Five years ago I decided to have a renaissance.

I have always written music ever since I was about six years old, it's just what I do! However, following some success in my late teens/early twenties I had three children in very quick succession and drowned under a tsunami of terry nappies. It is fair to say that, whilst still writing....often by candlelight in the caravan outside, I may not have produced by best work...

The boys are now 18, 19 and 20 (and 28) and over the past few years I have been delighted to find that people still seem to like my music! So this blog is a reflection on what the year has brought and how my renaissance is going....

I didn't really like secondary school. In fact, I really didn't like secondary school. I got banned from the music rooms just before my Grade VIII piano by a headmistress who seemed excessively keen for me to go and play with Cindy dolls in the playground.

I didn't. Three reasons;
i) I needed to play the piano.
ii) Dolls. Seriously? Teddy bear girl all the way....
iii) Why were 14 year old girls playing with Cindy dolls?!

So on the first day of Hampshire Music Service's "Heard Differently - Dickens Recomposed" as composer in residence in January I admit to being a little nervous about working with two classes of Year 9s, (although obviously I didn't let on to anyone at the time.) But you know what? They were brilliant!

​From the first session with Professor Holly Furneaux to the final multi media performance at  Milestones Museum in Basingstoke they were positive, focused and hugely musically  creative. The final pieces, about Miss Havisham and Inspector Bucket, included music from every pupil, either live performance, composed songs or a collaborative Garage Band soundtrack to the film footage they had made. They were an absolute pleasure to work with and I know they (and we) were very proud of what they created! 

January also saw the broadcast on BBC Radio 3 of a short programme about JOURNEYS, my piece reflecting on the ongoing Refugee Crisis for Chiltern Youth Chamber Orchestra commissioned by the Adopt a Composer scheme 2015/16. 

In February I returned to Bristol to hear the outcome of the instrumental pieces commissioned as part of the Old Hispanic Office project at Bristol University. Wonderful new pieces by composers including Miranda Driessen, Mauro Agagliate and Mathias Vestergard. It was fascinating to see how divergent the musical outcomes were from a single point of departure! (More on The Old Hispanic project later). In other news I Musical Directed Phantom of the Opera and had some really useful meetings with Adrienne....of which more later.

​ March was a busy month....at one point I had to set up an Excel spreadsheet to see how everything could fit! First up was "Paschalia", commissioned by Choir & Organ magazine and premiered by Rupert Gough at Royal Holloway. "Heard Differently" culminated in the performance at Milestones, "Dawn. Brussels. October 12th 1915", a piece for double choir, organ and trumpet, received a fabulous premiere by Selwyn College Choir (with thanks to Sarah MacDonald), conducted by Michael Bawtree as part of JAM's Music of Our Time concert. (You can listen here). In true jet-set style I then flew up to Aberdeen for a workshop with the fabulous Juice Vocal Ensemble and also the premiere of Thomas LaVoy's Endless.
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PASCHALIA

Another exciting day was the Martin Read Foundation workshop. I am honoured to be a trustee of MRF, a charity that supports young composers through funding, tuition and professional performances. The workshops were an opportunity for our selected young composers to hear their draft pieces work-shopped by a professional clarinet and piano duo (Broncano-Mnich) prior to their first performance at the Martin Read Festival in May. We certainly have some names to listen out for in the future.....know any young composers? Point them to www.martinreadfoundation.org.

May saw the MRFestival, a wonderful day of contemporary music making featuring premieres of works by our supported composers.  "THEY", a choir piece written for Chris Hutching's Choirs Against Racism project was performed in Nottingham, and my Vespers inspired by the medieval "Old Hispanic Office" were premiered in a concert by Bristol Cathedral Choir and Christchurch Cathedral Choir (Oxford) alongside other choral works commissioned as part of the Old Hispanic Office Project (Bristol University) led by the fabulous Emma Hornby. (You can listen to this performance here.) We (my huisband and I) also had a very hot weekend at Lechlade Festival playing rocking English Folk with our band Mad Magdalen....my teenage self cringed as we (may have) tried to smuggle prossecco onto the festival site....I'm glad to report no such poor behaviour at Wessex Folk Festival in June due to an excellent and very good value fruit cider and real ale stall.

My Magnificat (a response to Arvo Part's Nunc Dimittis) was beautifully performed by The Cantus Ensemble (dir. Dominic Brennan) in London in July, alongside pieces by two other outstanding composers, Janet Wheeler and Sarah Rimkus. You can hear this on my Listen Page.

In August I had a number of mini choir rehearsals and development meetings with the absolutely fabulous Adrienne Morgan. It is always a privilege to be able to work with a choir to develop ideas and the sessions reading through the draft scores and ideas, both with the mini-choir made up of Adrienne's friends and relatives and with the whole London Concert Choir were vital in developing the final score (and text and title) for "A Light Not Yet Ready To Go Out (An Affirmation), due for performance in March this year. (Tickets here). It has been a pleasure and a huge responsibility writing this piece. Adrienne lives with metastatic breast cancer and wanted to commission a piece that dwelt on the important things in life whilst not ignoring the darkest moments. It was not under any circumstances to be "hippy". Over several meetings (and excellent soup) we honed the text and tried out musical ideas and I think we are really proud of what we have produced. The piece will be available through Composers Edition in SATB, SSA, 2 Part and One part choir (with piano/organ accompaniment) versions in the hope that as many choirs as possible (of all abilities) can access it with proceeds from the sale of the sheet music/downloads going to support the amazing work of Breast Cancer Now.

On a different note (pardon the pun) the month ended with a great afternoon listening to The Rafters, a five piece folk band from Hampshire and actually one of my very favourite bands. I admit to being biased as my son (the 20 year old one with long dreadlocks) is one of the members but their five part vocal harmonies are just sublime....and their instrumental skills are pretty good too (even if they do keep "borrowing" Mad Magdalen songs....)

In October I was really pleased to be asked to deliver a couple of sessions at the Hampshire Music Service Secondary Music Conference, one about "Heard Differently" centred on using technology in the classroom and one about Practical Composition. I also took up post as accompanist to Luminosa Young Voices, a youth choir in Hampshire that is teaching children to love singing and work to a really professional standard whilst having fun. It has subsequently become one of the highlights of my week, despite a bit of a car accident (totally not my fault), on the way to rehearsal in January this year. I was also delighted to have two songs for mezzo and piano premiered at King's Place as part of the Women of the World Festival - what an excellent event!

November saw my next visit to Aberdeen (where I am a PhD candidate) for tutorials with Paul Mealor and Philip Cooke and a workshop with the incredible BBC Singers. I have to say I thoroughly enjoy being a student again for a few weeks a year and am looking forward to returning imminently. Composition is basically a solitary occupation and I find it really useful having other people shining a light on my work (and hearing the work of so many other contemporary composers).

"Rosarium" for upper voices was performed for the first time by Dulciana in Dublin in December conducted by the very talented Eoghan Desmond. Based on the medieval concept of a "garland of roses" it sets five short texts related to the Virgin Mary as rose. 

So, it has been a busy year and I would like to think my renaissance is coming on nicely. All the boys were home for Christmas (so I didn't do much composing on 25th December!). I am about to go back to Secondary School for a project about War Art, have a piece being performed in Nashville Tennessee as I write this and another in California in May, "Love in Idleness" for harp won the Future Blend Project in January, I have been commissioned to write a piece for Hampshire Youth Choir for a service of peace and reconciliation at Winchester Cathedral in June and am very much looking forward to the premiere of "A Light Not Yet Ready To Go Out" in March.

Thank you to everyone who has helped in my journey so far. Here's to 2018 being another good year!


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So March is looking pretty busy!

March 1st - Paschalia (The Chapel, Royal Holloway) 1pm: Premiere  Performance by Rupert Gough
A bright and cheerful passacaglia for Easter, commissioned by Choir & Organ Magazine and to be featured with interview in the March/April edition.

March 11th - Composition Workshop with the Broncano-Mnich Duo and the young composers selected as mentees for the Martin Read Foundation.

March 15th - Heard Differently  - Dickens Re-composed, (Milestones Museum, Basingstoke), 6.30pm
A multi media performance created with the year 9 pupils of Richard Aldworth school, re-imagining Inspector Bucket from Bleak House and Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, commissioned by Hampshire Music Service in association with Professor Holly Furneaux, advisor to BBC's Dickensian. 

March 23rd - Dawn. Brussels. October 12th 1915. (St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London). JAM's Music of Our Time as part of the Brandenburg Choral Festival). Selwyn College Choir (Cambridge) and Onyx Brass, cond. Michael Bawtree. The world premiere of my new piece about Edith Cavell, the World War I nurse executed for her extraordinary work helping soldiers of all nationalities. 

And then I jump on a plane to Aberdeen for the premiere of my new work, "Winter", for Juice Vocal Ensemble in workshop on Friday 24th March.....

And of course, most importantly my fifteenth wedding anniversary to my wonderful husband Graeme (that'll surprise him!)..........

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Ah the joys of composing organ music in sub zero temperatures!

I am fortunate to have access to a really very good (albeit electric) organ at the church in my village. The door is open during daylight hours...but the heating is only put on for services and events! 

As you can see, my head and neck were lovely and warm...unfortunately I can't play manuals in gloves....or pedals in boots. 

I always promise myself in these situations that I "will only stay half an hour", but time flies when you're enjoying yourself....and those crunchy chords in the middle section won't write themselves you know!

Another little challenge is that the lights are on a timer, so go off after about ten minutes. Sometimes running up and down the aisle to reactivate them is quite good fun (and prevents frostbite), but this is not always an option if you've just found the perfect notes and need to write them down before they evaporate back into the musical ether.

This is not new however.

I have been doing this since I was twelve.

I used to let myself in the Chancel door of my (then) parish church, Great St. Mary's in Sawbridgeworth to practise after school in daylight, then, some hours later finish an extended and deeply satisfying absolutely full organ chord (usually from the forbidden fruit of the Widor Toccata - banned by my wonderful teacher Michael Cubbage until I was ready) to find that it had got dark outside. I then had to close the organ, walk all the way across the (quite big ) church, turn ALL THE LIGHTS OFF and then walk in suffocating blackness the entire length of the (quite big) church, past all the memorials with their leering skulls and the past the ancient Leventhorpe tomb to let my poor trembling twelve year old self out of the chancel door. 

At least I don't have to do that any more!

Happy New Year to you all. May 2017 bring health, happiness and wonderful music.

Ali

 I'm delighted to be able to report that I have three forthcoming world premieres and a Radio 3 broadcast coming up over the next few months.

Dulciana Vocal Ensemble will be premiering "Come Away Death" in Dublin in October. The text is taken from Shakespeare's poem of the same name from Twelfth Night and is set for acapella female ensemble in six parts (SSMMAA).

​In December London Concord Singers will give the premiere of "Thou Hast Made Me Endless", a new acapella  SATB setting of a beautiful poem by Rabindranath Tagore, as part of their 50th anniversary concert at the Priory Church of the Order of St John, Clerkenwell, London. The piece is based on an Indian rag and reflects the cyclical nature of the text.

Further to the residency and recording of "Gustate et Videte" in Bristol earlier this year I was commissioned to write a larger scale choral work based on the Old Hispanic Office liturgy. This will consist of three short anthems, a Vespertinus, Sono and Alleluiaticum and also a set of Preces and Responses. Whilst the pieces are conceived a set the intention is very much that they can stand alone for use within the Anglican Liturgy. The first performance will take place at 5pm on Saturday 4th February 2017 in Bristol Cathedral alongside two other new commissions by the fabulous Euchar Gravina and Francisco Carbonell. I may be biased (!) but I think this will be an exceptional hour of new music......

And then also in February BBC Radio 3 will broadcast the recording of the premiere of JOURNEYS made with CYCO back in April as part of Making Music's (with SAM and PRS) "Adopt a Composer" scheme 2015/16.

So many things to look forward to!

I am also delighted to have started my PhD in Composition with Paul Mealor at Aberdeen. Not the logical choice when one lives in Hampshire granted, but too good to turn down and very exciting! Watch this space......

I am delighted to announce that I have been commissioned by The Old Hispanic Office Project (Bristol University) in association with Bristol Cathedral Choir and Christchurch Cathedral Choir Oxford to expand my piece "Gustate et Videte" into a longer choral work for performance in spring 2017. It is likely that the new work will be made up of three or four short anthems based around Vespers inspired by the neumes of the Old Hispanic Chant.

The commission follows a fabulous weekend of music in Bristol and Oxford with twenty new works by composers from all over the EU,   premiered by Bristol Cathedral Choir, Christchurch Cathedral Choir and Kokoro Ensemble, overseen by Michael Ellison, Neal Farwell and Paul Mealor.

The EU-funded Old Hispanic Office project, led by Emma Hornby, is focusing on musical, liturgical, theological, notational and historical aspects of the rite celebrated in medieval Iberia until it was suppressed in favour of the Roman liturgy with its Gregorian chant repertoire.

​As well as presenting their work through conventional means (including conference papers, journal articles and a monograph), they are sharing their findings with composers within and beyond the project team. The composers are then responding to the historical findings in compositional form, capturing something of the aesthetic and purpose of the medieval material, in modern music for modern contexts.

It was fascinating to hear the wide range of different responses all derived from the same point of departure and an absolute privilege to be a part of such a creative and thought provoking residency. My huge thanks go to Emma and her team for making this happen.

Oh....and the beautiful photo is by the talented composer (and photographer!) Raphael Languillat.

I am really delighted to announce that the Juice Vocal Ensemble will be giving the first (and second) performance of "The Ballad Of The Harp Weaver" as part of their "Snow Queens" series of concerts.

The piece is a setting of the poem of the same name by Edna St. Vincent Millay, a poet definitely worthy of further investigation!

The poem tells of an impoverished mother weaving clothes for her beloved son with the strings of "a harp with a woman's head nobody will buy".  I think it is probably fair to say that my other life as a folk musician has had some bearing on the setting!

The Juice Ensemble will be performing "The Ballad Of The Harp Weaver";

Tuesday, December 1st
Shoreditch Church, London
7.30pm

A concert to raise money for the charity work done by the church for the homeless and those with addictions. 

Public Facebook event here: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/124582564569244/

Saturday December 5th
Thames Concerts, Kingston Arts
7.30pm

Details: http://www.kingstonarts.co.uk/event/thames-concerts-juice-vocal-ensemble/

Why not come and listen to a fabulous ensemble and a jolly good story?
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Ferio Saxophone Quartet will be premiering my new work "PIED PIPER" in a tour of the Channel Islands later this month. 

The piece was commissioned as a performance piece but also as a piece to engage young listeners of all ages from Early Years to A level. It tells the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, using a simple and easily recognisable motif to represent the Piper (Huw on Soprano Sax), with the ungrateful Councillor being represented by the Baritone (Shevaughan). 

The piece is about five minutes in total, split into linked movements RATS: PIPER: RATS II: PIPER II: CHILDREN: MOUNTAIN and uses elements of space and movement to help bring the story to life. Pre-tour workshops are taking place on November 20th in various schools in Basingstoke, Hants. 

On Friday 18th December Dorking Choral Society (cond. Hilary Campbell) will perform "Those Things Three", my new choral piece based on a medieval poem sometimes known as the "Adult Lullaby" at St. Joseph's Church, Dorking. Six new pieces will be performed with a winner being chosen by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen's Music and Stephen Jackson, Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus.

Hello! I have been composing for as long as I can remember, certainly since I was about six. Probably nothing Mozartian but I do find there are themes and ideas that I can trace back to my earliest experiments. The reason for starting this blog now is that exciting things are happening in my compositional world and I would like to share them with interested people....watch this space! Oh, and here's some pictures.....

Can't say any more until I'm allowed to.....