The Measure of a Tree is Janet’s new choral and orchestral piece written for Saffron Walden Choral Society who will give the premiere in Saffron Hall on March 19th 2022. The 30-minute piece explores the pivotal role of trees for all life on earth. It includes settings of poems by Ursula Vaughan Williams, Wendell Berry and Robert Macfarlane as well as texts by the composer, sometimes writing individually and sometimes jointly. One of the poems,…
Neil Ferris and singers from Sonoro have recorded Janet’s setting of The Cosmic Pied Piper, a poem by Jenny Rowbory, in preparation for the online launch of Jenny’s book ‘We Are the Winter People’. The book contains Jenny’s collected poems and is published in aid of her campaign to fund vital life-saving treatment which she can only get in America. The launch event takes place tonight (September 8th 2021 at 7.30 GMT) linked here.
Janet’s sketch for brass quintet was selected by the John Armitage Memorial Trust for a Masterclass workshop with Onyx Brass and Paul Mealor at St Leonard’s Church in Hythe. The four selected composers heard their sketches realised by the fantastic brass players of Onyx Brass, and had the opportunity to try out various ideas in preparation for completing their compositions. The detailed focus on aspects of brass writing at the workshop was both helpful and…
On September 11th 2021, Papagena will give the first performance of Janet’s commission Tomorrow is Today, a setting of words by Sarah Cattley. The piece, which includes music based on real birdcalls and an energetic dance greeting the dawn, will be performed as part of Papagena’s programme Still Moving at St Mary Magdalen Church in Oxford.
Following its publication in the first Multitude of Voyces anthology, Janet’s piece Alleluia, I Heard a Voice has been receiving numerous performances by many choirs throughout the UK, and further afield. This August, the Rodolfus Choral Course also chose the piece for its summer programme and performed it as an introit at King’s Chapel, Cambridge and Ely Cathedral.