Large Ensemble Works

For Orchestra Innova

Duration - C. 15'

Programme Note:

Hearth and Home is inspired by Scottish traditional music, blending it with the aesthetics of contemporary classical music. It takes the sometimes messy aspects of ‘trad’ and amplifies it for orchestra.

The work begins with a low string drone and steady beat on the bodhran (A Scottish drum) with the clarinet playing Uamh An Oir (Cave of Gold), an old Gáidhlig tune. The piece uses other quotations from various tunes and manipulates them throughout, from ‘classics’ such as Loch Lomond and Wild Mountain Thyme, to newer tunes such as Blind Harbour and A Bottle Of Vodka, Twenty Marlboro Reds And £50 Cashback, Please.

These tunes are warped, weaved, and super-imposed on one another, and obfuscated throughout. They are introduced gradually, and we follow them as they interrupt and interact each other. This builds to a cacophonous climax. The piece ends with an intimate string quartet and solo winds, letting us rest and feel at home.

Hearth and Home was commissioned by Knox Oakey and Orchestra Innova. It was premiered by Orchestra Innova on the 10th of October 2025 at St. James Church, Sussex Gardens.

A Recording will be available soon.

For the RCM Large Ensemble Composition Competition 

Duration - C. 10'

All That Withers Is Not Old is an exploration of microtonality, relativity, comparison and size. The piece passes through harmonic fields of 'secondary partials' of the harmonic series, using sonic anchors to hold the listener between two sound-worlds. Using the scale of the orchestra, the work showcases the oppressiveness and comfort of silence, and of the smallest sounds. 

Whilst no recording currently exists please feel free to email for access to the score and the MIDI mock-up.

For the RCM Composers Orchestral Workshop (February 2025)

Duration - 2'

Written for the Composers Orchestral Workshop within the RCM, Just Glue The Shards Back Together! uses its short length to showcase an explosive orchestral pallet, rapidly moving between textures and exploring what can be made with just two chords.

For the RCM Wind Ensemble (February 2024)

Duration - 9'

Instrumentation - 4+pic/3/4+bcl/2

Written as part of a wind side-by-side schools project ran by the RCM, Cloudforming's structure stems from different clouds and their characteristics. From the wispy and fast nimbostratus clouds to the dark and foreboding cumulonimbus clouds, the piece uses primarily texture and timbre to represent them. The piece was written to function as a work for a range of players in terms of experience, as such there are more soloistic and virtuosic passages for the more experienced player, and more supportive roles for the less experienced. 

The piece was premiered by the RCM Wind Ensemble, conducted by Patricia Gomes, on the 29th of February 2024 in the Ameryllis Flemming concert hall at the Royal College of Music. A recording can be found here.

For the RCM String Band (November 2023)

Duration - 5'

Written for a workshop with the Royal College of Music string band, 'Carrion Dissolve/Life Cycles' is all about the emergence of line and clarity from muddy and disguised textures.  In the beginning, it hides the themes and prominent lines in the low strings, covered by textural sounds in the upper parts, but over the course of the work, it brings them up through the register, whilst reducing the 'noise' surrounding it until it these themes are left alone and delicate in the upper violin registers, with the textural 'noise' left behind as a haunting memory. 

Whilst no recording exists please feel free to email for access to the score and the MIDI mock-up.

For the CREATE String Orchestra (April 2023)

Duration - 4'30"

Written for children's string orchestra, 'A Campsite by Loch Treig' has parts for various levels of experience,  from those at a grade 5+ to those only using open strings. Inspired by (shockingly!) camping in Loch Treig, a Loch just east of Ben Nevis, the work uses various Scottish trad idioms. Overall is a pedagogical work that emphasizes the enjoyment of playing above all else.

Whilst no recording exists please feel free to email for access to the score and the MIDI mock-up.

For the RCM Fanfare project (April 2023)

Duration - 2'30"

Fanfare idiosyncrasies were utilized as starting points for ideas. Three motifs were explored in a layered texture with each instrument group used as a single entity. The short length of the piece led to frequent changes in velocity. 

Whilst no recording exists please feel free to email for access to the score and the MIDI mock-up.