Paul Ayres writes: On Sunday 28 September, the wonderful singers of The Ruffians (Miranda, Amy, Hestor) will present a selection of my pieces for one, two and three voices. These will be:
TRIOS
Anti-Suffragist Reasons (hilariously satirical lists written by Alice Duer Miller in the New York Tribute in the 1910s)
The quality of mercy (Portia’s speech from The Merchant of Venice)
Folksongs (The Miller of Dee, Scarborough Fair, In Old Amsterdam, The Oak and the Ash, The Willow Tree)
Three Little Birds (the Bob Marley tune, but in a serene, prayerful interpretation)
DUETS
A Blessing of Discontent (“May God bless you with discontent with easy answers, half-truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live from deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, abuse, exploitation, so that you will work for justice, equality, peace…”)
Take me to the woods (a wedding song)
How are you? (a poem by Kitty O’Meara)
SOLOS
The Last Bee, Satsumas are the Only Fruit, Brie Encounter, Monetisation, Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Be My Friend On Facebook, Pet Peeve (all of these are settings of Brian Bilston poems)
For I will consider my cat Jeffrey (words by Christopher Smart, set as a passacaglia)
Fable (words by Dorothy Parker)
That’s a lot of singing. But tis not all you’ll hear… the concert will feature short piano pieces – to give the vocalists a break, if nothing else! Piano music will reference Elgar, Ed Sheeran, Bach, ragtime, the theme from The Incredibles, nursery rhymes, and Christina Perri. Plus some other things too, if I manage to finish writing them in the next few weeks.