Artist Profile: Edward Tait
Edward Tait is a London-based composer, whose music has been performed across the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, by ensembles like the London Sinfonietta, Carducci Quartet and Orion Orchestra. He is currently collaborating with the Arquia Duo on recording his song cycle Vectis, based on poems by Mollie Mardel. In November, he will receive his debut broadcast on BBC Radio 3, following success in the NCEM Young Composer Award.
Edward studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Gareth Moorcraft and Louise Drewett, and he is artistic director of the MetroLand Music Festival.
Catalogue of Works
Selected recordings are publicly available.
Skip to bottom of page to view published scores!
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Shostakovich March from Children's Notebook (2026)
arrangement for orchestra
Further details for this piece will be added here.
Recording / score link: to be added.
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Vectis Tableau I (2026)
for solo organ
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Click here to listen to / view the available recording or resource
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Pastorale (2026)
for bassoon/cello & piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Sarcasm (2026)
for viola & piano
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Snapshot (2026)
for solo viola
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Fanfare on the A String (2026)
for string trio
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Cloches (2026)
for solo piano
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Programme Notes:
The fifth and final piece in my suite Cloches was composed for Sakina Karbalai, a friend of mine, who could only the play with her right hand, so as a result, the piece is written for just the right hand. It’s built around a two rotating cycles of pitches, which are heard simultaneously, as the piece is built almost entirely out of trills and hand-crossing patterns, which allow multiple harmonic progressions to occur at once. The additional accents throughout help emphasise a lot of these harmonic changes, which is in fact a common feature throughout all five of the movements from the rest of the suite.
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Whisper (2026)
for solo flute
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Rachmaninov Bogoroditse Devo (2026)
arrangement for cello quartet
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Ashes Beneath the Ice (2026)
for cello & piano
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Dovetail (2026)
graphic score for flute, clarinet & cello
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Fanfares of Dawn & Dusk (2026)
for oboe & electronics
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my troubled sense doth move (2026)
for soprano, cornett & harpsichord
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Atkinsongs (2026)
for 3 basses & piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Variation on Sumer is i-cumen in (2026)
for solo bassoon
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Satie Le Piccadilly (2026)
arrangement for bassoon & string quartet
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Five Baroque Fugues (2026)
for solo piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Prokofiev Visions Fugitives (2026)
arrangement for chamber orchestra
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Commuting Phases (2025)
improvised soundtrack for solo piano
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Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil (2025)
arrangement for soprano, violin & cello
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Symphony No. 1 (2025)
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Movement from Composers Parallels (2025)
for violin, viola & piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Orage (2025)
for solo piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Engineer's Paradise (2025)
for four-hand piano
Duration: circ. 5 minutes
Premiere: Royal Academy of Music, 2025Click here to purchase the score
Click here to listen to a recording
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Pulsating (2025)
for flute and guitar
Duration: circ. 7 minutes
Premiere: Royal Academy of Music, 2025Click here to purchase the score
Click here to listen to a recording
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Four Miniatures for Alto Flute (2025)
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Elegy (2025)
for six-hand piano
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Peter Pan (2025)
for orchestra
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Family Mix-Up (2025)
for oboe & piano
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Shifting (2025)
for string trio
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Solo Clarinet Sonata (2025)
Duration: circ. 8 minutes
Premiere: September 2027 (TBA)Click here to purchase the score
Click here to listen to a recording
Programme Notes:
My Solo Clarinet Sonata was one of my most enjoyable pieces to compose, as the instrument allows so much versatility and scope for exploration. This was inspired in part by a shorter solo clarinet piece which I wrote a few months prior, so I decided to take my interest in clarinet writing even further. In particular, I made a conscious effort to start relying a lot more on pure instinct and natural progression, after recent suggestion from my old composition teacher, from a few years back, Brian Elias. Its distinctive structure is one I use quite a lot, opening with a slow introduction, before a drive towards a mini climax, before retreating back to its slow tempo. From there, the piece suddenly jolts into a much quicker tempo, building up slowly and steadily to a substantial climax at the end.
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Ballade (2025)
for violin & piano
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Bullseye! (2025)
for solo piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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The Story of Music (2025)
for mixed quartet
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Fruhlingslied (2025)
for solo piano
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Reverie (2025)
for solo harp
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Three Purcell Intermezzi (2025)
for solo piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Bartok Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs (2025)
arrangement for chamber orchestra
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Minuet or Trio? (2025)
for 2 violins, cello & harpsichord
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Ignited (2025)
for solo bassoon
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Triptych (2025)
for solo violin
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Minuet on a Theme by Ravel (2024)
for solo viola
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HexRAMeron Variation and Fugue (2024)
for six-hand piano
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Star of the East (2024)
for SSAATTBB choir
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Ecstasio (2024)
for cello octet
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Chamber Concerto (2024)
for chamber orchestra
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Ten Cycles (2024)
for solo flute
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Pervasion (2024)
for solo clarinet
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In the Bleak Midwinter (2024)
for SATB choir
Duration: circ. 3 minutes
Premiere: Katharine Cree Church, 2024Click here to purchase the score
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Amersham Summer (2024)
improvised soundtrack for cello & piano
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Glitter Is Not Gold (2024)
for solo cello
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Ballade (2024)
for clarinet trio
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Capriccio (2024)
for bassoon duo
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Lillibulero (2024)
for solo piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Rhapsody for Sextet (2024)
for chamber ensemble
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Ash Grove (2024)
for chamber orchestra
Duration: circ. 8 minutes
Premiere: Purcell School of Music, 2024Click here to purchase the score
To purchase the parts, please contact the composer directly (email below)
Click here to listen to a recording
Programme Notes:
Ash Grove is probably one of the weirdest ones so far. It is written for Daniel Fardon, director of the Purcell Creative Ensemble, which gave the work its first performance in 2024. Drawing its point of departure from the Welsh traditional tune of the same name, the piece treats this material not as a melody, but as a quiet presence shaping the harmonic and emotional terrain. It is so static, and shouldn’t work in theory, yet somehow, I think it does. It is pastoral in character, yet deliberately static. Through its simplicity, I tried to craft a spiritual purification of harmony and colour, while the chosen instrumentation explores an ecstatic, slightly unreal timbre, suspended between a distant folk memory and something of a dream. I also wanted to take advantage of the space and distance in the CP Hall, with the solo oboist and clarinetist performing their solo parts from the top of the hall, spaced out from everyone else, and from each other.
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Barton Coast (2024)
for saxophone quartet
Further details for this piece will be added here.
Recording / score link: to be added.
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Three Scottish Dances (2024)
for oboe quartet
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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EDTA (2024)
for cello, piano & snare drum
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Mirabile Mysterium (2024)
for SSATB choir
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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In Memoriam Lulu (2024)
for solo piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Empire of the Sun (2024)
arrangement for violin & piano
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Eclogue (2023)
for wind quintet
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Fleeting Manhattan (2023)
for orchestra
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Programme Notes:
Fleeting Manhattan was the result of a large chain of brainstorming I did during a trip with my family to New York City. In particular, with Manhattan, there was one thing that stood out, which I couldn’t have told from any video or photo. There is an incredible sense of size distortion which you get when standing in the centre of Central Park, simply by looking up at the skyscrapers. They feel like they are practically hanging over you. Some things can simply only be experienced rather than passed on, but I thought, why not give it a go, in another way, through music. I recently received an orchestral commission, in which to put this to the test, by trying to strike a dynamic contrast between the lively and thrilling streets of Manhattan, and the tranquility of the city's green space. The resulting experience could be one of deep ecstatic fantasy, like an uncanny piece of theatre, but at the same time, reflecting something absolutely beautiful.
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Fantasia-Elegy (2023)
for clarinet & piano
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Viennese Autumn Waltz (2023)
for string quartet
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Crenark Hill (2023)
for orchestra
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Allegretto for Clarinet and Piano (2023)
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String Trio No. 1 (2023)
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Hunstanton Prelude (2023)
for chamber ensemble
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Recording / score link: to be added.
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Holst The Planets (2023)
arrangement for solo piano
Duration: circ. 52 minutes
Premiere: Purcell School of Music, 2023Click here to purchase the score.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Herbstlied (2023)
for solo piano
Premiered by Yazdi Madon, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2024.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Solo Fantasia No. 1 for Piano (2023)
Premiered by Herman Cerisha, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2024.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Waltzing Matilda (2023)
arrangement for chamber ensemble
Premiered at Commonwealth Day Pre-Service, Westminster Abbey, 2023.
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Interlude for Piano Trio (2023)
Premiered by Henrietta Dalgleish, Sebastian Williams & Benji Lock, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2023.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Passage of Time (2023)
for string quartet
Premiered by the Carducci Quartet, Great Missenden, 2023.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Disney Medley, I Guess (2022)
for chamber ensemble
Premiered at the York Trust, IMPULSE Outreach Tour, 2023.
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One Spirit Voice (2022)
for electronics
Premiered at the Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2022.
Click here to listen to / view the available recording or resource
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Prelude and Fugato (2022)
for oboe & bassoon
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Response (2022)
for solo piano
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Take, O Take (2022)
for baritone & guitar
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Lincoln's Speech (2022)
for snare drum & piano
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Le Voyage dans la Lune (2022)
soundtrack for chamber orchestra
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Two Shakespeare Songs (2022)
for SATB choir
Premiered by Purcell School Chamber Choir, Constance Pilkington Hall, 2022.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Macbeth (2022)
for orchestra
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Elegy for Violin and Guitar (2022)
Premiered by Andrea Lam & Giacomo Susani, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2022.
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Prelude, after Bach and Siloti (2022)
for electronics
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Quartet for the End of the Day (2021)
for clarinet quartet
Premiered by Joy Farrell, Charles Sewart, Richard Jenkinson & Debbie Shah, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2022.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Caledonian Voyage (2021)
improvised soundtrack for solo piano
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Two Sketches Written from the Dartmouth Steam Railway (2021)
for solo piano
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Fugue for String Trio (2021)
Premiered by Yu-Wei Huang, Tifany Rodas & Da-In Kim, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2021.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Three Short Pieces for Wind Trio (2021)
for clarinet, bassoon & trumpet
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Le Ballon Rouge (2021)
soundtrack for chamber ensemble
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Mo Li Hua (2021)
for orchestra
Premiered at the Hatfield House Music Festival, 2022.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Gaziantep Dance (2021)
for 2 bendir & piano
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Fanfare Piece for Septet (2021)
for chamber ensemble
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Passacaglia for Wind Quintet (2021)
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Glenealo (2021)
for string orchestra
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Prelude in C minor (2021)
for solo piano
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Alpenhornhymne (2021)
for brass trio
Premiered by Rhys Stokes, Alex Rowsell-Ryan & Alex Holford, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2022.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Moment of Minecraft Ambience (2021)
for solo piano
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Jazz Elegy (2020)
for solo piano
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Piano Sonata No. 1 (2020)
Premiered by Herman Cerisha, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2021.
Click here to listen to a recording of the 1st movement.
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The Tyger (2020)
for string orchestra
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Rondo for String Quartet (2020)
Premiered by the Kucharsky Quartet, 2020.
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Prelude for Violin and Piano (2020)
Premiered by Antonia Zadrag & Benji Lock, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2020.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Seven Note Fanfare (2020)
for 2 trumpets & violin
Premiered by Tristan Boldy & Samuel Kemp, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2020.
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Starry Night (2019)
for violin, viola & piano
Written under the guidance of Philip Dutton.
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The Night Hunter (2019)
for chamber ensemble
Premiered at the Hatfield House Music Festival, 2019.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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British Fantasia (2019)
for wind quintet
Premiered at the Purcell School Junior Composition Competition, 2019.
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Sinfonietta (2019)
for brass quintet
Written under the guidance of Philip Dutton.
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Fantasia for Four Hands (2019)
for cello & piano
Premiered by Djordie Jovanovich & Benji Lock, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2019.
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Trireme (2018)
for orchestra
Premiered by the Purcell School Sinfonia, conducted by Paul Hoskins, 2019.
Click here to listen to a recording.
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Variations on a Theme from Mary Poppins (2018)
for solo cello
Premiered by Nicola Tait-Baxter, All Saints Church Marlow, 2019.
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Piano Quintet (2018)
Written under the guidance of Deborah Pritchard & Brian Elias.
1. Allegro
2. Lento—Allegro con brio -
Ghostly Dance (2018)
for clarinet quintet
Premiered at the Purcell School Junior Composition Competition, 2018.
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Novelette (2017)
for cello & piano
Premiered by Da-In Kim & Amanda Zhou, Purcell School for Young Musicians, 2019.