Music for Concert
I regularly write new works for ensembles, choirs and orchestras.
My concert music is inspired by everything from astronomy to surrealism, psychadelia and nature. I'm inspired by the quiet and mysterious sounds of a deserted Scottish forest, or a dimly lit London street, or the beautiful bobbing of an absurd piece of plastic in the ocean.
From sinuous, bubbling textures to vast, haunting harmonies or from complex, groovy rhythms to moments of beautiful simplicity, I love 'taking a walk' through interesting sonic landscapes and seeing where it leads me.
I love writing for professional and community groups alike. I've worked with Fretwork, Street Orchestra Live, the National Youth Harp Orchestra of Great Britain, Tritium Trio, Klangkraft Orchestra, the Odin Quartet and Heath Quartet, the British Sinfonietta, the And So Forth Opera Company, OperaVision, Helios Opera Company, the Lontano Ensemble and Clariphonics. But I've also worked with many community choirs and orchestras throughout the UK.
Feel free to say hello, I'm always open to new performances.
ORCHESTRA / LARGE ENSEMBLE
Only Tears / (string orchestra)
Inspired by the 'holy minimalists' of Eastern Europe, anguish meets sparsity in this atmospheric piece. (2015)
vln(2).vla.clo.db
A Bureaucratic Nightmare / (orchestra)
Some hugely extrovert fun, pitting comical terror against a strangely tense idea of peace. (2016)
2(2pic).2(2ca).2(2bcl).2/ssax.asax.tsax.bsax/4.2.3.1/timp.2perc/cel.hrp/str / perf. by the Royal College of Music Orchestra
(3 mins)
Martian Saloon / (concert band)
Whistling, roaring soundscapes meet pseudo-jazz rhythms in Martian Saloon, performed by KEMS Concert Band in 2017 as part of the 'Adopt a Composer' scheme, in association with Radio 3, Sound and Music and Making Music. I spent an amazing year with these musicians workshopping material that evoked otherworldly atmospheres.
Available in flexible concert band format here.
(7 mins)
CHOIR
Take, O Take Those Lips Away / (community choir)
With Take, O Take Those Lips Away, I wanted to capture in time here the poignancy of Shakespeare's famously lovestruck sonnet, combining a sense of the intimate with a sense of the colossal. (2014)
SSAATTBB (limited divisi) / perf. by Constanza Chorus
The Juggler / (community choir)
Taking Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name, this piece explored quietly rustling textures and ethereal harmonies. (2017)
SSAATTBB / perf. and workshopped over a year by Cantabile Choir
(5 mins)
SMALL ENSEMBLE
Little Eden / (string quartet)
Taking Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name, this piece explored quietly rustling textures and ethereal harmonies. (2017)
vln(2).vla.clo / perf. by the Odin Quartet
Two Blue / (trombone and piano)
A psychadelic journey through slowly morphing lines that demonstrate the trombone's real capacity to play tenderly. (2017)
perf. by Chris Ford and myself
The Den / (micro-opera, for children)
In collaboration with OperaVision and Opera Harmony, 'The Den' is a playful story about two children in lockdown. (2017)
soprano, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, bassoon, cello, synth (2), percussion (3)
The Colour of Breath / (small ensemble)
In 2016, the Science Museum held an exhibition showcasing the beauty of astronomical photography. The contrast between fiery, stellar violence and the lonely qualities of individual human experiences in space inspired this one.
flt.ca.cl.asax.bsn/hn.tpt.tbn/hp/vln(2).vla.clo.db
Rhumba / (string quartet)
Rhumba was composed by dissecting some of my favourite folk melodies. The title, and the character of much of the material, is inspired by the collective pronoun for a group of rattlesnakes. (2014)
vln(2).vla.clo / perf. by the Delphi Quartet
SOLO WORKS
Furious Dancing / (solo cello)
The introductory melody, entirely in harmonics, begins a dramatic dialogue between several sorrowful, glistening, and hauntingly expressive moods. The piece jumps quickly between these ideas, arguing with itself. (2015)
(10 mins)