David Fennessy In Focus / Tues 28 – Wed 29 Apr

David Fennessy JACK for two guitars (2020)
Chris Godhard, Ravi Nathwani guitars

David Fennessy The first thing, the last thing, and everything in between for solo piano (2009)
Roisin Fleming piano

David Fennessy Changeless and the Changed for violin & cello (2014)
Georgina Bloomfield violin
Gabriela Costa Peres cello

David Fennessy Nara Dreamland for solo piano (2020)
Liana Storey piano

David Fennessy Sarashina Refrain for voice & saxophone quartet (2019)
Ellena Hicks mezzo soprano
Joao Luis Correia, Nick Rushworth, Alvin Wong, Rachael Green saxophones

Sophia Hurst house in krasnogruda for voice & saxophone quartet (2026)
Ellena Hicks mezzo soprano
Joao Luis Correia, Nick Rushworth, Alvin Wong, Rachael Green saxophone

David Fennessy ‘The Blue Eyed Lassie’ from Piano Trio No 2 (2021)
Elio Gaviria piano
Jack Callaghan violin
Rhys Nicholson cello

David Fennessy Rosewoods for solo guitar and string quartet (2019)
Chris Godhard guitar
Archie Freeman, Nina Doig violins
Estelle Gonzalez viola
Elena Edwards cello

David Fennessy Sarashina Refrain for voice and saxophone quartet (2019)

From the Sarashina Nikki, 10th century, Japan

Nengetsu wa,
sugikawariyukedo
yumeno younarishi hodowo
omoi izureba
kokochimo madoi
memo kakikurasu younareba
sonohodono koto wa
mata sadakanimo oboezu

Hitobito wa
Mina hokani
Sumiakarete
Furusato ni hitori
Imijiu
Kokoro bosoku
Kanashikute
Nagame akashi wabite
Hisashiu otozurenu hitoni

shigeriyuku
yomogiga tuyuni
sobochitutu
hitoni towarenu
newo nomizonaku

Translation by Chie Ishii

Many years have passed, but
whenever I think about that
sad, dreamlike time my
heart is thrown into turmoil
and my eyes darken, so that
even now I cannot clearly
remember all that
happened.

My family went to live
elsewhere and I stayed
forlornly by myself in the
old house. One day when I
was thinking bitterly of my
sad condition I sent this
poem to someone from
whom I had not heard for a
long time:

Wildly the sagebrush grows
Outside this house where
no-one comes to visit
And my tears well up
Like the drops of dew upon
the leaves.

Sophia Hurst house in krasnogruda for voice and saxophone quartet (2026)

i.
The woods reached water and there was immense silence.
A crested grebe popped up on the surface of the lake,
In deep water, very still, a flock of teals.
That’s what was seen by a man on the shore
Who decided to build his house here
And to cut down the primeval oak forest.
He was thinking of timber he would float down the Niemen
And of thalers he would count by candlelight. 

 ii.
The ash trees in the park calmed down after the storm.
The young lady runs down a path to the lake.
She pulls her dress over her head,
And there is a delight in the water’s soft touch
When she swims, dog-style, self-taught,
Toward brightness, beyond the shade of the trees. 

 iii.
The company settles into a boat, ladies and gentlemen
In swimming suits. Just as they will be remembered
By a frail boy whose lifeline is short.
In the evening he learns to dance the tango. Mrs. Irena
Leads him, with that smirk of a mature woman
Who initiates a young male.
Out the door to the veranda owls are hooting. 

‘House in Krasnogruda’ by Czeslaw Milosz.  

Copyright © 1994, Czeslaw Milosz, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited. 

house in krasnogruda takes its text and name from the poem by Czeslaw Milosz. The poem, pastoral in nature, describes rural life in a small polish village. The music aims to capture the beauty of the landscape, whilst exploring oddities that can be found in such small communities. 

Abigail Yang Ritual of the Wild (world premiere)
David Bicarregui India House (world premiere)
Colin Wu Summer, Once (world premiere)
Amy Tyson Nothing To Be Done (world premiere)
Ruoyu Geng THAW (world premiere)
Sophia Hurst Daylight Savings (world premiere)
David Fennessy The Riot Act

Mark Heron, Andre Chan, Rosina Flueckiger, Elisabeth Streichert, Davide Trolton conductors
Joseph Buckmaster tenor
Manchester Contemporary Orchestra:

first violins
Marie Schreer (guest leader)
Michael Capecci
Enhao Zhang
Katie Keddy
Jayda Cheng
Edward Owen
Sally Lee
Rosa Stemp 

second violins
Fionnghuala Drumgoole
Esther Clay
David Harris
Eleanor Prout
Thomas Bentley
Yilin Xu
Sophie Wu
Peiran Zhong

violas
Susie He
Maria Morris
Alexandra Harrison
Sophie Combes
Yibo Chen
Sid Patrick

cellos
Samuel Hills-Field
Fanyu Huang
Chloe Chen
Fei Pu
Isabella Farleigh
Congyuan Xiao

double basses
Marcelo Nunes Rodrigues
Saulo Da Silva Martins
Duarte Colaco

piccolo
Emily Carr

flutes
Yunjia Wang
Feng Xie
Chi Zhang 

oboes
Yanyan Peng
Nichole Xu
Maia Nijak-Bryndal (cor anglais)

clarinets
Lucy Irving
William Freeman
Asha Kroll (bass clarinet & Eb clarinet)

alto saxophones (referee whistle)
Oliver Pritchard Jones (soprano)
Shire Sexton 

tenor saxophone (referee whistle)
Jamie Marriott

baritone saxophone (referee whistle)
Maddie Stewart

bassoons
Ella Coleman
Ella Parfitt
Zhicheng Cao (contrabassoon)

horns
Toby Johnson-Jones
Tom Farrar
Lily Tabb
Barry Lo
Jason Cheung

trumpets
Phoebe Mallinson
Edmund Tyler
Amelia Butler 

trombones
Joe Heartfield
Sarah Petropoulos
Aileen Orr

tuba
Wil Baker

timpani and percussion
Oliver Jackson
Lois Lezdkan
Bing Wang
Josh Borman

piano (celeste)
Yuyan You 
Luis Ribeiro 

harp
Ela Tala

David Fennessy The Riot Act

Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth
and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and
peaceably depart to their habitations, or to
their lawful business, upon the pains contained
in the Act made in the first year of King
George the First for preventing tumults and
riotous assemblies.
GOD SAVE THE KING.