Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux – 27th June

For the last week or so I’ve been resident at the St Magnus Composers Course in Orkney, where I’ve been receiving tuition from Alasdair Nicolson and Sally Beamish. As well as preparing a quintet for the Gemini Ensemble, I’ve had workshops on two short pieces – ‘Wavescape’ for mezzo-soprano & wineglass, workshopped on Thursday by Alison Wells, and ‘Pretty Polly’ for 8 voices, workshopped today by The Cardinall’s Musick.

The larger piece, ‘Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux‘ for five players, will be performed on the 27th June by Gemini, conducted by Hyun-Jin Yun at St Magnus Cathedral as part of the concurrent St Magnus Festival. The title comes from Frank L. Warrin’s glorious French translation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jaberwocky’, and it’s sounding great after a week’s alterations and improvements. Tickets and details here.