Broadcasts, Songs and Opera

It is a bright sunny day in London and it feels like a positive and exciting time. Music is flowing, audiences and performers are being allowed to return to live events. I’m looking forward to premieres and performances over the next few months and in my office I’m tinkering away at new chamber music and prepping for some very big symphonic works.

No Friend But The Mountains, was broadcast just under a month ago on the ABC and is still available to listen to online for another week. Just click on the LINK. This is a work which feels like it is resonating with the Zeitgeist in a number of countries, and with the UK government's consideration of similar offshore detention centres for refugees, such as the ones used by Australia, I believe that this work has an urgency to be heard.

Behind the scenes while rehearsals were taking place for the premiere, a film crew were working away at a 2-part TV documentary all about the work. The documentary is called No Friend But The Mountains - A Voyage Through Song and I am honoured and thrilled that such attention has been paid to this work. You can catch:

Episode 1 at 9 pm on Wednesday 16 June 2021 on ABC TV Plus. NOW available on the ABC iView

Episode 2 at 9 pm on Wednesday 23 June 2021 on ABC TV Plus.

In May I was lucky enough to have the first part of a two year project The People’s Cabaret premiere at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and Brighton Festival. For this first year I composed 5 new protest songs to lyrics by Jessica Walker and performed by Jess and the fantastic Ian Watson (on accordion). The songs were all about the cheery subjects of poverty, corruption, homophobia, racism and disease. Over the next year these songs will also premiere in Rotterdam at the O-Festival and then with all three festivals Jess and I will work closely with the local communities to listen and reflect the concerns and ideas of the people in the next 5 songs. In total the 10 new songs of The People’s Cabaret will be arranged for two singers and a quintet of instruments. The project has been a great way to connect with people and the pressing issues of our age, as well as musically turning to the idea of cabaret song (something I haven’t done since my cabaret opera Unborn In America), taking inspiration from the likes of Weill, Eisler, Woody Guthrie and Spolianski whilst also making sure the songs are all coming very much from my own voice.

As well as working on The People’s Cabaret in the first half of this year I have been busy at work on a new opera, Awakening Shadow. It is a new opera born out of my first chamber opera Wakening Shadow (commissioned by Glyndebourne in 2013). Awakening Shadow builds on some of the ideas of Wakening Shadow but I have completely changed and updated it. I have removed most of my original scenes and composed new ones, as well as composing the work for a new cast (of 4) and instrumental ensemble (of 4).

The opera includes each of Britten’s 5 Canticles with my scenes either side of each of these. It is an abstract work following the progression of core themes; the emergence of language, darkness/light, faith. In and around these themes there is much to be explored from layers of philosophy to the pure theatrical enjoyment of sound and movement.

The opera is a co-commission between the Cheltenham Festival and Presteigne Festival and will premiere at Cheltenham on the 4th of July and at Presteigne on the 26th of August. I am thrilled to be working with the superb George Vass on the opera, as well as a fantastic cast, band and production team.

It’s going to be a busy 3 months with a couple more events I can’t quite announce yet, but I can say there will be more opera and a deep engagement with the double bass!