Selections from 'The Rain is Coming' - A new song cycle, originally written for Baritone Roderick Williams, now published for all voice types.
I'm really happy to be able to share and publish a couple of songs over the next week that I really hope will be enjoyed by singers and pianists.
In 2017 I began a project to write a song cycle for internationally renowned Baritone, Roderick Williams OBE. Together with writer Rommi Smith, we created a 6 song cycle for Roderick Williams and Pianist, Susie Allen. The Rain is Coming was written in response to Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin and tells the story from the Miller Maid's perspective, expanding from the 2 lines she speaks in Schubert's original cycle to a full development of what we imagined to be the maids narrative. Our cycle begins where the original cycle ends, with the Miller Maid finding the Miller dead in the water. As she comes to terms with this discovery she traces her own story back and explores her own dreams and desires for escape.
We were able to develop and create this new work with generous support from PRSF Women Make Music Fund, Arts Council England, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust and Sound and Music UK. This funding also meant that as part of the project I could publish some of the work to be freely available for anyone to access, for all voice types.