The Department of Music and Performing Arts is especially proud of its extensive programme of public concerts, theatrical performances and workshops. There is a regular series of weekly lunch-time concerts given by visiting professional musicians, and visiting artists and performers are regularly invited to give master-classes and workshops. The Department's bi-annual full-scale opera productions exploit to the full the superb resources of the Mumford Theatre; recent operas have included Turandot, Peter Grimes, La Traviata, La Bohème, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Orfeo ed Euridice and Paul Bunyan.

The Department regularly stages theatrical works, involving students in both on- and off-stage roles. In recent years, these have included Caryl Churchill's Hotel, Edward Bond's The Sea, Nick Dear's The Art of Success, Howard Barker's He Stumbled, Jarry's Ubu Roi, Genet's Le Balcon and Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan. Students can also get involved in the Anglia Theatre Society, a student-led theatre group that regularly stages plays in and around Cambridge. Frequent large-scale orchestral and choral concerts are mounted at venues in the city and a large array of smaller ensembles from Early Music to Jazz form a regular part of our University's and the city's musical life.

Membership of the Cambridge University Musical Society and the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra is open to Anglia Ruskin students via audition, and many of the chapel choirs and college orchestras in Cambridge include Anglia Ruskin musicians. Similarly, many of the civic musical organisations offer participation to the more experienced students. Drama students often take part in Cambridge University's theatre productions, taking advantage of the city's ADC and Arts Theatres.

There are also opportunities to join overseas concert tours out of semester-time. Countries visited by various Anglia Ruskin ensembles have included Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Belgium, America and Australia. This in turn has led to educational exchange programmes with European and American institutions, for which any of our students can apply.

Performing activity usually contributes to the academic credits of designated modules. Students are issued at the start of each semester with a detailed rehearsal schedule for all currently running activities, and there is often room for student-initiated and directed projects, large or small, to take their place in this process.

Performing ensembles may include:

• Anglia Opera
• Symphony Orchestra
• Chamber Orchestra
• Chorus
• Chamber Choir
• Jazz Ensemble
• Anglia Sinfonia (contemporary and 20th-century music)
• Anglia Chorale (Baroque and Classical music)
• Symphonic Wind Orchestra
• MEME (Mechanical and Electrical Music Experience)
• Brass Ensemble
• Saxophone Ensemble
• Percussion Ensemble
• Recorder Ensemble
• Guitar Ensemble
• Collegium Musicum (early music ensemble)
• African Drumming Group
• World Music Ensemble

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