New Piece for Oboe and Harp

I am sorry to any regular readers for the late arrival of a new blog. I had the dreaded flu virus just before Christmas and it's taken me ages to get over it properly. But I am back on course - and there are lots of exciting things happening in 2011. The first is a new piece for oboe and harp. It is just finished and is being rehearsed today by the oboist James Turnbull and my dear friend Claire Jones. They aim to premiere the piece on the 28th of this month at the Avon Valley Concerts

http://www.avonvalleyconcerts.com/concerts.html

The piece is called Earth Rise. It was James's idea and this is what he wrote to me about it:

The picture was taken by Apollo 8 in December 1968 and it was the first time humankind caught a glimpse of the planet from deep space. A while ago I read an amazing book about how the Apollo missions changed the way we view our existence and how it changed the astronauts and believe it is considered to be a highly significant moment, showing how fragile, and small the Earth actually is.