For Christmas 2023 I recorded a podcast relating the fascinating backstory of Britten’s famous, festive work A Ceremony of Carols. The story travels from a bookstore in Halifax, Nova Scotia, across the Atlantic during World War II, to a premiere in Norwich Castle. Along the way, we explore the extraordinary career of harpist Edna Philips, whose meeting with Britten in part inspired the Carols. I was joined by tenor and conductor Ben Vonberg-Clark, soprano Madeleine Holmes and harpist Miriam Keogh, all of whom are veterans of this brilliant, evocative work. You can find the podcast here

I hosted a Study Morning on Britten’s glorious Serenade for tenor, horn and strings at Britten Pears Arts on 14 October, marking (nearly!) the 80th anniversary of the piece’s premiere, on 15 October 1943. It was a joyous 150 minutes on a piece that lasts at most 25 minutes - and we still didn’t cover everything. It was an incredibly rewarding experience: having the opportunity to really investigate a single work, with an engaged and enthusiastic audience.

I was joined by Professor Adrian Poole (Professor Emeritus, Trinity College, Cambridge), who gave a beautiful talk on the poetry, and by tenor Stuart Jackson, heroically jumping in for an indisposed Allan Clayton.

This year I’ve written three CD liner notes for Delphian which has been a very rewarding experience. I’ve always loved Delphian’s approach: putting the spotlight on relatively unknown composers from the past, and giving a voice to up-and-coming performers and composers. Some of their recent albums have a theme which combines the political and the personal, allowing individual artists to create some fascinating programmes. Heartily recommended!

Our Indifferent Century: Britten, Finzi, Marsey, Ward. Frances Chiejina, Fleur Barron, Natalie Burch (October 2023)

dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices. Samantha Crawford, Lana Bode (September 2023)

Unveiled: Britten, Tippett, Gipps, Browne, Thomas. Elgan Llŷr Thomas, Iain Burnside, Craig Ogden (June 2023).

For the next podcast for Britten Pears Arts, I’m talking to two composers who have contributed to this year’s group of songs for the Friday Afternoons project. Roddy Williams and Kerry Andrew - both singers alongside their composing careers - have some fascinating things to say about writing for children’s voices, the importance of singing, and what they find inspirational in a poem (or in the world at large). The podcast can be found here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Exciting news! Along with my friend and colleague Dr Justin Vickers, I am going to be co-editing a new collection of essays about the brilliant composer Elizabeth Maconchy: Maconchy in Context for Cambridge University Press (to be published in 2024). More information as it emerges!

(Image: Howard Coster)

In September 2023 I hosted a podcast on Song for Britten Pears Arts, which explored the significance of song for the organisation, and how that stemmed from the interest - obsession,even - of its two founders, Britten and Pears. The podcast also traces the importance of Thomas Hardy’s poetry through a lineage of composers and performers: from Gustav Holst, to Imogen Holst, to Britten, to contemporary composer Arthur Keegan, and his collaborator mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean. Find the podcast here.

I appeared on Radio 3’s Music Matters to talk with Tom Service about Walton’s Facade. Listen from 33:28 here