Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was often getting 100+ performances each year, and now that’s totally changed. Hopefully there will be a gradual return to some sort of ‘normality’ (and I have a fair number of commissioned pieces waiting for performance, so things will get much busier once concerts start again) but […]

With so much bad news at the moment, and careers on hold (or worse), it’s great to see some of my performer friends starting to give concerts again. Paula Thomas and Franco Maigue will be playing at the beautiful church of Notre-Dame-du-Travail in Paris this Sunday, and their programme will include the piece I wrote […]

Although, like everyone else, my musical life has been pretty much on hold recently, one fabulous ray of bright sunshine has been the recording of a CD of my piano music in the US last week, by Paul Sánchez and Albert Kim. Amazingly Paul, and his wife Kayleen (who together make up the important duo […]

I’ve never quite had the allergic reaction to the words ‘folk song’ that some English composers have in the last few decades. Perhaps because of my Irish father, and my years living in the Scottish Highlands? And I own instruments like the Celtic harp (I prefer clarsach as a better name!) and concertina, even though […]

It’s going to be quite a busy year with a fair few premieres, so this is a good time to mention some of them. Two pieces that have taken up quite a lot of my time in the last year or so are a long sonata for two guitars and the third White Book. These […]

Hats off to Lucas Zampaglione!!! Lucas is a very talented young guitarist who is just finishing his studies at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes in Buenos Aires, before heading over to Europe for further studies. Lucas discovered my piece ‘Sing, Memory’ (for guitar and harpsichord) a couple of years ago and performed it with a […]

I spent some time over the summer writing a series of short ‘Art Preludes’ – five pieces, each based on the work of an impressionist artist. These are a fusion of an impressionist musical style, with hints of jazz and French café music. The level is around grades 6-8. I’m delighted to say that these […]

I always love the unusual and the offbeat, so it’s exciting that tonight ‘Selene’s Song’ will be performed at the iconic Club des Poetes in Paris – sometime hangout of the likes of Char, Neruda, Paz etc. A great venue, and great performers!! Much thanks to Paula Thomas (flute) and Dayana Matevosova(guitar).

A new flute and guitar work Selene’s Song will receive it’s premiere in July. This piece was inspired by one of the Homeric Hymns (to Selene) in a translation by Diane Rayor, whose texts I’ve used before. The work will be performed by Paula Thomas on flute and Dayana Matevosova on guitar. There will be […]

Many years ago I briefly jumped ship (stylistically) to write some pieces that were inspired by the contemporary tangos of the likes of Piazzolla. These works are still going strong, including a piece for sax quartet called ‘The Pale Dancer’. The Quatuor Ellipsos are stunning interpreters of this work, and their brilliant performance for French […]