ALISON WILLIS

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For scores and recordings please visit the LISTEN AND BUY PAGE

DERBY SERVICE - Derby Cathedral Choir dir. Alexander Binns,
Evensong, Friends of Cathedral Music Derby Gathering,
June 13th 2021, Derby Cathedral, 
18-19 Iron Gate, Derby DE1 3GP


GWENLLIAN - A one act opera Dates TBC - SOUND Festival, Aberdeen, October 2020 - POSTPONED due to COVID-19

DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP -  BLOSSOM STREET "THIS DAY"  Broadcast as part of Suzy Klein's Essential Classics on BBC Radio 3, 20th November 2020.
​Listen here. Buy here. 


KINTSUGI No.1 - A (very short!) piano piece written for the wonderful pianist Rolf Hind and premiered at St. John's Smiths Square 18th October 2020 to a sold out socially distanced audience. During the first Covid-19 lockdown Rolf invited composers to write musical "postcards" reflecting on the situation. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold dusted lacquer, making the repair a valued part of the object's history and increasing its beauty, not detracting from it.


Click here for details.

THE WIND'S WARNING - The Gesualdo Six as part of Passion and Polyphony. 
Friday 7th August 2020, Jam on the Marsh Virtual. Click
here for details

​I SHALL GO BACK AGAIN - ANNA SNOW and KATE LEDGER 
4th April 2020,  St. Saviourgate, York,  YO1 8NQ as part of https://www.latemusic.org/
POSTPONED DUE TO COVID 19


SALVE DEUS - LUMINOSA dir. Rebekah Abbott
28th March 2020, All Saints Parish Church
​
The Bury, Odiham, Hampshire RG29 1LZ
Programme also features Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and the second performance of McDowall's Da Vinci Requiem. Cecilia McDowall will be giving a  pre-concert talk. Soloists Sarah Dacey and Stuart Orme with organist Michael Higgins.

PROVISIONALLY RESCHEDULED TO DECEMBER 5th due to COVID 19

NON OMNIS MORIAR - THE KORRIGAN CONSORT
As part of Ave, Eva concert series
16th December 2019 7.30pm - Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street
17th December 2019 8pm - St Cuthbert's, Earl's Court

Tickets available online or on the door. £15/£10 (under 26)
Full programme and information at https://korriganconsort.com/downloads/ave-eva/
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GOLD AND SPICES -  READING PHOENIX CHOIR
​14th December 2019, Carol Concert at Reading Minster
 5 PM – 6:30 PM
Chain Steet, Reading RG1 2HX

GOLD AND SPICES -  ORA SINGERS
​December 2019, live recording as part of ORA's Christmas Gift Project


THE MERRY COUNCELLOR SUITE - MAESTRAL ENSEMBLE WITH JANET WHEELER
15th October: 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Fitzwilliam College, Auditorium, Storey’s Way, CB3 0DG
"The sounds of viols, recorders and harpsichords excited composers' imaginations during the Renaissance and Baroque, and still do today. Performing music from the 1600s to the contemporary, we show how composers continue, extend and challenge the musical legacy of the past. With Francis Knights (narrator), Janet Wheeler (harpsichord), the Maestral Ensemble (recorders), La Dolce Gamba (viols) and singers from Fitzwilliam College."​
Tickets here.

EVERLASTING VOICES - THAME CHAMBER CHOIR
October 19th 2019, 
St Mary’s Church, Church Rd, Thame OX9 3AJ

VESPERS INSPIRED BY THE MEDIEVAL OLD HISPANIC OFFICE - LAETARE SINGERS "COME AND SING"
October 5th 2019, also Byrd (Mag and Nunc from the Great Service)/Howells (Take him Earth)
Laetare Singers with Adrian Partington
St Peter's Henleaze, Bristol BS9 4LD
Contact peirsonmargaret@gmail.com for further details

THE WIND'S WARNING - THE GESUALDO SIX
September 20th 2019 7 PM · St Asaph Cathedral, North Wales 
The Gesualdo Six's ‘Mother Earth’ programme features works by Monteverdi, Gibbons, Rimkus and Willis, along with a selection of folk song arrangements from around the British Isles.
 https://theatrclwyd.com/en/whats-on/nwimf-the-gesualdo-six/… 

I SING OF A MAIDEN - ANTHOLOGY OF SACRED MUSIC BY WOMEN COMPOSERS
Multitude of Voyces' - Due for publication Autumn 2019

A LIGHT NOT YET READY TO GO OUT - ENGLISH SUMMER SCHOOL - RUN BY SINGERS
August 2019 Lincoln 

MY BOY JACK - Published as part of Oxford University Press Book of Flexible Choral Songs (Ed. Alan Bullard)
August 2019

SWANSONG - BOSWIL CHORAL SUMMER ACADEMY, 
July 2019 Boswil, Germany (workshop and performance)

ROSARIUM - FESTIVAL CHOIR
April 28th 2019, Alton, Hampshire

THE WIND'S WARNING - THE GESUALDO SIX
March 7th 2019, Cadogan Hall, 
London SW1X 9DQ

Winner of The Gesualdo Six Composition Competition 2019

SWANSONG - VOCES INAUDITAE
March 3rd 2019,  St Columba's by the Castle, Edinburgh, 14 Johnston Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2PW

DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP -  BLOSSOM STREET "THIS DAY"  (January 2019)
​Listen here. Buy here. 

BALLAD OF THE HARP WEAVER - JUICE VOCAL ENSEMBLE "SNOW QUEENS" (December 2018)
​Buy/listen here.

THOSE THINGS THREE

Christmas Carol (SATB + Organ/piano) setting a medieval text. 
December 11th 2018 - Dentons Choir, St Martin within Ludgate
December 20th 2018 - St Barnabas Church, Ealing


NON OMNIS MORIAR: BBC SINGERS
September 21st 2018, 7.30pm St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge

A setting for Upper Voices and Soprano Solo of the incredilbly powerful poem by Polish poet Zuzanna Ginczanka.
To be premiered as part of a concert of choral music inspired by refugees, in association with BASCA


​More details of the concert and how to get tickets here.

THEY: CITY CHORUS
July 6th 2018 St Pancras Church, 
Euston Road,, London NW1 2BA 

Written as part of #choirs against racism setting a poem by fellow composer (and poet) Chris Hutchings.

PAX VOBIS: HAMPSHIRE COUNTY YOUTH CHOIR
​June 15th 2018 Winchester Cathedral
Marking the centenary of the end of World War I

THE GIFT TO SING - CLAREMONT CHORALE (California, U.S.A.)
Bridges Hall of Music, Pomona College Campus, Claremont, California, U.S.A.
May 19th 2018

World premiere as part of the Claremont Chorale's 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert.
Click here for further information and to buy tickets.


O MOST MERCIFUL - St Mary-at-Hill, Eastcheap, Lovat Ln, London EC3R 8EE
May 15th 2018 -
Lunchtime recital as part of LFCCM

NOW THE GREEN BLADE RISETH (from Three Easter Chorale Preludes)
St Pancras Parish Church, Euston Road,, London NW1 2BA 
13th May 2018 -
10am Choral Eucharist as part of LFCCM
and
St George's Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2SA
20th May 2018
10.30 Choral Eucharist as part of LFCCM

CREATED IN CONFLICT - 
March 21st 2018 Time TBC
Pieces created with Year 9 pupils through work as Composer in Residence in response to the War Art exhibition at  Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park in Warwickshire.


A LIGHT NOT YET READY TO GO OUT - LONDON CONCERT CHOIR -
Holy Trinity Church, Sloane St.
March 20th 2018

A substantial new choral piece new piece raising awareness of and money for Breast Cancer Now - an affirmation of life, commissioned and premiered by Adrienne Morgan for the London Concert Choir (dir. Mark Forkgen)

​Click here for further information and tickets



GO AND CATCH A FALLING STAR - SOUNDRIOT
February 13th in the Nashville State auditorium at 7 PM. Tennessee USA

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VESPERS INSPIRED BY THE MEDIEVAL OLD HISPANIC OFFICE
January 19th, St Paul's, Bristol

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n° 313133.


"LOVE IN IDLENESS" - Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick,
January 6th 2018, 5.30pm

A piece for solo harp about Titania's unfortunate encounter with Bottom inspired by Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Winner of The Future Blend Project, premiered by Fran Barsby.


WOMEN AND WORDS - Kings Place,
October 21st, 2017, 7.30pm

Two new pieces for mezzo and piano, "The Captive Dove" (after the poem by Anne Bronte) and "Tell Me Not I Shall Forget" (after the poem by Elizabeth Margaret Chandler).
Commissioned by Equator Festival: Women of the World.

Click here for further details and to buy tickets.




MAGNIFICAT - Cantus Ensemble, July 8th, 2017 St. Gabriel's, Pimlico
Delighted to say that my Magnificat won the Audience prize!
http://www.thecantusensemble.com/concerts

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VESPERS (2016) SATURDAY 20th MAY 2017
​5.30pm BRISTOL CATHEDRAL


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......

"The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n° 313133."

Saturday May 20th, 2017, 5.30pm, Bristol Cathedral

Bristol Cathedral Choir and Christchurch Cathedral Choir Oxford.



​EGO DORMIVI ET QUIEVI (SATB div.) - 14th May 2017 3.30pm
As part of Evensong at Bristol Cathedral, Bristol Cathedral Choir dir. Mark Lee

​
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n° 313133.


NOW THE GREEN BLADE RISETH - 13th May 2017, Bristol -
One of a number of new organ works by composers from around the world being performed at public concert at 3pm on Saturday 13th May 2017 at All Saints Church, Pembroke Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2HY
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"THEY" -  6th May 2017 - Rainbow Choir - 
St Stephen's Church, Nottingham, NG7 5GZ

World premiere of my song "They", freely available to musicians raising money or awareness of refugees and other minority groups as part of http://www.hutchingsmusic.co.uk/choirsagainstracism/.
​

DAWN. BRUSSELS. OCTOBER 12th 1915 - 23rd March, St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street. 7.45pm

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​Selwyn College Choir, Onyx Brass, cond. Michael Bawtree
JAM (John Armitage Memorial Trust) concert "Music of Our Time"

A new piece for double choir, organ, solo alto and solo trumpet commemorating British nurse Edith Cavell, combining words spoken by Edith Cavell the night before her execution with those given in a statement by the German Under Foreign Secretary and lines from "Abide With Me". A combination of sung and spoken words woven through with fragments of the Last Post.

HEARD DIFFERENTLY - 15th March 2017 - Milestones Museum, Basingstoke, 6.30pm

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The culmination of my collaboration with Aldworth School, Prof. Holly Furneaux and Hampshire Music Service as Composer in Residence re-imagining Dickens' characters. Two new pieces by the pupils including, multi media and costumed readings.

PASCHALIA  - 1st March 2017 - The Chapel - Royal Holloway

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Premiered by Rupert Gough (Organ) at The Chapel, Royal Holloway. 

Commissioned by Choir & Organ Magazine as part of their New Music series March/April 2017 and available to download until October 2017.

To my knowledge also subsequently performed in Wales, Ireland, Canada, America and Belgium on Easter morning!

A big bright Passacaglia for Easter!



JOURNEYS - BBC Radio 3, 24th January 2017

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​"JOURNEYS" - BBC Radio 3 - 24th January 2017 c. 9.30pm 
Chiltern Youth Chamber Orchestra (cond. Peter Hanson), commissioned by "Adopt a Composer" (Making Music)

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I SING OF A MAIDEN (2016)

The third of my "Three Mediaeval Carols" (the others being "Those Things Three" and "Of a Rose I Sing"), will be premiered by The Music Makers of London (cond. Hilary Campbell). 

Saturday 10 December, 7.30pm, at St Michael & All Angels, Elm Bank Gardens,
​London SW13 0NX

​For tickets please click here.

THOU HAST MADE ME ENDLESS (2016)
​

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​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.
Thursday 8 December 2016
7.30pm

Priory Church of the Order of St John
St John's Square, Clerkenwell Road
London, EC1V 4JJ

London Concord Singers
Jessica Norton (conductor)
50th Anniversary Concert
Byrd - Rorate Coeli
Redford - Rejoice in the Lord
Poulenc - Mass in G
Hugill - Dominus Illuminatio Mea
Jessica Norton - New work
Alison Willis - Thou has made me endless Winning entry in the Anniversary Composition Competition
Mendelssohn - Three Psalms, Op. 78
Josquin DesPrez - Regina Coeli
Palestrina - O Magnum Mysterium
Britten - Hymn to the Virgin
Britten - Concord
​



COME AWAY DEATH (2016)
​

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World Premiere: Dulciana Vocal Ensemble
Date TBC - Dublin

​
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).
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THE MERRY COUNCELLOR SUITE (2015)

World Premiere: Dulcis Venti with Francis Knights, Saturday June 4th,
Headgate Theatre, Colchester, Essex.

​Click here for tickets.

​Click here for more information about the concert.

A suite of three pieces based on Baroque forms but with a distinctly modern twist!
The tune on which they are based comes from the "Kitty Bridges Pocket Book" (Reiver Music), a previously uncatalogued book of tunes discovered in a shoe box at RVW Library, Cecil Sharp House. These handwritten tunes were prefaced by a poem with the first letter of each line spelling out the name "Kitty Bridges".
Whilst we never found out who she was, we thoroughly enjoyed researching and recreating tunes that were a window into the "Pop Music" of the Baroque era.



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JOURNEYS (2015/16)

A new piece about the Refugee Crisis commissioned by
Chiltern Youth Chamber Orchestra as part of Making Music's
"Adopt a Composer" Scheme 2015/16 (in association with SAM, PRS, BBC Radio 3 and the Philip and Dorothy Green Trust.)




World Premiere: To be recorded by BBC Radio 3
Saturday 16th April 2016, 7pm, All Saints Festival, Chalfont St. Peter

For tickets contact 
jeremy_meeson@hotmail.com

Sunday 24th April 2016, 7pm
The Elgiva Theatre, St Mary's Way, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 1HR

For more information about the programme and how to buy tickets click HERE.



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GUSTATE ET VIDETE (2015)

Bristol Cathedral Choir as part of the Old Hispanic project with Bristol University

To be recorded by Bristol Cathedral Choir in March 2016 
 as part of the Old Hispanic Office Project (Bristol University). 

Workshop and recording sessions are open to the public but please be quiet when we are recording!

Session 1: Friday March 4th, 7pm, Lord Mayor's Chapel, Bristol
Session 2: Sunday 6th March, 6pm, Lord Mayor's Chapel, Bristol

For full details of all performances in the project click here
.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement n° 313133.


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THOSE THINGS THREE (2015)
(Medieval poem sometimes known as "The Adult Lullaby")

Friday 18th December 2015 7.30pm
St. Joseph's Church, Dorking, Surrey, Great Britain, RH4 3DL


Dorking Choral Society


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THE BALLAD OF THE HARP WEAVER (2015)
(Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay)

Juice Vocal Ensemble
(Kerry Andrew, Sarah Dacey, Anna Snow)

“Snow Queens”.
Programme to be announced.

Tuesday 1st December 2015
St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, 7.30pm

https://www.facebook.com/events/124582564569244/

Saturday 5th December 2015
St Andrew’s Church, Maple Road, Surbiton, KT6 4DS, 7.30pm

http://www.thamesconcerts.com/saturday-5th-december-2015-juice-vocal-ensemble/


Pre-performance talks are given before the concerts on 7th November and 5th December by some of the performers in conversation with the Artistic Director of Thames Concerts. Starting at 6.45pm, and lasting around 25 minutes, these informal talks serve as a brief introduction to the works being performed, and offer insight into the rehearsal process.


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PIED PIPER (2015)

Ferio Saxophone Quartet are touring PIED PIPER in The Channel Islands in November 2015. They will be doing some workshops and performing the piece in evening concerts including;

Monday 23rd November 8pm - Jersey Arts Centre, Jersey
Tuesday 24th November 8pm - St. James Concert and Assembly Hall, Guernsey


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WAR SONGS (2014)
(Poems by Chloe Stopa-Hunt)

Music of Our Time
  • Wednesday, March 18, 2015 7:30pm  
  • St Bride's Church, Fleet St,  London, EC4Y 8AU United Kingdom
In association with JAM
A very special concert at St Bride's this evening, featuring Onyx Brass and the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge, conducted by Nicholas Cleobury with a programme of stunning contemporary music.
  • Tavener Song for Athene
  • Gabriel Jackson The Spacious Firmament
  • Gabriel Jackson The Spacious Firmament - Yet we who neither burn nor shine
  • Giles Swayne The Yonghy Bonghy Bo *
  • Michael Bonaventure Orion
  • Janet Wheeler Gaudeamus Igitur
  • Alison Willis War Songs
  • Lee Westwood On Waking
  • Tom Harrold Locked Horns
*JAM gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the PRS for Music Foundation and the Britten-Pears Foundation towards this work.
PLEASE NOTE: At 6.45pm there will be a pre-concert talk with Gabriel Jackson and Giles Swayne.


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ROOKWOOD CANTICLE (2013)
(poem by Matt Haw)

Britten in Oxford Festival of Choirs in association with JAM "Writing for Voices"
Saturday 9 November, 7.30pm 2013
Venue: University Church of St Mary, High Street, Oxford, OX1 4BJ
Tickets: £10 (£7 concession)
Tickets available from www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/#promoter=664 or the box office: 01865 305305R








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ANTIPHON FOR ST.MICHAEL (2013)                                                                                                                                
A motet for Michaelmas, describing the War in Heaven depicted in Revelation 8:1 and Revelation 12:7-12
Premiered Bournemouth Symphony Chorus cond. Gavin Carr, Corfe Church, 2013

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