Test Blog Page

The 23-24th September sees the première of Janet’s latest choral work, a commissioned anthem for Requiem to Cancer – This Moment of Here and Now. Requiem to Cancer takes the form of a 24-hour Come and Sing in which participants sing four requiems interspersed with the specially composed anthem. Janet’s words explore different ways of focussing on the present moment and the benefits that flow from that. The music starts from the idea of breathing

George Herbert’s poem Antiphon I is familiar in Vaughan Williams’ glorious setting from The Five Mystical Songs and as a hymn to the tune Luckington. Janet’s new setting for SATB and organ contrasts an energetic and rhythmically varied refrain with verses over a shifting ostinato. The première will be given by St Pancras Church Choir conducted by Christopher Batchelor at Evensong on May 14th as part of the 2022 London Festival of Contemporary Church Music

Following JAM’s workshop in July 2021 on writing for brass or organ, Janet’s Film Noir for brass quintet was premièred by the wonderful Onyx Brass at St Bride’s Church Fleet Street in October 2021. At the end of the concert Janet was awarded the first President’s Commission to write a further piece for Onyx. The result was Up in the Morning Early – Variations on a Scots Song. The traditional song about a dislike of

Janet is delighted to be returning to ORA’s competition as mentor for two young composers.  They are composing reflections on Renaissance pieces by William Byrd and Robert White.

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,