22 May 2019
Back in April 2019 I was delighted to receive a commission from the K3A Orchestra to compose a new orchestral work lasting a dozen minutes or so. The resulting piece, The Incandenza Variations, will be performed at the United Reformed Church in Kingston (Eden Street, KT1 1HZ) on Wednesday 26 June at 11.30am alongside works by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Dvořák. Do come along if you can; no need to buy a ticket, it’s free!
Any David Foster Wallace fans may notice that the title of my piece is drawn from his sprawling magnum opus, Infinite Jest. My aim with The Incandenza Variations was to mimic the structure of Elgar’s Enigma and write a theme and variations which contains various character sketches, not of real-life individuals à la Elgar, but instead of the five members of the Incandenza family who exist at the troubled heart of Foster Wallace’s novel. Composing the work was an exhilarating and rewarding journey, and I am very grateful to the K3A Orchestra for the commission.
