Last week I spent three days in Poland attending the premiere of my motet O salutaris hostia which was awarded second place in the Musica Sacrae Composition Competition 2012. The performance was given as part of the Gaude Mater Music Festival by the Camerata Silesia conducted by Anna Szostak. It was a great couple of days and a rare opportunity to be immersed in another country’s culture and language. Częstochowa is a great place (shame they were digging up half of it) with great bars, churches and architecture. It also has the Jasna Góra Monastery which was amazing, and well worth going to see. The 03 May happened to be the national day of Poland, and with Częstochowa being the spiritual homeland of the nation it meant for a heady mix of religion, Catholic kitsch and contemporary music. Not what I necessarily expected. An amazing experience and I met some lovely people including Paweł Łukaszewski and Marian Borkowski. I also got presented with some flowers by an Archbishop which doesn’t happen everyday.
This Sunday (22/04) marks the beginning of one of the busiest months in my career so far with performances and premieres across the country and on to the continent. The female choir Aurora Nova will give the premiere of my Jubilate on Sunday alongside a repeat performance of my Te Deum (2010) at St Paul’s Cathedral in the Matins service. This is then followed by the world premiere of my motet O salutaris hostia (2008) in Częstochowa, Poland by Camerata Silesia conducted by Anna Szostak on 03 May. On the 05 May Clare McCaldin and Paul Turner will perform my new Two De La Mare Songs and ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ (from Lakesongs) in a recital in Deddington, Oxfordshire. On the 13 May my new set of Preces and Responses will be given their premiere at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music at St Pancras Church, with a second performance and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong on the 16 May. The Oxford Spezzati will perform Invocation in Kensington, London on the 19 May at the launch for the Novello ‘New Choral Series’. The month is rounded off with the premiere of my Second Service [Eton College] on the 20 May, performed by the Chapel Choir of Eton College, conducted by Tim Johnson. Other performances of other works are also taking place in Oxford and Bristol.
My productive start to the year continues with two new liturgical works finished in the past month. The first is the Second Service [Eton College] which will be premiered by the Chapel Choir of Eton College in Eton on Sunday 20 May, the second is a new setting of the Preces and Responses which will be premiered in this year’s London Festival of Contemporary Church Music on Sunday 13 May. The second performance on the 16 May will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong.
If you happen to be in Yorkshire on Thursday, do pop along to hear the excellent Arcadian Singers of Oxford perform my Ave verum corpus (2008) in the atmospheric Ampleforth Abbey. And have Yorkshire Curd Pie and tea as well.
This Sunday (25/03) will see the premiere of my songbook for baritone and piano, Dreams of Longing in a private performance in Hertfordshire. The work was commissioned by the poet Bob Fowler and is a setting of eight of his poems. The work will be performed by his son Hal Fowler, accompanied by Ian Townsend. A public performance is planned for later this year in Oxford.
If you are in Gloucester on Thursday (22/03) and at a loose end, do come along to St Mary de Lode Church to hear the renowned baritone Jeremy Huw Williams perform ‘By the Lake’ from my song cycle Lakesongs (2011). The piece is for baritone, cello and piano and is a setting of the Dame Edith Sitwell poem made famous by William Walton in Facade. The concert features works by Purcell, Brahms and Paul Mealor.
I had some great news in the last week with two new commissions. The first was from the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music for a new set of Preces and Responses for this year’s festival. What makes it extra special is that the work will be premiered in a live broadcast from St Pancras on BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong. The second is for a Jubilate from the femail choir Aurora Nova (who premiered my Te Deum last year). They willl premiere the new work as well as the Te Deum at St Paul’s Cathedral at Matins on the 22 April. A good week, and with the competition win and Everton unbeaten, a pretty good month.
The Arcadian Singers of Oxford will give the premieres of two of my works in a concert of contemporary choral music in Oxford on Saturday 03 March. They will perform the part-songs I Stood on a Tower (2008) and How Clear, How Lovely (2010) in Keble College Chapel, conducted by John Forster. The all secular programme features works by Alexander Campkin and Herbert Howells amongst others. March also sees the premiere of the songbook Dreams of Longing (2010) in a private performance by Hal Fowler and Ian Townsend and Jeremy Huw Williams will perform the premiere of the baritone version of Lakesongs (2011) in Gloucester on the 22nd.
Not much comment necessary I suppose. A bad hair day, but fun nontheless.
It was a hugely enjoyable, if slightly surreal experience at the première of The Two Trees at The Queen’s College, Oxford on Thursday. Meeting HRH The Duchess of Cornwall was nice, as was chatting with Rowan Atkinson as was being given a bit of birthday cake by a Ukrainian Billionaire’s wife. Fiona Maddocks in The Observer was very kind about my piece referring to the ‘Subtle colours of Cooke’s work’. The feature can be read here. An article in The Oxford Times can be read here.
