Asked to write a short fanfare to celebrate the inaugural concert of the Hope Metropolitan Orchestra, I decided that it would be appropriate to write for all the forces of the orchestra available to them at this event. The idea of a fanfare underpins this five-minute overture, and as the title implies, it’s a short but brisk journey - and as users of a well-known budget airline might recognise, a final fanfare might even suggest that our plane has arrived a little early ...
Stephen Pratt
On Saturday 29th October, in the Great Hall of Liverpool Hope's Creative Campus, Stephen's new orchestral piece, A short flight across the city, received its premiere given by the newly-formed Hope Metropolitan Orchestra. The work opened the inaugural concert by the orchestra, and the programme also included Mozart's 'Paris' Symphony and the 'Spring' movement from Haydn's The Seasons. Stephen himself conducted the concert.
Jardin, St.Privat-des-Prés, 2021
In Hope has been written for Pixels Ensemble for tonight’s event, marking as it does the conclusion of my 50th year of teaching at Hope. The outstanding musicians of Pixels Ensemble are friends and colleagues with whom I have enjoyed many collaborations in the past, and In Hope is dedicated to them.
Given the context, the backward and forward looking nature of the title didn’t need too much thinking about, especially as we find our way out of a global health crisis. At the same time as writing the piece, I was concluding my undergraduate teaching at Hope and working on a picture of my empty and (to date!) inaccessible garden in France. In Hope is a fast, short movement, which is largely bright and breezy in character; in earlier days, maybe a scherzo ...
Stephen Pratt
