2nd: working again with Shui Mo, this time with the whole ensemble. Amazing to meet so many new musicians - people playing Shakuhachi, Taegum, Erhu, Sheng, Guzheng, and myself on cello. I'm starting to write my own piece for the group as I'm so inspired by this day.
9th: on the back of our previous concert in Newport, my wife and I performed again, this time in support of International Womens' Day. Among the music on our stands we performed two pieces written by my wife and they were definitely my favourite!
10th: today my Wind Orchestra piece ‘Midnight March’ was premiered. I listened in via their YouTube livestream and was really impressed by how they've worked on the piece. I'm delighted to have written them a piece. All the successes I feel proud of, and all the negatives are excellent chances to learn.
14th: I lead seminars for the second-year composers for the first time. It's great meeting them in person and making connections between all of their music and hopefully I've inspired them to work hard on their final submissions.
16th: concert day for the Symphony Orchestra. The Shostakovich was electric (as always!) but Martinu's Symphony No.3 came alive in concert and all the sounds fell into place. The second movement will stay with me for a while - think of a wierd mix between Bartok and Karl Jenkins…
22nd: all those Tuesday rehearsals have lead to the NME concert in the Victoria Rooms. Despite a small mishap at the end of the Saariaho which we styled out with some free improvisation (whoops!) the concert went very well.
And with that, the Easter holidays; time to knuckle down on a number of longer term projects, like Bax's Symphonic Variations…