News

Posted on 20 May 2016

The London Sinfonietta are giving the world premiere of 'Spirit of the Staircase' for 15 players on the 1 June in London, under the baton of Martyn Brabbins. The concert, at London's St John's Smith Square, is programmed around the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's Five Lessons in a Frame, and also features Francisco Coll's Liquid Symmetries and Tansy Davies'...

Posted on 27 Apr 2016

I have been awarded a Jerwood Opera Writing Fellowship from Aldeburgh Music to develop an opera with the wonderful playwright Alice Birch. Aldeburgh will provide support over the next two years as we develop our piece, including through bursaries, workshops, mentoring and showcases. I'm incredibly excited to start work on this project with such an exciting writer – more details of...

Posted on 18 Apr 2016

Sonnet Machine is receiving its public premiere at the weekend courtesy of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, alongside a couple of radio broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. In chronological order, then: on Friday 22nd at 9.30pm and as a part of their Shakespeare 400 celebrations, Radio 3 will broadcast 'Baba Ganoush', a newly commissioned radio play from Tom Wells, which features extracts...

Posted on 23 Mar 2016

A few bits of news: I've been commissioned by the wonderful Psappha to write a 6-piece ensemble work for their 25th anniversary season, to be performed at Manchester's St Michael's in early 2017. Psappha have previously performed my Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux on two occasions. I'm grateful to the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Ernst von Siemens Muzikstiftung for supporting the commission. I'll be...

Posted on 21 Jan 2016

The London Sinfonietta are putting on a night of live music and film on the 9 February at the Southwark Playhouse as part of their week-long residency there. On the 9th, their principal violinist Jonathan Morton will give his third performance of my Études Nos. 3 & 4 for solo violin, to be accompanied by a new film made by...

Posted on 02 Jan 2016

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra are in their studios in Manchester next week recording my new piece Sonnet Machine for radio broadcast, conducted by Andrew Gourlay. It will first be first heard in concert on the 23 April at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, alongside Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet and other new pieces by Nina Whiteman, Aaron Parker, Chiu-Yu Chou and Daniel Kidane. Tickets...

Posted on 27 Nov 2015

Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea will give the London premiere of Limp at a concert of (mostly) British music at The Forge on Monday 7 December. The concert will also include world premieres by James Weeks, Roger Redgate, Emily Howard and Charlotte Bray, and repeat performances of music by Michael Hersch and Ryan Latimer. As two thirds of the Fidelio...

Posted on 06 Nov 2015

'Encounters with British Composers', a new book by Andrew Palmer, contains interviews with around 40 British composers on how they work, how they live, and what, if anything, 'British music' is. There's an interview with me from about 18 months ago inside (that's me second from the left on the bottom row of the cover), alongside interviews with many more...

Posted on 10 Sep 2015

Later this month I am spending a week at LOD Muziektheater in Ghent, Belgium, at an opera-writing course called 'Looking Forward/Looking Back'. It's being run by the ENOA network of European opera academies, and led by playwright Martin Crimp. This is the second opera workshop I've attended with Martin, after a week with ENOA last year at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Also...