Facing Snow (II) (2026)

Facing Snow (II) for soprano and harp.
Text by Du Fu (straight translation), 756.

Premiered by Emma Tring and Ruby Aspinall at St James’s Church, Sussex Gardens for Sound Over Silence concert, January 2026.

I first used this poem as inspiration for a piece for string orchestra and then decided to set it for voice and harp, extending one of the ideas.
It describes the devastation on a land a people after war.

“After the battle, many new ghosts cry,
Worry and grieve alone old man
Ragged clouds are low amid the dusk
Snow floating quickly on the whirling wind
Ladle cast aside, the cup not green
The stove remains a fiery red
To many places, news is broken
I sit, but cannot read my books for grief”

Score available via Living Songs, proceeds to Medical Aid for Palestinians