CLARINET CONCERTO

It's been great to see that Emma Johnson's new album featuring my Clarinet Concerto was made Classic FM's Album of the Week this week.  John Suchet has played two of the movements from my concerto on his main morning show and the response has been wonderful.

I've produced this video about writing the concerto for Emma, giving a little insight into the creative process.  Hope you enjoy it.

Best of luck with the album Emma!

An English Fantasy, recorded with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Phil Ellis and released on Nimbus Records, is available now from iTunes and Amazon.

CANADA

Well, the World Premiere of Revelation and Beatitudes could not have gone better!

Toronto skyline from the islands

After an overnight stay in Toronto, I arrived in Elora and went straight to the Elora Festival Singers' rehearsal in St John's Church, Elora.  What a beautiful sound this choir makes under Noel Edison's baton!  You can hear them rehearsing 'Blessed are the Meek' from Beatitudes in this short clip.

And one of the best bits of news was that, not only were the choir performing Revelation and Beatitudes, they were also premiering the stand-alone pieces that will feature on the album!  I was so touched that they had decided to use my new works to make up the whole concert.  

The next afternoon there was one more rehearsal of everything in the performance venue, St Joseph's Church, Fergus, and then on to the big night itself.  

Rehearsing Revelation

The World Premiere

The choir performed impeccably and the audience loved the music to the extent that they gave me, Noel and the choir a standing ovation - I took that as a good sign for the future of the works!  As an encore, they performed Quanta Qualia in the arrangement I did for Voces8 with choir and saxophone - a really beautiful way to end a wonderful evening.

As I type, the choir are busy recording the new works for the Naxos label - the album will be out in March next year along with the sheet music (to be published by Walton / GIA Music), so watch this space for more news.