I work with the wonderful Da Capo Music Foundation as writer in residence. In association with Hollywood composer John Ashton Thomas, I’ve written lyrics for summer schools and the story for a concert piece for orchestra and narrator.
The SUMMER SCHOOL projects are collection of songs based round different themes:
The Street Party
Planets, Moons and Stars
The Sea
Pictures
Chocolate
Each year, one of the songs has featured GRANNY, who started the food fight at the street party, built a space rocket, joined the Surrealists, flooded the world with chocolate, and went for a long swim in the sea…
IN TIME
Commissioned by the London Lawyer’s Orchestra, IN TIME was written as a companion piece to Peter and the Wolf. It had its premiere performance at Rosslyn Hill Chapel in London in February 2015.
It features a madcap chase through the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern periods as Polly tries to catch up with her time-travelling Granny…
The song ‘Celebration’ from The Street Party was used by The Big Lunch as their theme tune. Here it is sung by Barbara Windsor and children from Roselyon School at the Eden Project.
‘The Impressionists’ Room at the National Gallery’ was written for the 2014 Summer School, with the theme of Pictures. It was inspired by, and describes, three paintings: Douanier-Rousseau’s Tiger in a Tropical Storm, Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypressus, and Monet’s Bridge at Giverny. It was performed by local primary schools at the Proms at St Judes in 2018.
Tracey Mathias 