University of Nottingham Malaysia

School of Humanities
     
  
 

Sergio Camacho

UNM Director of Performing Arts, Associate Professor in Music, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

Dr Sergio Camacho is the Director of Performing Arts of the University of Nottingham Malaysia. He joined the UNM in 2013, collaborating with the School of Media, Languages and Cultures and the Faculty of Arts as a Research Fellow for the Knowledge without Borders Network. Within that framework, he proposed the establishment of a Performing Arts strategy for the Development of Performing Arts at the UNM, securing collaborative links with several educational, cultural, social and artistic institutions, with the aim of empowering students, staff, alumni and their wider community with Music and Performing Arts opportunities in a professional environment.

As an initial result, he devised, produced, and directed The Mikado: a COMIC opera, the first inclusive pan-UNM musical theatre production, in collaboration with the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, KLPAC. This production, and all that soon followed, contributed to develop an ongoing Music and Performing Arts scene and network on the University campus, which has been consolidated with the establishment and promotion of several artistic collectives at the UNM, including Uni Per Arts, the UNM Performing Arts Platform and the opening of the first purpose-built Performing Arts space at the UNM, the Drama Studio. His contribution was acknowledged with his appointment in 2016 as the UNM Director of Performing Arts.

Some of the outcomes of this Performing Arts strategy at the UNM include the production of several inclusive shows (such as One Thousand and One Nights (2016), Don Quixote, A Man of La Mancha (2017), Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (2018), and Sweeney Todd's Barbershop (2019), with performances in Semenyih, Seremban, Kuala Lumpur and Ningbo, China), and the establishment, in conjunction with the University of Nottingham UK and China campuses, of the Tri Campus Arts Festival, the first intercampus collaborative creative venture. During the academic year 2020/2021, Performing Arts at the UNM is achieving two new milestones: the opening of the UNM Performing Arts T&L Centre, and the establishing of the first degree option in the field, the BA (Hons) degree in International Communication Studies with Performing Arts.

In terms of research, Dr Camacho is one of the leading voices in the defense of Spanish quintessential operatic genre, zarzuela, as a valid platform for contemporary practitioners. As a composer and an academic, he has contributed to the genre with several works, which has been presented internationally in the UK, Spain, Sweden and Malaysia. He is also an advocate for the development of the study and practice of Chinese Orchestra works in Malaysia, and their integration with Western orchestral practices, area to which he has contributed with several compositions, arrangements and orchestrations, including the suite for Chinese Orchestra Discerning Spain (2017), or his work From the Island, presented at the contemporary music festival Crosscurrents and Nodes, in Örebro, Sweden, 2019. One of his latest works, [(Remember)]: A Confined Audiovisual Poem was published in 2021 by the international collective MusikSpektra T.

Before joining UNM, he worked as the Associate Course Leader for the International College of Music, ICOM, in Kuala Lumpur, as a Lecturer at the Universities of Northumbria, Sunderland and Newcastle, in the UK, and as the Curriculum Support and Widening Opportunities Manager for Newcastle Music Service.

He has recently been inducted as a member of the Spanish Academy of Performing Arts.

Teaching Summary

He is currently leading the development of educational opportunities for FASS students in the field of Music and Performing Arts. One of the first tangible outcomes in this area was the design and… read more

Research Summary

Research interests include

Composition, contemporary music, performing arts and new audiences; stage, screen and music technology.

Music Theatre, Zarzuela, opera, operetta; permeability to contemporary practices.

Intercultural Performing Arts: establishing a community-based creative industry.

World musics, musicology and musical anthropology; Spanish (including flamenco) and Latin-American folk, Chinese Orchestras, South East Asian, North Indian Classical.

Nationalism and Post-colonialism: post-empire identity and transoceanic cultural commerce.

New Technologies in Music Education.

Selected Publications

  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. It’s not music, it’s noise: Negotiations and Challenges in the Explorations of the Boundaries of Noise. In: SANNE KROGH GROTH and JAMES MANSELL, eds., Negotiating Noise Lund Universitet. Sweden. (In Press.)
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. [(Remember)] – A confined audiovisual poem: in collaboration with visual artist Lőrincz Veron Phronesis 2020, Sweden.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO and TAN ELYNN, 2019. It's Man Devouring Man, My Dear: Sweeney Todd in Malaysia or the negotiation of ethical clashes through theatrical adaptation. In: JOSE ROMERA CASTILLO, ed., Teatro y Filosofía en los inicios del siglo XXI Verbum. 463-484
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2019. Remains of Whom I’ve Never Been: Suite for Chinese Orchestra Bio Roxy, Sweden.

He is currently leading the development of educational opportunities for FASS students in the field of Music and Performing Arts. One of the first tangible outcomes in this area was the design and delivery of the Global Music Studies and Music in Film modules, as part of the International Communications Studies pathway. In the academic year 2019/2020, he designed a full itinerary in Performing Arts for the Nottingham Advantage Award programme, with the modules Applied Performance, Creativity & Design and Management & Leadership.

In the academic year 2020/2021, he led the opening of the first degree option at the UNM in the field; International Communication Studies with Performing Arts.

He also contributes in several modules of the School of Media, Languages and Cultures, in the areas of Cultural Studies and Modern Languages- Spanish.

  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. It’s not music, it’s noise: Negotiations and Challenges in the Explorations of the Boundaries of Noise. In: SANNE KROGH GROTH and JAMES MANSELL, eds., Negotiating Noise Lund Universitet. Sweden. (In Press.)
  • KELVIN E.Y. LOW, SERGIO CAMACHO and JULIA CHIENG, 2020. Sounding Things Out: Sonic Parameters and Possibilities. In: SANNE KROGH GROTH and JAMES MANSELL, eds., Negotiating Noise Lund Universitet. Sweden. (In Press.)
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. [(Remember)] – A confined audiovisual poem: in collaboration with visual artist Lőrincz Veron Phronesis 2020, Sweden.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. Co-organiser In: Negotiating Noise, international symposium. UNM/UoN/Lund Universitet.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. Brindis a la Bohemia: Audio-visual Piece TdN.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2020. Bridging the Digital Divide: panel contribution to the Digital Diversity Festival Projek Dialog, Shah Alam.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2019. Remains of Whom I’ve Never Been: Suite for Chinese Orchestra Bio Roxy, Sweden.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO and TAN ELYNN, 2019. It's Man Devouring Man, My Dear: Sweeney Todd in Malaysia or the negotiation of ethical clashes through theatrical adaptation. In: JOSE ROMERA CASTILLO, ed., Teatro y Filosofía en los inicios del siglo XXI Verbum. 463-484
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2019. Sweeney Todd's Barbershop UniPerArts International Performance Series, Malaysia.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2018. Victor Hugo's Les Misérables UniPerArts International Performance Series, Malaysia.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2017. Is zarzuela Francoist?: Identity and social issues on the dissemination of Zarzuela in the 21st century. In: JOSÉ ROMERA CASTILLO, ed., Teatro y Marginalismo(s) por Sexo, Raza e Ideología en los inicios del siglo XXI Verbum. 492-504
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2017. Beyond the Milestone, a Zarzuela Nueva Masterclass In: Zarzuela; Music Theatre for Today, UoN, UK.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2017. Discerning Spain: a Suite for Chinese Orchestra in Loud or Never, CCS Chinese Orchestra, Malaysia.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO and LUIS ORTEGA, 2017. Don Quixote, A Man of La Mancha UniPerArts International Performance Series, Malaysia, China.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2016. Vigencia de la zarzuela como género de creación contemporánea. In: JOSÉ ROMERA CASTILLO, FRANCISCO GUTIÉRREZ CARBAJO and RAQUEL GARCÍA PASCUAL, eds., Teatro y Música en los inicios del siglo XXI Verbum. 471-485
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2016. Is Zarzuela a Glocal Genre?: Interactions of Zarzuela with its contemporary genres Revista académica liLETRAd. 45-52
  • CRISTINA QUINTANA BLANCO and SERGIO CAMACHO, 2016. La didáctica de la traducción en Malasia: análisis de un caso práctico Revista Académica liLTERAd. 803-812
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2016. One Thousand and One Nights UniPerArts International Performances Series, Malaysia.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2015. Máni, a Fifth Name for the One Moon: An Original Dance Film Bio Roxy: Örebro, Sweden.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2014. From Gilbert & Sullivan in Malaysia to Zarzuela in the Philippines; an insight into post-colonial transoceanic cultural commerce In: The Indian Ocean: Terrains of Meaning and Materiality - Technology and Cultural Commerce.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2014. ‘Knights Errant, Troubadours and Minstrels; la Tuna and the Representations of Student Bohemia in Romantic Zarzuela’ In: UNMC Research Symposium.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO and LUIS ORTEGA, 2014. The Mikado, A Comic Opera klpac, Malaysia.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2012. The Facebook Generation in Class: Empowering Student Experience through Social Media. In: FUNG YING LOO ET AL, ed., Essays on Issues in Music and its Function Lap Lambert: Saarbrücken. 60-75
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2011. A Daughter Who Went Astray: Re-Contextualising Romantic Zarzuela as a Global Local Genre. In: FUNG YING LOO ET AL, ed., Changing Approaches to Musical Practice and Education Vdm Verlag: Berlin.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2011. Building Contemporary Traditions: an Analysis of the Possibilities of Spanish Zarzuela as a Living Genre In: University Malaya International Music Conference.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2010. Beyond the Milestone: Beating Paths towards a Contemporary Zarzuela University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
  • SERGIO CAMACHO, 2009. Four Names for the One Moon. In: MR MCFALLS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, ed., Composers of the North East ICMUS: Stirling.

School of Humanities

University of Nottingham Malaysia
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

telephone: +6 (03) 8924 8693
fax: +6 (03) 8924 8020

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