Psappha will give the world premiere of Two Games and a Nocturne at Manchester’s St Michael’s on Thursday 16 February. They commissioned the piece – scored for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin & cello – for their 25th Anniversary season. Also in the concert are premieres by Gordon McPherson and Emily Hall, Joe Duddell’s Nightswimming, Kaija Saariaho’s Light & Matter and the piece that got them their name, Xenakis’ Psappha.

I’m grateful to the Britten-Pears Foundation and the Ernst von Siemens Muzikstiftung for supporting the commission.

I’ll be travelling up to Manchester from Aldeburgh, where I am spending some time on two separate projects. Firstly I’ll be spending some time working on the opera that myself and Alice Birch are working on, alongside recipients of the Jerwood Opera Fellowship. After that I am a tutor on a week-long course with Aldeburgh Young Musicians, alongside composer and improviser Jan Hendrickse. The young musicians from AYM will be collaborating with musicians from the Egyptian European Contemporary Music Ensemble, with whom I spent a week in Cairo last April.