The Black Lake, Cantata based on the novel Un Nos Ola Leuad, "One Moonlit Night" by Caradog Prichard for SATB choir, soprano solo, & chamber orchestra The narrative of the young boy in Caradog Prichard’s semi-autobiographical novel has a dreamlike quality, mingling scenes from his native village of Bethesda in North Wales with its surroundings in the years leading up to and during the First World War. Central to the boy’s life is the figure of his Mam, whose mental decline and subsequent confinement in Denby Asylum forms the central crisis of the novel. In these musical scenes, whose texts are drawn from Prichard’s novel, he recalls the mysterious Queen Of The Black Lake; his Mam’s poignant singing of the Welsh hymn Cyfammod; her description of a Welsh Revivalist meeting; the Sunday in church when a young pregnant woman is refused Communion; Mam’s decline and journey to Denby Asylum; his return to the Black Lake and farewell to its mysterious Queen. The Black Lake was initially envisioned as a narrative cantata featuring a large choir, soprano solo, two narrators and orchestra. This version was commissioned by the Three Choirs Festival and premiered at Hereford Cathedral in 2025. The ‘Festival’ version was recorded live and is available for listening on Spotify, Apple and Amazon. Later, I restructured the piece by removing the narration to align it with my other major choral works, including, Mirror of Perfection, Voices of Exile, Not in Our Time and Pietá. In this revised edition, I removed twenty minutes of material and incorporated new choral elements into the original version. I take great pride in both versions and feel that both are true to Caradog Prichard’s novel One Moonlit Night which tells the poignant story of a young Boy growing up in Bethesda, North Wales during the final years of World War I. Nadia Anjuman (1980-2005) was an Afghan poet writing during a period of turmoil. In 1995, when the Taliban captured Herat, her birthplace, women’s liberties were drastically reduced. A gifted student, Nadia faced a future with no hope of education. With other women she attended an underground educational circle called the Golden Needle Sewing School. Meeting under the guise of learning how to sew, the meetings were in fact discussions on literature with Herat professors. The project was dangerous: If caught, the punishment could be imprisonment, torture or hanging. Nadia was 21 when the Taliban was ousted. While earning her degree in literature she published her first book of poetry. She married into a family who believed that, since she was a woman, writing brought disgrace on their reputation. Yet she continued to write. At the age of 25 she was beaten to death by her husband. The five poems I chose are wide-ranging and cover extremes of emotion: from love; to delight in being a poet; to despair at her lack of freedom; and even contemplation of suicide. I wrote A Catalan Prayer for my friend the conductor Joan Company Florit, who has championed my choral music in Mallorca for many years. The text is by the 14th century Mallorcean philosopher, poet and mystic Ramon LLul. Like the poetry of St Francis of Assisi this prayer is an expression of devotional joy. It was first performed on April 19th 2026 in the Church of San Andreu, Santanyí, Mallorca by the Cathedral Choir of La Seu, Palma, conducted by Joan Company Florit. Three Rossetti Songs (poems written by Christine Rossetti) were written in memoriam of my friend Sandrey Date, with whom I spent many happy years planning, performing and touring projects with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus along with his beloved wife Carolyn. They are scored for mixed chorus, baritone and cello solo.