Category: News

Sarah was delighted to be asked to write a setting of Ursula Vaughan Williams’ beautiful poem O Western Wind.. An anniversary to help Stainer and Bell mark Vaughan Williams’ 150th birthday next year. Ursula Vaughan Williams was RVW’s second wife, a tireless ambassador for his music after his death, and a talented poet and novelist in her own right. This poem, written on the 35th anniversary of his death, makes it clear that her love for him had not dwindled in the intervening years:

Sarah’s piece O Lord, Support Us, the winning entry in Jesus College Cambridge’s Composition Competition 2020, was beautifully premiered by the choir under director Richard Pinel in evensong on Sunday 13th June.

The specially-recorded video of Charlie Pemberton and Sarah MacDonald’s beautiful performances of Sarah’s The Garden in Spring and Janet Wheeler’s Said a Blade of Grass has now been released on YouTube.

Sarah’s song The Enkindled Spring, setting a poem by D.H. Lawrence, was workshopped by Sarah Leonard, Stephen Gutman and Judith Weir as part of Benslow Music’s Young Composer Competition 2021.

Multitude of Voyces published their third volume of sacred music by women composers in November 2020. Sarah is thrilled that her carol Ivy, Chief of Trees It Is features in the anthology alongside so many wonderful pieces by women composers historical and contemporary.

Sarah, along with fellow Newnhamite and MazeMusic composer Janet Wheeler, was delighted to be asked to write a song for a recording session for Newnham College’s Alumni Development Office. Soprano Charlie Pemberton, a choral scholar at Newnham, and pianist Sarah MacDonald, Director of Music at Selwyn College, constructed a programme with a garden theme. The recording took place in Newnham’s Old Labs on 1st September.

Janet Wheeler’s song sets Khalil Gibran’s Said a Blade of Grass. Sarah’s song, The Garden in Spring, sets part of a poem by Fredegond Shove, a poet who attended Newnham during the 1910s. Fredegond Shove had two collections of poetry published during her lifetime; she was a relation of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who set four of her poems as songs. Unfortunately she is now very little known.

This virtual evensong was put together by present company (Beatrix Swanson Scott and Morgan Edward Overton) with singers from the chapel choirs of Trinity and Gonville and Caius Colleges. All the music was specially written by female Cambridge composers Siri Livingston (Preces and Responses), Emily Hazrati (Psalm), Katrina Toner (Magnificat), Marcella Keating (Nunc dimittis) and Sarah (Anthem – Hale Sterne Superne).

Hale Sterne Superne is a setting of three verses from a Scots poem in praise of Mary by William Dunbar. The poem has a fantastic lilting rhythm that just leaps off the page when you read it, which made it a real pleasure to set to music.

Composer Benjamin Tassie hosts Future Renaissance, a radio show on Resonance FM dedicated to contemporary music for early instruments. The final episode of this series aired on 30th July, and began with Sarah’s piece Dream Fever for viol and electronics, played by Liam Byrne, alongside music by Jo Thomas, Sarah Angliss and Marianne Schuppe. Every episode features an eclectic mix of the beautiful and the wacky, as well as insights from a different interviewed guest. The whole series is available to listen to again on Benjamin’s website, here.

This year’s Benslow Music Young Composers Competition gave entrants an opportunity to write for the London Klezmer Quartet. The workshop would have taken place in May but was unfortunately cancelled due to coronavirus. The judging went ahead despite this, and William Dryland’s piece ‘Whistler Medley’ was chosen as the winner. His piece will be performed by the London Klezmer Quartet at Benslow in the autumn. Congratulations William!

Sarah’s piece ‘Meeting in the Fields’ was named runner-up. Sarah was delighted to hear that competition judge Judith Weir described it as: “Forthright and exciting, bold and vividly shaped melodies. The metrical writing is lively and interesting.”

Violinist Fenella Humphreys has been streaming concerts live from her living room during lockdown, showcasing a wide variety of music old and new. Her 8^th Homemade Concert, broadcast on 6^th May, included a beautiful premiere of Sarah’s piece A Viking Farewell alongside Adrian Sutton’s Arpeggiare Variations.

Fenella’s YouTube channel is linked here – do have a listen to more of her wonderful concerts.