What’s rob up to?

As Misfits Music Members may already know, both Reuben and I have a background in composing music, in fact this is what we both studied! After completing undergraduate studies at Birmingham Conservatoire I undertook a Masters in Composition at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. 

In 2019 I was accepted onto Making Music UK and Sound and Music’s Adopt a Composer Programme, which pairs UK based composers with leisure time music groups around the country. I was lucky to be paired with The Edge Chamber Choir in Ludlow, Shropshire, and have had the pleasure of working with them over the past 2 years. 

I chose to write a piece (entitled Drift)  inspired by a Space Walk undertaken by Jessica Meir and Christian Koch in late 2019 to repair part of the International Space Station. We had some fantastic workshops together with the choir members who actually wrote the text for the piece through a number of workshops. Because of Covid, the concert was delayed by almost 15 months, and although there was a period where rehearsals weren’t possible, I did keep up with the choir via several Zoom meetings. 

Early on in the process of working with the choir, I discovered that one of the members (Edmund Handy) is an instrument builder by trade and he mentioned he was building his own celeste (think the instrument from the famous tune from Harry Potter!). It occurred to me that the ethereal sound of this instrument would fit the theme of space really well - so I immediately decided to include this instrument as an accompaniment to the choir! 

In October 2021, it was fantastic to finally have the piece come together for its premiere in Leominster, Herefordshire. Guided by the wonderful music director Ros Crouch and supported by Edmund Handy’s celeste playing, the choir did a wonderful job of the final performance. 

The piece was recorded for possible broadcast on BBC Radio 3, so look out for more announcements if that comes to fruition.