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Sunday, the 8 th of February 2026     #Tide #LondonRepertoireOrchestra #NewMusic #Orchestral #DominicMcGonigal #SeaSymphony   Sung part of Victoria Requiem (SATB) at St Patrick’s Soho this morning.   Reminded of singing it here a few weeks ago and being inspired to have a cantus firmus in the finale of Tide (fourth movement of Sea Symphony). At the time, I had the big theme (see below, written while waiting on the sad souls bench at Waitrose). But I had only a hazy impressio

Monday, the 2 nd of February 2026     #LondonRepertoireOrchestra #NewMusic #Orchestral #DominicVeall #SteveChowne #DominicMcGonigal #OwenHo #SeaSymphony   I am enjoying learning these four scores for the London Repertoire Orchestra new works session on Wednesday. They are very different and all will be fun to play. Dominic Veall’s Preludio and Montuno Meltdown has Latin rhythms and lots of fun solos for most instruments. Steve Chowne’s Ten Minute Symphony is just that – four

Monday, the 19 th of January 2026                        #ClassicFM #AlexanderArmstrong #ClareMcIntyre #radio #monastic #officehours #plainchant #polyphony #liturgy #AlisonHawes #SimonAshdown #DominicMcGonigal #Victoria #Rachmaninov #Palestrina #Parsons #Holst #Rimsky-Korsakov #Sheppard #BickleighCastle  Thank you, ClassicFM and Alexander Armstrong, for the namecheck!   And thank you, Clare McIntyre, for the tip-off!  Alexander Armstrong namechecked “composer Dominic McGonig

Sunday, the 18 th of January 2026                        #monastic #officehours #plainchant #polyphony #liturgy #AlisonHawes #SimonAshdown #DominicMcGonigal #SetMeAsASeal #MyHolyPlace #Victoria #Rachmaninov #Palestrina #Parsons #Holst #Rimsky-Korsakov #Sheppard #BickleighCastle   What a feast of music! My head is full of Victoria, Palestrina, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Sheppard, Schutz, Holst and... McGonigal! We ended with my Set Me As A Seal which will be the title trac