music. Furthermore, Skidmore has produced his own performing editions of much of the repertoire, the scores of which he has begun to publish.
In 2018, Skidmore collaborated with Roxanna Panufnik on the recording Celestial Bird, in which Ex Cathedra performs together with the Indian classical music ensemble Milapfest, as one example of several of Skidmore’s carefully staged encounters between the European choral tradition and world musics, leading to new artistic insights and cultural understandings of particular relevance to Birmingham’s diverse multicultural community.
Outcomes and impact
Skidmore’s research directly influences the nature of Ex Cathedra’s concert programming by introducing newly commissioned and newly rediscovered music that expands the choral repertoire and challenges existing understandings of the choral canon. This has resulted in an increased awareness of the breadth of the cultural heritage of European and South American choral music among audiences and choral participants worldwide. Moreover, by commissioning and co-producing new choral music Skidmore is actively contributing to this heritage.
The fruits of Skidmore’s research have been made available to other choral participants worldwide through his performing editions of S. American and French Baroque repertoire. These are published and distributed internationally via Ex Cathedra’s in-house ‘Stable Press’. This enterprise has enabled those who first became familiar with the repertoire through Skidmore’s recordings to sing it themselves, resulting in performances by professional, amateur and youth choirs, particularly in the UK, Germany, and USA, including leading universities and conservatoires.
