composer

'Semmerwater' the opera

This community opera – or musical play – was commissioned by the Swaledale Festival in 2009 to a libretto by renowned poet and children’s writer Ann Pilling.  The performance included about 150 performers – singers, actors and musicians, the vast majority of whom were children – as well as an eight-piece version of the professional chamber group London Concertante. To our immense surprise and delight, the project received an AMI (Ability Media International) award (now known as an ‘Amy’). 

Queen’s Farewell Stomp

In 1995, I was asked by the London Oboe Band to write a jazzy version of James Paiseble’s ‘Queen’s Farewell’, which he was required to write for the Funeral of Queen Mary, exactly 300 years earlier. The resulting piece, which refers to the early jazz style of New Orleans funeral music, was recorded on the London Oboe Band’s CD Playhouse Aires, released on Harmonia Mundi Records, and given extensive airplay on BBC Radio 3.  Oboists from around the world have asked me to send out copies of the music, which I’m still happy to do.  A sequel – Enter The Witches, for six-part oboe band – is also available.  Click here to enquire about getting hold of music.

Piazzolla and Beyond

This is a CD released at the end of 2009 on the Harmonia Mundi label, performed by London Concertante, and written and arranged by Adam Summerhayes and myself.  The repertoire is a mixture of Piazzolla's music and our own, and was chosen as Stereophile's Recording of the month. 'a riveting, dramatic, even sexy listen' BBC Music Review.