News

Posted on 18 Oct 2021

My new violin concerto for Daniel Pioro, Pleasure Garden, is being performed next week by Daniel and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elena Schwarz. The world premiere happens at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 6 November, and the orchestra will also be filming a performance, without an audience, for broadcast – more details to follow. There'll be a broadcast on...

Posted on 21 Sep 2021

Firstly, The Hermes Experiment will give the premiere of my new commission for them, I Find Planets, at London's King's Place this Sunday 26 September, alongside pieces from their second album 'SONG' on Delphian Records, and other things they've commissioned – stuff by Barbara Strozzi, Clara Schumann, Philip Venables, Laura Moody, Robin Haigh, Soosan Lolavar, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Emily Hall, Olivia...

Posted on 31 Aug 2021

Psappha are playing Two Games and a Nocturne in a concert at Manchester's Hallé St Peters on 8 October as part of their 30th birthday celebrations, and outgoing artistic director Tim Williams' last season. The concert also features music by Adam Gorb, Philip Rousiamanis, Nina Whiteman, Bofan Ma, Michael Betteridge and Tom Harrold. They are also recording the piece for a disc released...

Posted on 19 Aug 2021

Last week I was at the beautiful Musikdorf Ernen festival in Switzerland, where I will be Composer-in-Residence for the 2022 festival. I'll be writing a new piece for horn trio (horn, violin & piano), and a number of my earlier chamber pieces will be performed. I'm very grateful to pianist and artistic director Alasdair Beatson for inviting me to...

Posted on 11 Aug 2021

The Oxford Lieder Festival have announced their 2021 programme, and I have four pieces programmed, having been the 'Albi Rosenthal Visiting Fellow in Music' at Oxford University's Bodleian Libraries. On 18 October, soprano Anna Dennis and pianist John Reid are premiering Wholesome Counsels, a new piece that sets texts I've made out of material in the Bodleian Library's John Johnson collection of 'Ephemera'...

Posted on 03 Aug 2021

I'm delighted to have been awarded a Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers for 2021, alongside 19 other composers and 20 visual artists. The 40 of us share a funding pot of £1 million, to support our work. It almost goes without saying how wonderful it is to feel supported like this after such a difficult period. Paul Hamlyn Foundation is making...

Posted on 18 May 2021

I couldn't be more thrilled to be taking up the role of Composer-in-Association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for the next few years. I'll write three major pieces, the first of which, Pleasure Garden for violin and orchestra with Daniel Pioro as soloist, was due to be premiered last summer and should be rescheduled later this year. Aside from the three commissions, there may...

Posted on 07 May 2021

I'm in the studio with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist Daniel Pioro in a couple of weeks to record a programme we've devised, for a live Radio 3 broadcast on 19 May. We've arranged various pieces of pre-orchestral music for a slightly reduced BBC Phil, and I've thrown in an orchestration of the Gymnopédies I wrote during lockdown: Hildegard...

Posted on 05 May 2021

I've been made the 'Albi Rosenthal Visiting Fellow in Music' at Oxford University's Bodleian Libraries. I'll be writing a work for voice & piano for soprano Anna Dennis, inspired by materials in the library, for the Oxford Lieder Festival in October 2021. I'm particularly interested in the library's collection of 'ephemera' – old adverts, leaflets, notices, children's games etc. I'll be...