News

Guild of Ships is now a Ltd Company, registered in Ireland

We’re delighted that Guild of Ships is now incorporated as a Limited Company, registered in Ireland. GOS is a bookings and circular economy platform traditional sail travel. After a successful two-day conference in Helsinki in November, we are raring to go, with new app functions and designs, and new partnerships to be announced shortly.

Saturday 16 November 2024, Princes Hall, Aldershot, GU11 1NX

Soloist: Mimi Doulton (Soprano)

Tchaikovsky – Fantasy Overture ‘Romeo and Juliet‘
Lutosławski – Silesian Triptych
Lutosławski – Lacrimosa
Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5

Thrilled to be working with Mimi Doulton on these fabulous Lutosławski scores. Lacrimosa was written as a graduation piece in his 20s in 1937; and it was played at his funeral in 1994. It’s simultaneously radiantly beautiful and powerful – climaxing with the soprano soloist imploring God for peace (‘Requiem’) at full volume above a sumptuous orchestra chord. He composed Silesian Triptych in 1951 within the strictures of Soviet-imposed socialist realism. He rises above all restraints with these stunning versions of Silesian folk songs that return again and again to the heart. Tickets and further details here.

Saturday 9 November, 2pm and 3.30pm, St Paul’s Church AL1 4JP. Family Concert: ‘Adventures Outdoors’

Extracts from:

Ravel – Ma mère l’oye (‘Mother Goose’) Suite
Bizet – L’ Arlesienne Suite no. 2
Beethoven – Symphony No. 6
Moberg – ‘Sunrise’ from Sunrise Orchestral Suite
Kristen Anderson-Lopez, arr. Krogstad – Music from ‘Frozen‘

Adults £8, accompanied children £2. Details here.

Saturday 12 October, 7.30pm, St Paul’s Church AL1 4JP

Moberg – ‘Sunrise’ from Sunrise Orchestral Suite
Arutiunian – Trumpet Concerto, with soloist, Shannon Harper
Sibelius – Symphony No. 2

Looking forward to opening the new SASO season with Moberg’s evocative first movement from her 1909 suite. With deceptive simplicity, she conjures up the wide expanse and majesty of a Finnish sunrise. Although the score is relatively spare, the instrumentation is perfect. It builds almost to a roar of warmth and joy, with every instrument discernible throughout.

We are delighted to welcome Shannon Harper as soloist in the Arutiunian concerto. Futher concert details.

Mall Galleries, 19-28 September

The Royal Society of Marine Artists returns to Mall Galleries for its annual exhibition of sea-related work.

Thrilled that RSMA is engaging so proactively in eco sail travel and trade. Delighted to attend a packed Private View on 18 September. What a pleasure to hear and meet acclaimed musicians Chris Wood and William Allen. They stood amidst the throng to play, and suddenly we were on deck…

Tuesday 9 July, Royal Albert Hall

Students and staff from Sherbourne Fields Special School and Baginton Fields Academy created an original piece about renewable energy and energy scarcity. Great to work with Patrick Stockbridge, Ella Rainbird-Earley and both schools again. The students came up with the lyrics and the melodies. As ever, they bowled us over with their invention and delighted the audience of 5000, as part of Armonico Consort’s ‘AC Academy Does the Royal Albert Hall’ concert.

1 – 6 July 2024, Zaragoza, Huesca, Burgos

Imperial College’s Symphony Orchestra, Imperial College Sinfonietta and Imperial College Choir jointly toured Eastern and Northern Spain, performing in Zaragoza’s Basílica de Santa Engracia and the cathedrals of Huesca and Burgos. The tour was superbly organised by Specialised Travel Concert Touring and the student committees. A marvellous way for students and staff to round off their academic year; and it was a pleasure to share the directing with colleagues Oliver Gooch, Colin Durrant and Andrew Robinson. Wonderful performances from soloists Joshua Gray (Saint- Saëns Cello Concerto) and Jonathan Hedley (Vaughan Williams, Five Mystical Songs). And what a pleasure to perform for huge audiences in such inspiring buildings!

This was my last engagement with Imperial. Yet again it underlined how generous-spirited the College’s arts scene is. Huge thanks to Imperial College Sinfonietta, ISO, ICC and all the arts societies and activities that thrive under the umbrella of The Blyth Centre for Music and Visual Arts. It’s been a privilege and pleasure to work with such talented students and positive staff.

Saturday 29 June, St Saviour’s Church, St Albans

Saariaho, Forty Heartbeats
Sibelius, The Dryad
Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 2 in A; soloist – Bradley Ng
Smetana, Ma Vlast, mvnt 4 – Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields)
Janacek, arr. Vaclav Talich, Suite – The Cunning Little Vixen

An honour to perform Saariaho’s gift to Esa-Pekka Salonen and Magnus Lindberg (for their 40th birthdays) as we paid tribute to her, just over a year after her passing (2 June 2023). A thrilling level of attention in the playing, and in our audience. Here are the titles of the 12 movements which can be played in any order and repeated. We chose to play One beat for a good night’s sleep with one beat in slow motion again at the end.

First beat for being born;
Two beats for two daughters;
Three beats for three composers;
Five beats for surrounding nature;
Four beats for two times two sisters;
Four beats for three friends;
Five beats for surrounding cities;
Three beats for two instruments;
One beat for a good night’s sleep with one beat in slow motion;
One beat for life in us;
Five beats for life surrounding us;
Five beats for life force

The nature/woodland theme continued in the other works. Then the Liszt, like a bonfire in a clearing, warmed everyone with its heart-on-sleeve ardour and fierce story-telling. Huge thanks to Bradly Ng for his inspirational playing.

Sibelius Violin Concerto and alumni reunion, Sunday 9 June

Jason Bae gave a thrilling performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto to a packed auditorium in the Great Hall at Imperial College. The orchestra threw themselves heart and soul into this masterpiece after the academic demands of exam term: a highlight that I won’t forget.

The concert included the Harry Woolhouse Charitable Trust commission, Carrownagappul (see below) in celebration of Sinfonietta’s 25th anniversary and its wider alumni community. 50 alumni players joined and founding conductor Daniel Capps conducted, after photographer Tina Claffey had spoken to put the piece in context.

The reunion concert opened with Moberg’s highly effective Sunrise, and concluded with a massed performance of Sibelius’ Karelia Suite. Thank you, Sinfonietta, for 12 wonderful years. And all the very best to you, Thomas Goff, for your tenure as the new MD.

Commissioned by Harry Woolhouse Charitable Trust to celebrate 25th anniversary of Imperial College Sinfonietta. Premiered 9 June, Great Hall, Imperial College, South Kensington

For solo marimba, solo timpani and two orchestras. Written to celebrate the wider community of Imperial College Sinfonietta and the rich artistic life at Imperial College, London. At the premiere, the second orchestra was made up of Sinfonietta alumni who played alongside current members in the Great Hall, Imperial College, South Kensington. The two undergraduate soloists were Ben Bishop (marimba) and Thomas Fox (timpani). Both played superbly. We were delighted that Daniel Capps, founding conductor of Sinfonietta, returned to conduct the premiere.

Carrownagappul is inspired by peat bogs and a week of fieldwork I did at Carrownagappul raised bog, Galway in July 2023. Thank you to the National Parks and Wildlife Service – in particular, Rebecca Teesdale, Regional Manager, East Galway – for permission to live on the bog for a week. Thanks also to Maura Hannon and the team at Galway’s Living Bog Interpretive Centre, Mountbellew, H53 TN67 for a warm welcome and a delicious lunch!

I was thrilled to collaborate with Tina Claffey for this project. Ireland’s premier photographer of bogs, wetlands and eskers, Tina walked the bog with me one day and shared her practice. Her photography books are a stunning ‘way in’ to the wonders of these wildernesses. She kindly agreed that some of her macro-lens photographs feature in the concert programme booklet. We were delighted that she attended the concert and spoke to the audience.

Peat bogs are essential. They account for c. 3% of the earth’s land and they store twice as much carbon as its trees. A ‘raised bog’ like Carrownagappul is dome-like in cross section and, like most bogs, rises at the rate of about 1 mm per year. To dig down 1 metre is to retrace a thousand years. In many ways, bogs are wetland ‘glaciers’. Like glaciers, they preserve artefacts and wood in remarkable condition: the ‘bog wood’ hard, like marimba keys. And as with glaciers, the bogs are never still. They expand or shrink constantly, and sometimes move quickly, on a massive scale.

Bog surface is delicately stretched over the resonant peat mass beneath. You walk on it as if on an almighty drum. On a ‘floating’ bog you can stamp or jump and feel the whole land move. Bogs, like mighty ears to the heart of the land, are alive with sound. Birdsong reverberates, water is multi-voiced, and the wind sings.

Duration: 17′

Main orchestra: 2*+1, 2*,2,2; 2,3,3,1; 2perc (perc 1 – bd, quijada, pastic milk bottles; perc 2 – t-t, stones, claves, quijada) strgs; solo marimba; solo timp

Second orchestra, ‘Echo Band’ (can be a community or college orchestra; woodwind parts can be doubled): 2,2,2,1; 2,1,2,0; hp; 1perc (small drum, bell, glass milk bottles, bowed cymbal); strgs

Main orchestra full score. Echo Band full score.

Saturday 8 June 2024, Princes Hall, Aldershot. Family Concert – ‘Fantasy Worlds’

Humperdinck, Hansel and Gretel Overture
Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov, Night on a Bare Mountain
arr. Miklós Rózsa The Jungle Book Suite
Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Music from Frozen
Bray, Where Icebergs Dance Away
St Peter’s Junior School, Farnborough; All Saints Junior School, Fleet, Journey Into Space
Dukas, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Delighted to have worked with St Peter’s Junior School, Farnborough and All Saints Junior School, Fleet to create the composition, Journey Into Space, alongside my FSO colleague, Alison Wyld, Principal Horn. The children’s ideas were radical and fresh, as ever, and produced a unique and evocative performance of genuine power.

The concert included Charlotte Bray’s Where Icebergs Dance Away – a pristine piece that captures the precariousness of the Greenland coast-scape, with detailed and sheer writing for the woodwinds and high strings. It took me right back to East Greenland. FSO members produced a thrilling account of Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice to bring the concert to a close.

An incredible opportunity for established artists, and ‘young innovators’ (aged 18-24)

Sail aboard the wonderful Excelsior as part of an immersive residency, 23 May to 11 June 2024, journeying from Orkney to the Faroe Islands and Shetland.

Read more and apply here by responding to the prompt: Fracture, a Question for Humanity.

The residency is a collaboration between Utter Nonsense, Original Errant and The Excelsior Trust.

Sunday 10 March 2024, 7.00pm, Great Hall, Sherfield Building, Imperial College, London SW7 2BB

Smetana, Ma Vlast – Vltava
Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist, Tsz Hin (Bendit) Chan
Dvořák, Symphony No. 8

Saturday 9 March 2024, 7.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Thame OX9 3AJ

Beethoven, Overture – Coriolan
Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto with soloist, Yunus Eshekh-Alonso
Mozart, Symphony No. 41, ‘Jupiter’

Tickets

Tuesday 30 January 2024, 1.00pm-2.00pm, online

Join John Scott Martin FRSA, President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) and me to discuss Eco Sail Cargo: how this will shape the future of sustainable goods transportation and passenger travel. At Guild of Ships, we were delighted to collaborate with RSMA and the sail cargo community at the RSMA Annual Exhibition in the Mall Galleries, September 2023.

More information.

Monday 1 January 2024, 7.00pm, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans AL1 1BY

Johann Strauss II: Overture – Die Fledermaus; Im Krapfenwald
Josef Strauss: Moulinet Polka; Plappermäulchen – Polka schnell
Johann Strauss I: Loreley-Rheinklänge; Radetzky March
Brahms, Hungarian Dances No.s 5, 6 & 7
Delibes, Waltz and Mazurka – Coppelia
Rota: Love Theme and Waltz – The Godfather
Shostakovich, Jazz Suite No. 2
Mascagni, Intermezzo – Cavalleria Rusticana

Sun 12th November 2023, 2:00pm – 3:30pm, St Saviour’s Church, St Albans AL1 4DF

Wood, Hornpipe from Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Sullivan, Overture – HMS Pinafore
Anon (shanty) arr. Carslake, Blow the Man Down
Britten, excerpts from Four Sea Interludes
Rossini, storm from The Barber of Seville
Grieg, storm from Peer Gynt Suite No. 2
Anon (shanty) arr. Carslake, Wellerman

Saturday 11 November 2023, 7.45pm,
Princes Hall, Aldershot, GU11 1NX

Bacewicz, Overture (composed 1943)
Gregson, Tuba Concerto with soloist, Charlie Jones
Strauss, Serenade for Winds
Brahms, arr. Schönberg, Piano Quartet in G minor

Saturday 14 October 2023, 7.30pm, St Saviour’s Church, St Albans AL1 4DF

Sarah Frances Jenkins, And the Sun Stood Still
Nielsen, Helios Overture
Sibelius, Nightride and Sunrise
Rachmaninov, Symphonic Dances

Appointment as Artistic Director, following Tom Hammond

I’m honoured to have been appointed Artistic Director of St Alban’s Symphony Orchestra (SASO). SASO is a wonderfully warm community orchestra that performs to a high level. We collaborate with established soloists, and our leader is the superb Charlotte Fairbairn.

Sadly, SASO lost its much-loved Principal Conductor, Tom Hammond. Tom was appointed in 2016 but passed away suddenly in December 2021. We will never forget him. His dedication to music and to his colleagues and friends was extraordinary.

When the SASO committee asked me to take on the next three concerts before opening the process of finding a new conductor, I inherited Tom’s rehearsal schedule. This schedule had detailed timings for every piece, for the rest of the season. I followed it to the letter and it worked a dream. It was a testament to the incredible amount of care with which he approached his career and colleagues.

Tom was founder and Co-Artistic Director of Hertfordshire Festival of Music which launched in 2016 and has quickly become one of the main classical music festivals in the UK. He was Music Director of Hertford Symphony Orchestra and Finchley Symphony Orchestra, and was very busy in the UK and abroad. This was recognised when he was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2010, and later when London’s Sinfonia Tamesa appointed him Conductor Emeritus in 2019.

Tom also worked in the Middle East, conducting ensembles at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine – including the Palestine Youth Orchestra – and adjudicating for the Palestine National Music Competition. In the UK he adjudicated for the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Oxford University, Trinity Laban Conservatoire and the Croydon Performing Arts Festival.

Alongside his practical music-making, Tom was a much-respected producer with Chiaro Audio. His work there was released on Resonus Classics, First Hand Records and the Edition Peters label.

As it happens, Tom and I shared a love of ancient walking routes in the UK and Europe, and he introduced me to the Harrow Way (or Harroway), the Stone-Age route that stretches from Devon to Dover.

Here’s to you, Tom.

I’m delighted to be talking with Resonance FM, 3.00pm – 3.30pm on 19 September

I’m very happy to join John Scott Martin, President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists for an interview with Peter Warren of Resonance FM. We’ll be talking about the RSMA annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries, 21-30 September. This year the exhibition focuses on sail cargo and there is a wall dedicated to the movement. As Co-founder of Guild of Ships, I’m delighted to be part of an advertisement in the catalogue that showcases incredible sail cargo companies and initiatives and explains more about the sector.

Listen in at 104.4 FM at 3.00pm! The ‘Listen’ button is at the top right in the Resonance FM link above. Resonance FM – ‘The best radio station in London’ (The Guardian) – is a charity and a force for good in London. If you don’t know it, do try it!

Later on the 19th Wille Christiani from Grayhound Shipping (and fellow Co-founder at Guild of Ships) will join John Scott Martin for an interview with Bryony Collins at the respected Carbon Pulse platform.

I’ve just returned from a week bivouacking on one of the most significant raised bogs in Europe: Carrownagappul, East Galway, Ireland.

I was honoured to have permission from the National Parks and Wildlife Service to live quietly on this stunning bog. One of the largest bogs in Ireland’s ‘Living Bog‘ conservation project, Carrownagappul is of international significance. Having been heavily drained for peat cutting, the bog has now been re-wetted (by the laying of thousands of large-scale blocks in the drainage channels) and rejuvenated, with the support of the local community. Peat bog restoration in Ireland has instant repercussions for local people who have the right to cut and burn its peat for fuel. I was very happy to visit the local interpretative centre, and was treated to a warm welcome by Maura and the team.

I was also thrilled to meet the internationally recognised photographer, Tina Claffey, who specialises in the macro photography of Ireland’s wetlands. Her books, Tapestry of Light and Portal are a must-read for anyone interested in these delicate and ancient ecologies. Did you know that although only 3% of the world’s surface is bog, it represents twice the carbon efficacy of all the world’s trees and forests?!

This research is for a commission from the Harry Woolhouse Trust for a piece to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Imperial College Sinfonietta, London. Come and hear the piece, Carrownagappul, on Sunday 9 June in the Great Hall, Imperial College, London, 7pm, in an event that will feature the current orchestra and alumni players from the last 25 years.

Sunday 11 June, 7.00pm, Great Hall, Sherfield Building, Imperial College, London SW7 2BB

Ravel, Piano Concert in G 
Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite No. 2 
Dvorak, Scherzo Capriccioso

Plus chamber music by Smetana, Dvořák and Beethoven

Tickets available soon

Sat 10 June, 7.45pm, Princes Hall, Aldershot GU11 1NX

Elgar, Froissart Overture
Britten, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
Elgar, Enigma Variations

Soloists: Alison Wyld (French Horn) and Ruairi Bowen (Tenor)

Supported by the Elgar Society

Tickets

Sat 20 May, 7.45pm, Drill Hall, Ware SG12 9HP

Nielsen, Helios Overture; Beethoven, Leonore Overture No. 3; Grieg, Morning Mood; Schumann, Symphony No. 3, ‘Rhenish’ 

Tickets

A ‘circular’ masterpiece

Cesar Franck was one of the great organ improvisers – and an inspiring teacher to a generation of French composers. It’s probable that Debussy’s structural innovations (his String Quartet, for example) wouldn’t have come to pass were it not for the circular forms created by his teacher. Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D Minor takes a ‘cross’ motif that Bach would have recognised. He then meditates on it over the course of a three-movement symphony. Every theme and instrument is given its full character and space, like the organ stops and architecture of his beloved Saint-Clotilde in Paris. The recurrence of the cross motif brings us around with perfect timing to a blazing finale, with four trumpets blasting away jubilantly.

We are delighted to welcome back Aishwarya Swaminathan Saravanan, who led Sinfonietta for two years as an undergraduate. Her rendition of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor is passionate and inspiring. And the programme begins with Sibelius’ rousing Finlandia.

Tickets and map

Lark Ascending, Farewell to Stromness, Czech Suite and more… Saturday 29 October, St. Mary’s Church, Thame, 7:30pm

It’s a delight to collaborate again with Crendon Chamber Orchestra. I’m looking forward to exploring Vaughan Williams’ amazing evocation of lark-flight with violinist, Madeleine Pickering.

We will pair the Vaughan Williams with another outdoors gem: Maxwell Davies’ Farewell to Stromness, arranged for strings by Rosemary Furniss.

Two large-scale works for chamber orchestra complete the programme: Dvořák’s Czech Suite is a masterclass in Czech dance rhythms, richly characterised by superb orchestration; and the concert opens with Malcolm Archer’s Variations for Orchestra on a Theme of Ruth Gipps.

I hope to see you there!

Bogs, glaciers and swans

I’m over the moon to be collaborating with a wonderful professional orchestra on a project featuring my compositions. More on that very soon.

In other news, the Harry Woolhouse Charitable Trust are commissioning a work by me for Imperial College Sinfonietta, to be performed next summer. More on that soon, too; but think bogs… think peat… think space. Bogs are our glaciers in UK and Ireland. They move, they breath, they shield.

Also, I’m delighted that Sands Films Studios want to feature The Singing Glacier in a festival in March 2023.

Finally, listen to this: Cliffs, by Garefowl, inspired by St Kilda. St Kilda has the highest cliff in the UK, Connachair, which falls 1401 ft to the sea. These sounds call me towards a sail voyage in 2025 to the great cliff of Cape Enniberg in the Faroe Islands – a staggering 2474 ft drop. Thank you, Anna Lowenstein, for the recommendation.

Imperial College Touring Orchestra, 4-10 July

What a joy this was. So good to be making music abroad again! Fantastic to be part of the combined energies of Imperial College Symphony Orchestra and Imperial College Sinfonietta.

It was a great pleasure to share the podium with Oliver Gooch; and the Imperial students were true ambassadors for Imperial College. At every turn we were bowled over by the hospitality and attentiveness of our Czech colleagues, as well as the audiences in St. Simon & Jude, Prague; St Ann’s, Karlovy Vary; and Jindřichův Hradec Castle. Huge thanks to the student committees, and to the tour consultants, ACFEA.

7.30pm, St Saviour’s Church, Sandpit Lane, St Albans AL1 4DF

Two days short of Independence Day, SASO will celebrate with two American classics: Dvorak, Symphony No. 9, ‘New World’ and Barber, Violin Concerto, with soloist David Le Page. The concert also features the ballet music from Holst’s opera, The Perfect Fool.

This concert is dedicated to the memory of Tom Hammond, SASO’s Principal Conductor, who died in December 2021. One of Tom’s passions was the music of Sibelius. We will celebrate Tom by performing Sibelius, The Swan of Tuonela.

Tickets and details.

Interview with Michael Holland, Arts Correspondent for Southwark News

Michael has been running a series about musicians in South London, and the effect of the pandemic on their working lives.

Poetry and music, featuring ‘The Singing Glacier’

1 October 2020

As part of the BBC’s annual Contains Strong Language spoken word festival, Elizabeth Alker talked to writer Helen Mort about her musical collaborations, including The Singing Glacier. Composer Sophie Cooper revealed a new piece written in response to one of Helen’s poems. The programme included a clip from The Singing Glacier in the version for modern violin and piano, featuring Flora Curzon, violin.    

Heath Street Baptist Church ‘Home Companion’ radio show and newsletter

During the first lockdown these radio programmes included thoughtfully-curated poetry, readings and songs, featuring members of the congregation. As well as contributing to these, Bill was happy to feature in the September – November newsletter.

Part of the touring production, ‘Strange Creatures’

Bill was commissioned by MishMash Productions to write a trio using just vocal sounds and body percussion for this fantastic show. Bill chats with cellist Sophie Rivlin about the process. An excerpt from the ‘Grumpy Trio’ is included.

Knoydart Peninsula

August 2020

Knoydart is the uppermost of the peninsulas that make up the Rough Bounds in Northwest Scotland, an area intruded by deep sea lochs (including Scotland’s deepest, Loch Morar) and characterised by mountainous horizons. They overlay each other like lines of music, and the striations in the rock provide other melodies. Work in progress.

Science and Art: Climate Change and The Singing Glacier

Manchester Metropolitan University

June 2020

Part of the Science and Art series. Poet Helen Mort and Physical Geographer Kathryn Adamson share their experiences of East Greenland and discuss how science and art can interlock to communicate the effects of climate change. Featuring an extended extract from The Singing Glacier.   

Farnham Maltings, Farnham

14 March 2020, 7pm

Glinka, Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture; Prokofiev, Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist, So-Ock Kim; Stravinsky, Firebird (1945).  An all-Russian programme featuring one of music’s sublime endings – Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto no. 1, with acclaimed violinist So-Ock Kim.

Cancelled due to Covid-19

S.M.A.K. Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

30 November 2019 – 16 February 2020

‘Lamb’ is a new film by Nashashibi/Skaer with a soundtrack created by Bill, mezzo soprano Olivia Ray and Rosalind Nashashibi. The footage from a lambing shed was shot by Lucy Skaer on Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides.