4th January 2021 - Update!
I'm so thrilled to finally share the video for my 'Eleven Pipers Piping' - commissioned by the Corvus Consort and Freddie Crowley as part of the #TwelveComposersComposing project, raising money for Crisis UK's Christmas appeal.
You can watch the video here:
This year the Corvus Consort, an ensemble of young UK-based singers, are raising money for the Crisis this Christmas appeal as part of their ‘Twelve Composers Composing’ project. I am so thrilled to be one of twelve composers commissioned to write a miniature choral work based on the well-known song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Photo Izzy Romilly
Taking the song’s familiar list of gifts as our texts, the twelve brand-new 30 second works will be released daily, starting from Christmas Day until the 5th January, in order to raise money and awareness for Crisis. This charity works throughout the year to tackle homelessness, and their annual Christmas fundraiser helps those members of our society most in need of support, at a time of year which is all about community and companionship — “no one should be homeless and alone this Christmas”.
My 30 second piece uses the text ‘Eleven Pipers Piping’ as inspiration — writing such a short piece may not sound challenging, but in this instance I’ve found that (more than ever!) what I don’t write is as important as what I do write. Producing such a compact work means that every note matters; there’s no room for ‘extra’ notes. Trying to pack in developed and contrasting ideas into such a tiny piece was a huge challenge which I thoroughly enjoyed, particularly since imitating the sound of eleven pipers allowed me to be big and bold! My ‘Eleven Pipers Piping’ will be released online on the 4th of January.
It’s a huge honour to be part of a project with such an impressive roster of composers — to see the full list, and to find out more about the wonderful Corvus Consort, click here:
And if you’d like to donate to support the project and the Crisis this Christmas appeal, please find out more here: