News
Photo: Andrzej Wawrowski
February 2010: Northern Sinfonia to play arrangement of The Lord's Prayer
The Inspiration Choir and Northern Sinfonia will play Liz's arrangement of David Fanshawe's The Lord's Prayer from his African Sanctus at The Sage, Gateshead on Sunday 21st March. The two concerts, entitled Sing Together: Celebration with Inspiration Choir will take place at 3pm and 7.30pm.
December 2009: PhD
Liz has completed and passed her PhD in Composition and is thrilled! She studied at Cardiff University where her supervisor was Professor Anthony Powers, also taking lessons with the composer Judith Weir.
The centrepiece of her PhD portfolio is a large-scale 40 minute symphonic work for orchestra, Time Travel, of which the final movement, Somewhere Unknown, was performed by the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera in October 2008. Also included is Words, Wide Night, a song cycle for tenor voice, piano and string quartet (first performed by Andrew Kennedy, Daniel Hill and the Carducci Quartet in 2007). Smaller works include Through the Window 1729 for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, violin, double bass and percussion, Three Motets for unaccompanied choir, Heritage: Horizons for euphonium and piano, Landscapes for baritone voice and piano, Cloud Colours for brass dectet, Linear Lines for solo horn (commissioned by the US horn player Marlene Ford for a series of lecture-recitals in 2010) and the Spanish influenced string quartet Jaleo (which will be premiered by the Carducci Quartet in March 2010).
September 2009: inputting and editing the music of Muriel Herbert
Liz has been asked to type-set and edit songs by the composer Muriel Herbert (1897-1984) from original manuscripts. The songs, mostly unknown and undiscovered until now, have enjoyed excellent reviews following a recent recording, Songs of Muriel Herbert, by the tenor James Gilchrist, soprano Ailish Tynan, accompanied by the pianist David Owen Norris.
August 2009: Carducci Quartet to perform new string quartet Jaleo
The Carducci Quartet will be giving the world premiere of Jaleo on 2nd March 2010 at Cardiff University as part of the School of Music's professional Concert Series. The Spanish influenced Jaleo is a three movement work written especially for the quartet. The title refers to shouts of encouragement by the audience during a flamenco performance, also a recognition of 'duende', the inner spirit believed to be released through the performer's intense involvement with the music.
May 2009: 18th birthday present surprise
Liz met with the young baritone singer Robert Clark to hand over the manuscript of Landscapes, commissioned especially for him as a surprise 18th birthday present. The ten minute work consists of three songs: Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emmonsail's Heath in Winter by John Clare and My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth and the first performance is planned for 2010.
April 2009: new arrangement of Turnabout for Westerly Winds
Liz will be arranging Turnabout for the wind dectet Westerly Winds, to be performed as part of the St Cuthbert's Music Festival, Wells, Somerset, on 1st September 2009. Turnabout was commissioned in 2005 by the wind nonet Southwark Winds Ancient and Modern Ensemble.
March 2009: USA commission for solo horn
Liz has been commissioned to write a work for solo horn which will be performed by the horn player Marlene Ford at a lecture/recital in the USA in next year. The music will be based on the chant In principio omnes by Hildegard of Bingen.
January 2009: New song for London Performance
Liz has been asked to write a song for the final recital of baritone Luke Williams at the Royal College of London in March. She is looking forward to setting The Wayfarer by Rupert Brooke, taken from a book of poems given to her by her Grandfather when she was 16 and recently rediscovered in the attic when moving house.
January 2009: Lord's Prayer orchestral arrangement version 2
Liz is starting work on the second version of the orchestral arrangement of the Lord's Prayer from African Sanctus by David Fanshawe, for solo voice(s) and orchestra. Version 1 - for solo voice(s) and SATB choir - is now almost complete and receiving the final touches ready for publication.
November 2008: Pacific Song broadcast on BBC Radio 3's The Choir
Pacific Song: Chants from the Kingdom of Tonga by David Fanshawe, for which Liz compiled the vocal arrangements, was broadcast on 2nd November on Radio 3's Sunday evening choral programme The Choir, hosted by Aled Jones. Pacific Song was first performed in Miami and recorded by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Chorus, conducted by Greg Beardsell with Susan Milan (flute) and BackBeat Percussion withTongan recordings by the composer.
October 2008: Wells Evening Society lecture
Liz has been asked to give a lecture about her work by the Wells Evening Society in April 2010. The Society, which meets monthly throughout most of the year at Wells Town Hall, engages speakers to talk about a wide variety of cultural and artistic subjects.
September 2008: Orchestra of Welsh National Opera world premiere
The Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, conductor Andrew Greenwood, will give the world premiere of Somewhere Unknown at Wales Millennium Centre on 19th October at a Gala Concert to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Cardiff University. The Concert features internationally renowned tenor Dennis O'Neill and will be hosted by BBC presenter Huw Edwards.
Somewhere Unknown is an eight minute work and is the last movement of a large-scale work for orchestra, the central focus of Liz's PhD. It was written in 2004 and first workshopped by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at their Composer's Days workshops in 2005.