Who would have thought we'd be here? We are certainly living in unprecedented times at the moment - the Coronavirus Pandemic has caused huge disruption to travel, and cancellations and postponements of live music concerts, gigs and festivals across the world, and sadly, Divisions of Memory was also affected by this all. At present, the concert is on hiatus, and will be rescheduled for later in the year. 

CEO Bob Lord and the whole team at PARMA Recordings have been amazing in keeping me informed about the situation, and their optimism is keeping me hopeful about the continuation of the project once everything has calmed down. 

In the meantime, you can still listen to the piece by watching the promo video, recorded during the live studio recording session at Mount Vernon Studios in New York.

I am delighted to say that my piece 'Carolina's Jig' will be featured on the album 'Division of Memory', performed by Thomas Mesa (cellist). To launch the album, my piece along with the others from the album will be performed at a special concert in New York City, on March 19th. 

Details for the concert are all below in the poster, and you can follow the link for tickets: 

https://dimennacenter.org/event/parma-recordings-presents-division-of-memory/

My piece, Carolina's Jig, which was written as part of the Charlotte New Music Festival 2015, was recorded by the exceptional cellist Thomas Mesa, at Mount Vernon Studios in New York on December 5th. 

As I was unable to attend the recording, I got to experience the recording process from the comfort of my own home through the wonders of technology. What an amazing experience this was! Thomas is a wonderful player, and his passion for making the piece exactly as I want it as the composer is hugely admirable. He's also a lovely lovely person! 
- I also got to experience the intial editing process, which is like hearing magic unfold. The engineers with PARMA Recordings are truly amazing!
 

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the album launch in the new year, and the live concert in NYC in the spring! Exciting times ahead for my music!

I am thrilled to say that 'My Hiding Place (Psalm 32)' has been awarded 2nd prize by the NSDU Challey School of Music for the Edwin Fissinger Choral Composition Competition, and it will be performed sometime during the 2019-2020 season

This piece means so much to me, and I'm delighted to see it really starting to take flight, receiving awards and increasingly more performances, especially in the US - you can have a listen to the original recording below, and if you're interested in the score, you can purchase it from the STORE pages

Huge congratulations to the competition winner Christina Whitten Thomas for her work “And I Shall Sing” - I hope to hear it sometime in the near future! 

https://www.ndsu.edu/performingarts/music/fissinger 

https://soundcloud.com/lydia-jane-pugh/my-hiding-place-psalm-32 

I'm delighted to say that My Hiding Place was included in the Association of Choral Directors in America's summer conference reading packet in Pennsylvania, which took place August 4th-6th in Pittsburgh, 2019

https://www.acdapa.org 

The piece was in the reading packet for new music, specifically the section featuring works by new composers and intended for college-level musicians. 

Hope everyone in Pittsburgh liked my piece! 

My work from the Charlotte New Music Festival 2015 is proving incredibly popular at the moment! I wrote 'Carolina's Jig', a piece for solo cello, as part of a speed-writing assignment, and it is set to be recorded by the amazing cellist Thomas Mesa, and commercially released under PARMA Recordings as part of a compilation album of new music. 

Recording is set to take place in the next few months, and the album should hopefully be released in June 2020, as an album launch in New York. 

I'm utterly delighted to have another one of my works picked up for an album release, and I can't wait - to hear Thomas Mesa performance of Carolina's Jig, both live and recorded! 
- if you're interested to hear some of Thomas' fine playing, please follow the link below! 

http://thomasmesacello.com/category/audio-video 

Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for updates on this exciting project! 

Super excited that I've had my first commercial release of my music! 

My piece, 'Voul-ous enne P'tite Goute? (Would you like a little tipple?)', as recorded by The Great Noise Ensemble at the Charlotte New Music Festival 2015 was chosen to feature on Ablaze Records 'Millennial Masters; Volume 9', which was released earlier this month. It's a cracking album of New Classical Music, and I'm honoured to have my work featured on it - big love to the members of the Great Noise Ensemble Katie Kellert, Jared Cazel and Shawn Galvin for their superb playing!  

You can purchase the full album by following the first link below, and if you would like a listen, you can go to the second soundcloud link below (there is also links from soundcloud to purchase options) 

A super exciting time for me and my music! 

https://www.ablazerecords.net/millennial-masters-1/ar-00049-millennial-masters-vol-9

https://soundcloud.com/ablazerecords/663387833571-01-02-sd-44-1

I'm delighted to say that my work 'Your Words Give Light (Psalm 119) was awarded 3rd prize by the Manchester Chorale for their Composition Competition. Congratulations to runner-up Martin Neill, and the competition winner Jack White also! My piece, alongside Jack and Martin's will feature in Manchester Chorale's 40th Anniversary Season (2019-2020) - I look forward to hearing it performed by them, as well and Martin and Jack's pieces. 

https://www.manchesterchorale.org.uk/composition-competition 

I was utterly delighted to have been asked by Vince Peterson to write for the Empire City Men's Chorus a new piece for their 25th Anniversary Concert on 1st June 2019. The commissioned piece, 'Love is Enough', is a setting of William Morris' beautiful poem. The piece was premiered by ECMC at St Bartholemew's Church, Park Avenue in New York on 1st June, which coincidentally was the start of the World Pride Month celebrations in New York City. 

It was another wonderful experience in New York City, which is quickly becoming an artistic haven for me, and of course is was such a joy to receive such a warm reception, from the choir, and the audience. I do hope it won't be long before can work with ECMC again!

https://www.empirecitymenschorus.org 

Back in September my award-winning piece 'Adiraï (Misplaced)' was chosen to be performed in a special concert by the by the BBC Singers. 'The Refugee Experience', organised in conjunction with BASCA (British Academy of Composers, Songwriters and Authors) took place at St Paul's Knightsbridge in London, and showcased amazing new music by incredible composers from across the UK and Europe

The concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3, and was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday March 5th as part of the Afternoon Concert program and International Women's Day celebrations. 

It's been a dream of mine for a while to have something performed by the BBC Singers, and then also have something broadcast on BBC Radio 3, so it was truly a special moment for me indeed! 

If you didn't hear it, you can listen again by following the link below:
- My interview and piece start at approximately 1hr25mins into the programme

BBC Radio 3 - Afternoon Concert