The University of London Chamber Choir, conducted by Dr Colin Durrant, gave the first London performance of this double choir setting of Kevin Crossley-Holland’s joyful poem at St George’s Church, Bloomsbury on 21st November. Conductor and choir liked the piece so much they encored it at the end of the programme. Listen to the live recording on the Compositions/Music for Unaccompanied Choir page of this website.
MazeMusic’s stand in the magnificent setting of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama was very successful in introducing more of Janet’s music to established fans and new admirers. Janet’s Preces and Responses was commended in the Church repertoire session. Session leader Adrian Partington praised the harmonic originality and interesting voice-leading especially in the bass line. “A very individual harmonic language with a sensitive avoidance of the obvious… the music matches the texts…
Janet’s setting of John Masefield’s poem was commended in a record field of entries of which the quality was described by the organisers as very high. Adjudicator Alan Bullard praised the characterful piano accompaniment and added “this setting should appeal to teenage performers and their audiences”. http://www.cimvcf.org.uk/2014composers.html
Following on the success of A Place in the Choir, Hal Leonard/de Haske have published Janet’s accessible and upbeat carol The Spirit of Christmas. Between the lyrical and expansive choruses, the verses draw attention to “the scared and the scorned and the sad” and all the others who are easily overlooked in the commercialism of our 21st century festivities. . Listen to an audio clip and see sample pages on http://www.halleonard.com/search/search.do?subsiteid=1&keywords=The+Spirit+of+Christmas+Janet+Wheeler and order direct…
On Saturday 21st June in Saffron Hall Janet will be conducting a performance of her cantata On the Breath of the Sky with original soloist Bethany Halliday and the Will Todd Ensemble. This cantata, to words by Nick Warburton, deals with the plight of the albatross. Commissioned by Saffron Walden Choral Society in partnership with the RSPB for Wingbeats in 2009, it was later recorded and extracts can be heard on the home page of…