News

Posted on 13 Jul 2022

The beautiful Musikdorf Ernen festival in Switzerland is starting this month, and I am Composer-in-Residence for the 2022 festival. I've written two new pieces being premiered – a new horn trio and a reworking of a viol piece by Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for five lower strings. In addition, three earlier pieces of mine will be performed: Pianist Sergey Tanin performs Inventions...

Posted on 10 Jun 2022

Violet, my opera with Alice Birch, was premiered last Friday to open the Aldeburgh Festival, directed by Jude Christian – cast, creative team and technical team did such a beautiful job, and I've been blown away by the response. Below are a few extracts from reviews, and some images of the production. Set design is by Rosie Elnile, costume by...

Posted on 24 May 2022

[gallery type="rectangular" columns="3" size="full" ids="18200,18201,18208,18207,18206,18202,18203,18221,18222,18223,18224,18225,18226,18227,18228"] Some new details on my upcoming opera, Violet, with writer Alice Birch, which is premiering at the Aldeburgh Festival on the 3 June. The wonderful cast and creative team for the project have been working hard in rehearsals in London, and have now traveled to Snape to work on the stage. Above are a few photographs from...

Posted on 18 Apr 2022

O Ecclesia is being performed by Jonathan Morton at Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom this Thursday 21 April, with an orchestra made up from players of the Scottish Ensemble, Ensemble Resonanz & Trondheim Soloists. It's the opening night of the new festival The Bridge, which brings together the three ensembles for a series of concerts around Glasgow. Daniel Pioro and I made the violin...

Posted on 30 Mar 2022

Some new details on my upcoming opera, Violet, with writer Alice Birch: I couldn't be more delighted with our cast and creative team for the project – our director is Jude Christian, working with designer Rosie Elnile and costume designer Cécile Trémolières. Andrew Gourlay will act as music director, conducting the London Sinfonietta. Our cast is: Anna Dennis (Violet – soprano), Richard Burkhard (Felix – baritone),...

Posted on 18 Mar 2022

Two discs featuring my music are being released on the same day next week, on Friday 25 March: Fenella Humphreys's Caprices album is out on Rubicon Classics. She performs my Études I-IV for solo violin wonderfully, in a massive virtuosic grab-bag of an album: caprices and studies by Paganini, Bacewicz, Freya Waley-Cohen, Oliver Leith, Kreisler, Roxanna Panufnik, Laurence Osborn, Mark O’Connor, Errollyn...

Posted on 04 Feb 2022

Violinist Darragh Morgan gave the public premiere of my Études Nos. 5 & 6 as part of London Sinfonietta's Live Online event last night. You can watch the performance, and a short discussion between me and Zoë Martlew about them, above – my bit starts at 1h05m. The event also features Zoë talking to various other composers – Steve Reich,...

Posted on 15 Dec 2021

The programme for the Aldeburgh Festival 2021 has been announced, and several of my works will be performed: My opera Violet, written with writer Alice Birch and directed by Jude Christian, will have its world premiere performances on the opening weekend in the Snape Maltings Hall on the 3rd & 5th of June, with the London Sinfonietta conducted by Andrew Gourlay. The fantastic...

Posted on 12 Nov 2021

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniel Pioro, conducted by Elena Schwarz, gave a fantastic world premiere of Pleasure Garden in a concert at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on Saturday. You can now hear the broadcast on BBC Radio 3, alongside music by Kurt Weill (Symphony No. 2) and Maurice Ravel (Ma mère de l'oye). Click the link below to hear the...