News
New Work for the Aquinas Piano Trio
Thomas Hyde is currently working on a new piece for piano trio. The work will be a companion for 'Three Dancers' (2005) and is similarly inspired by a Picasso painting. This new piece is being composed for the Aquinas Piano Trio and has been commissioned by Music at Duffield with funding provided by the RVW Trust. It will be premiered by the Aquinas Trio on 11 January 2011 in Derbyshire. A second performance follows two days later at the Luton Music Club.
Other forthcoming commissions include a miniature stage work for New Chamber Opera (which will see Tom collaborate once more with librettist David Norris), a work for the Presteigne Festival and an organ piece for Stephen Farr to be premiered in London in December 2010 as part of a BBC Singers live radio broadcast.
Presteigne Performances
Thomas Hyde's piano trio, 'Three Dancers' will be featured at this year's Presteigne Festival on 30th August 2010. The performers will be Thomas Gould (violin), Marie McLeod (cello) and Tom Poster (piano). The Presteigne Festival fundraiser concert also features a Hyde piece: Tom Poster will perform 'Nocturnes' - a previous festival commission - on 20 May 2010 in London.
A Little Invocation: New Recording for Choir & Organ Magazine
A Little Invocation, a miniature for solo organ, was featured as a free download, along with a profile of the composer, in the March/April 2007 issue of Choir and Organ Magazine. Now the work has been recorded by Daniel Cook for a special CD that accompanies the March/April 2009 issue of the magazine which is just out.
Hampstead Success for 'That Man Stephen Ward'
Thomas Hyde’s first stage work, That Man Stephen Ward was premiered at the Hampstead & Highgate Festival on 11 May 2008 to a sell-out audience. With a libretto by David Norris, the work tells the story of the society osteopath at the centre of the 1963 Profumo Scandal. The premiere featured an astonishing performance by bass-baritone Andrew Slater in the title role, praised as ‘a hugely impressive performance that alternately entertained, engaged and disturbed’ (Opera Now). Yvonne Fonatane was the director and George Vass conducted an ensemble of young professionals. Nicholas Williams in Opera wrote, ‘though it may be too early to announce a new theatrical talent, Hyde in the meantime is certainly one to watch.’ Plans are already underway for further performances in 2010/11.
New Miniature for the London Contemporary Music Group
Thomas Hyde joined a group of composers contributing a miniature to a garland based on Bach’s ‘Musical Offering’ celebrating the 100th birthday of the American composer Elliott Carter. The new piece, Curtain Up! was premiered by the London Contemporary Music Group in September 2008 at Cardiff University. Other composers involved included Luke Bedford, Phillip Cooke, Anthony Powers and Robert Saxton. Rhian Evans in The Guardian wrote ‘The mix of arrangements of existing movements with pieces based on a facet of Bach worked remarkably well’.
Winter Music Features at Summer Festivals
Winter Music was originally written for cor anglais and piano, but the composer’s own arrangements for violin or cello has led to several ‘out-of-season’ performances. Katherine Jenkinson has featured the work in several of her recitals in 2008, including at the Newbury Spring Festival and Uckfield Music Club. Meanwhile violinist Mandhira de Saram played it in both the UK and Sri Lanka.