The premiere of a new 20min oratorio commissioned by La Nuova Musica. This marks the continuation of two collaborations ,with librettist Jessica Walker who has written a new text and with conductor David Bates on a contemporary neo-baroque style incorporating period performance practices with my original compositional voice.

Jephthah’s Daughter

In Carissimi’s Jephte, and the biblical passages on which it is based, Jephthah vows to sacrifice ‘whatever comes out of the door of my house’, if only he can lead his army to glory. When the first person to greet him after his victorious campaign happens to be his only child, a daughter, her fate is sealed. In a beautiful final lament, she accepts she must die. In this contemporary companion piece, Jephthah’s Daughter, the young, unnamed woman challenges her father’s foolish vow, blaming him and the narrators of Carissimi’s oratorio for allowing her unnecessary sacrifice.