First performance for undergraduate's new music

A new music commission from a Jesus College undergraduate will have its first performance at St John's College Chapel tomorrow (26 October).

Joanna Ward's 'The Banquet,' will be performed as part of the Men's Voices Evensong from 6.30pm.

Joanna is a 19-year-old composer from Newcastle upon Tyne. Her works have been commissioned and workshopped by organisations including the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the St Andrews Voices Festival, the Gesualdo Six and the Cambridge Music Festival. She is currently part of the prestigous Sound and Music Scheme 'Next Wave' and the Helios Collective's 'Formations 2017,' a platform for the creation and production of new opera.

Talking about the piece, Joanna said: "The brevity and simplicity of the text I chose to set, a fragment from the Song of Solomon, allowed a static, minimal framework to be built, to which I then added textural and tonal detail to give the work its trajectory and coherence. The inclusion of the double bass complements the richness of the men's voice ensemble, whilst adding timbral and textural complexity."