It was a huge privilege to direct my own choir Dark Sky Voices last night, in the very first public performance of ‘A Hope Carol‘. They really brought the song to life exactly as I hoped!
The score is available for Upper voices (SSA) and for Mixed voices (SAB) with piano accompaniment. To hear an extract…https://youtu.be/ThwLDc7PO-Q
It’s been a wonderful weekend of festival success! Andover Ladies Choir won the Folk class at Mid Somerset Festival with their performance of Sing a Song of Sixpence whilst here at Ryton Music Festival, (Tyne and Wear) my own choir Dark Sky Voices won their class with a stunning performance of Amazing Grace! It’s terrific that festivals are now back up and running. I know competitive music making is not for everyone, but having competed several times myself in the Tynedale Music Festival as a student, I now realise the value of the taking part. Thank you and a big well done to all singers involved. Keep up the good work!
A very big thank you to the Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust who recently commissioned a new song for 20 of their schools to sing as part of a Festival of Hope. The finished video performance of ‘Make Our Future Bright‘, combining footage from all participating schools looked brilliant and sounded fabulous! Terrific to see so many young singers taking part. Well done to all involved. Bravo!
Yesterday I delivered my very first ‘Come and Sing‘ workshop and I loved it! 34 singers from across the North East joined me in Hexham’s West End Methodist Church for an afternoon of singing. The group were so impressive, they managed to learn all 6 songs I had planned for them either side of a tea break! We started the session with a brand new round I composed specially for the occasion titled ‘18th February 2023‘, then we went on to sing a selection of songs I have been commissioned to write for other occasions in the calendar year. Thanks to all who came along…keep a look out for my next workshop which will take place in the Summer.
Delighted to hear my newly commissioned song for this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day sung by Wellfield Middle School on the ITV New’s last night!
The song titled ‘Ordinary People‘ (this year’s theme) was based on lyrics written by two sisters of a surviving Holocaust family (Marta Josephs and Agi Gilbert) and can be heard sung by two other Newcastle schools here on my Youtube channel. The sheet music will become available on this website soon.
Absolutely thrilled that my arrangement of ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ has been published in the United States by composer/conductor Jen Wagner. It’s available in print and as a download in two versions for upper voice choir. Please visit her website to purchase copies or to browse at some of her own gorgeous choral music.
Happy New Year! I’m hosting a number of themed singing workshops during 2023 and the first one is coming up in February!
I’m starting with songs that aren’t too complicated (mostly in 2-parts with accompaniment) which would suit community, school or church choirs.
Full details below. Hope to see you there!
Winter Carol has now had over 50,000 views on my Youtube channel. Quite timely for the Winter Solstice me thinks!
Thank you so much to everyone who has bought the score, directed a performance or just watched the video…it all helps to keep the song alive.
I would love to have some more subscribers on my channel so if you are keen to support my music further, please head across and press the subscribe button. Thanks!
Delighted to have my recording of Amazing Grace aired on the In Tune show last night! Thank you to the Radio 3 team for sorting it and to Voices of Hope choir for inspiring me to write the piece just before Lockdown. Scores are available for both SATB and SSA choir here. Listen again at the very end of the show here on i-player.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dfxx
