University of York Music Press

In June 2013, Simon Desbruslais and the Orchestra of the Swan will perform Shakespeare Scenes, a trumpet concerto commissioned by them, at the Spring Sounds Festival in Stratford-on-Avon. The summer will also see the premiere of a piano cycle for Clare Hammond, to be performed at the 2013 City of London Festival. Time and the Seasons, a song cycle for baritone and piano, will be premiered by Roderick Williams and Andrew West at the 2013 Oxford Lieder Festival in November. Setting poetry by the composer, the cycle is concerned with 'recollection, memory and the conjunction of time past and present', having developed from Saxton's song, 'The beach in winter: Scratby [for Tess]', originally written in 2007 as part of the NMC Songbooks. This performance sees a continued creative partnership between Saxton and Roderick Williams, who created the title role in the BBC Radio 3 opera, The Wandering Jew, in 2010. Full details of all upcoming performances will be available through http://www.uymp.co.uk. Elsewhere, a new book by Wyndham Thomas on Saxton's opera of 1991, Caritas, was published in September 2012 by Ashgate, as part of their 'Landmarks in Music Since 1950' series. As well as including a CD of the first performance, the book offers 'a detailed contextual setting in which to evaluate Caritas, as well as presenting an analytical commentary on the structure, musical language, instrumentation, staging and production of the opera. Thomas concludes with a reflection on the reception of "Caritas" as well as looking forward to Saxton's later and future works.'