It’s something of a cliché to me and my composer colleagues that the second performance of a new work is more important than the first,...

One of the late Stephen Cleobury’s remarkable achievements was to rear a vigorous branch of contemporary composition devoted to Christmas...

It’s rare in my experience to have complete carte blanche over a concert and broadcast involving thirty performers. So I have to thank...

As Associate Composer of the BBC Singers since 2015, I drop in at intervals to their fabled residence, Maida Vale Studios. But with my...

Now that the BBC have made it official that they’ll be moving out of Maida Vale Studios within the next few years, I’ve been...

As annually observed on the blog, my own Christmas starts effortfully in mid-November, when I’m summoned into Maida Vale Studios to look...

Whilst travelling up to Oxford to work with students in the last few weeks, I’ve also been in Cambridge to do roughly the same things. Of...

The Radio Times gives only very vague indications of Radio 3 broadcasts these days, rarely listing the actual repertoire. So I wasn’t...

World premiere days are lifetime occasions for composers, but the sensation of hearing your brand new work exactly as you first imagined...

I took this commemorative snap of the side of my keyboard having finished my latest composition a few weeks ago. If you know your Bible,...