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Preces and Responses, St Pancras

I’m delighted that my second set of “Preces and Responses” have been released by Edition HH Ltd.

They were composed for the Leidse Cantorij who sang them in Peterborough Cathedral during their tour.

I tried to approach the texts as prayer, considering not only the words themselves, but the circumstances in which a person might be moved to make such a prayer. This led to some interesting atmospheres: for example, the text “Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, o God” became vulnerable, not miltant.

St. Pancras’ refers to the original name of the Hooglandse Kerk in Leiden, the Netherlands, where I’m composer in residence.

admin2024-11-09T16:01:12+02:00May 19th, 2024|

Recital with Lieselotte van Tol

Lieselotte and I had a wonderful 2023 touring with various concert programmes, including Fauré, Schubert, and songs of the First World War. On Sunday 26th May, we will host a recital in the Hooglandse Kerk in Leiden, the Netherlands. We will present music by Hahn, Strauss, Brahms, and Britten.

Tickets, costing €17,50 (including a glass of wine) are available via this link.

admin2024-04-10T13:21:13+02:00April 15th, 2024|

Benefit Concert for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day

The parade from Bayeux Cathedral to Bayeux cemetery on 6th June, 2016 (D-day). With the Band of Liberation.

On 19th May I will sing with the Band of Liberation in their fund-raising concert at Leiden’s city hall. The band are travelling to Normandy to support remembrance ceremonies and veterans’ events for the 80th commemoration of the D-Day landings.

Tickets (€12,50 inc. drink) can be reserved via info@marchingbandmanagement.nl

admin2024-04-10T13:19:04+02:00April 14th, 2024|

Commemorating the Battle of Arras

At dawn on 9th April I sang during a ceremony to commemorate the Battle of Arras. We gathered outside the Wellington Tunnels. Around twenty metres below us was a network of tunnels, which was expanded by largely Māori soldiers from the New Zealand tunnellers. Some of the tunnels are open for visitors today. Over 24,000 allied soldiers and officers sheltered there in 1917 before pouring out at dawn on 9th April in a surprise attack. The battle claimed over 250,000 casualties.

As the ceremony drew to a close, the sun rose and we heard birdsong and the gentle hum of Arras’s morning traffic. A peaceful contrast to the pandemonium and death of 107 years ago.

admin2024-04-10T13:14:45+02:00April 10th, 2024|

Remembrance at Vimy Ridge

Last Sunday I sang during a poignant vigil at Vimy Ridge, France. As the sun set, graves stones were lit and we gathered to remember the fallen in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917 was the first battle in which all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together. The large number of Canadian casualties mean that the battle has a significance place in modern Canadian history.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial at Vimy Ridge has become a place of pilgrimage. The graves remind us of the human cost of war. The forests around the cemeteries, which are riddled with explosives planted over one hundred years ago, remind us of the cost of war on non-human nature.

For more information about the memorial, please visit the Friends of the Canadian Vimy Monument website.

admin2024-04-10T13:13:16+02:00April 10th, 2024|

Karl Jenkins’s ‘Stabat Mater’

I’m delighted to be joining Baidar Al Basri to sing the solos in Karl Jenkins’s ‘Stabat Mater.’ This beautiful oratorio, built around the thirteenth century hymn, can be performed with an Arabic singer and a western alto. For me, the presentation of two different vocal styles within the story of Mary’s grief shows how, regardless of how we look and sound, we can be united in emotions such as grief, hope, and love. This is particularly poignant given the war that is raging in the world today.

The concert will be conducted by Martin van der Brugge and features the Residentie Koor and their orchestra, and guest musicians Cora Greevenbosch (bansuri) and Niek van der Meij (organ). They will also perform extracts from ‘The Golden Bird,’ and Iraqi oratorio for peace.

Saturday 6th April, Kloosterkerk, The Hague, the Netherlands

For tickets, please visit this page.

admin2024-02-24T14:05:51+02:00February 25th, 2024|

“From the New World” – Dvořák and de Haan

I’m really looking forward to singing with the Koninklijke Harmonie Oosterbeek (Royal Concert Band, Oosterbeek) and conductor Jurgen Nab again this weekend. They have prepared a programme of music which is mostly from the New World, including works by Bernstein, Dvořák and Hess.

I’ll be singing “Stufen” by Jacob de Haan, a stunning setting of Hesse’s poem with echoes of Wagner and Strauss, and Russalka’s “Song to the Moon.”

Sunday 25th February, Musis Sacrum, Arnhem, the Netherlands