It is promising to be an exciting Autumn with many performances taking place on both sides of the Atlantic. Concerts include the Levens Choir touring the Three Partsongs (2012) around Dorset, performances of The World on Fire (2015) in Ipswich and Moscow (Idaho, not Russia), and a fantastic programme in Guildford that includes Ave Maria, mater Dei (2017) and a rare performance of The Hazel Wood (2012) with Onyx Brass. There are premieres of my new Prelude & Galliard (2025) in Harvard and a new Advent piece Awake Out of Sleep (2025) in Cambridge. Perhaps the highlight is the 01 November where I will be in Canada for the first performance of Missa Omnium Sanctorum (2025) written for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Toronto Oratory.

Over the past two years I’ve gradually been ‘revising’ (I’ll unpack that word shortly) my whole catalogue of works, something that began with looking at the odd piece occasionally when I wasn’t busy with other projects and then accelerated to a fully blown appraisal of my work this summer. Much of this was spurred on by a request from the British Library for my scores to be in their collection and this turned what had been a piecemeal approach into something more concerted and wide-ranging. The thought of one’s works being in a repository for the rest of time really concentrates the mind in terms of how and what you want to be represented, especially when you might have shuffled off this mortal coil…

It was really nice to be asked to submit all of my scores to the British Library recently in recognition that self-published music now plays a substantial part in music-making in the United Kingdom. In total, 102 pieces were sent along, from the earliest, the Four Tonal Songs from 1996 to recent pieces such as God Be in My Head and the Fifth Service from this year. Its been fasciating cataloguing, revisiting and revising works (as well as withdrawing a few…) and I’ll write a blog about this soon going into the process in more detail.

It’s been a busy summer of performances of recent works that began with the premiere of the Fifth Service (Carlisle Cathedral) (2025) in June as well as the UK premiere of Lumen in Umbra (2024) and the English premiere of God Be in My Head (2025) in the same month. There were also performances of older pieces as well, with a lovely performance of Invocation (2010) and two performances of Three Partsongs (2012) in London and Cumbria respectively. The autumn will mainly be about recordings, with The Shadow Calls (2022), God Be in My Head, Everyone Sang (2023) and The Glory of Zion (2010) all being released in the coming months. And of course, the recording of my complete organ works as well! 

May is quite often the busiest time of year for me as a composer and this May is proving to be nothing different. Performances of The World on Fire (2015) continue in it’s tenth anniversary year (Cambridge and Wisconsin) and there are Australian (O lux Beata Trinitas) and Canadian (Christus Resurgens) premieres as well as performances at this years London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. There is also a world premiere of a short new setting of God Be in My Head (2025) by the Choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow and their conductor Frikki Walker. Looking further ahead are performances of earlier pieces Invocation (2010) and Three Partsongs (2012) as well as a new piece for Carlisle Cathedral. 

March has a selection of interesting performances and broadcasts taking place across the world. The brand new choir the Graduati Singers will give the premiere of my Sassoon setting ‘Everyone Sang’ (from Three Partsongs [second set]) in London in a lovely programme. The World on Fire is in Cambridge and Gloria is in Ayr (in a new chamber orchestra version, which I’ll be attending) and there are performances in the US and Belgium. ‘O Lord, Save Thy People’ (from Festival Te Deum) is to be broadcast on ABC (Australian national radio) on the programme The God Who Sings, the third time my work has been featured on this show in the past few years. Other than that, I’ll mainly be writing organ music and reading about John Tavener. PAC

2024 was a varied year for me with changes in my academic life that spilled into my creative work and ultimately led to less being productive then I would have hoped for! However, I have never had as many performances as in 2024, across the world from the USA and Canada to many different countries in Europe and further afield. I did write a few new works including a setting of Antiphon a new set of partsongs and a short song-cycle, Silver. Most of my creativity was directed towards the organ, with several new works culminating in a wonderful recording session in Blackburn Cathedral with Ed Jones in October.