On the 20th February in Kingston will be the first performances of an extraordinary dual commission: myself and Cecilia McDowall setting the same poem. The poem, ‘The Silk Road’ by Sarah Pope, was commissioned, like the music, by violist and music publisher John Harding in memory of his sister. John worked for many years in China for the BBC – hence the Silk Road connection. The settings are for voice with violin, viola, ‘cello and piano.
On 1st March my ‘Sonata Serenata’ (1988) for flute and piano gets its premiere at St John’s Hampstead in a lunchtime concert given by Nancy Ruffer (flute) and Dominic Saunders (piano). Like the Clarinet Sonata, which was premiered last year, this piece has had to wait for its first outing but couldn’t have a more distinguished soloist!