Year: 2024

Duration: c. 5 minutes

Instrumentation: flexible youth orchestra

Premiere information: 14 April 2024, LSO St Luke’s, London

Notes: First Flight was commissioned by the Camden Youth Orchestra to provide new repetoire for youth ensembles that may not have the same balance of players as professional ensembles, and where the players may be at many different levels of musical progression.

“This is not a standard score.

This score utilizes an open approach in which most players have several options for what exactly they will play at any given time, and is effectively a self-orchestrating piece. It is not expected, for example, that three flutes will be available and each will play one note of the chord in the opening bar. Rather, this score should be considered a map of all possibilities for the piece, and the minutiae of instrumentation and orchestration depend entirely on what instruments are available to an ensemble and player choice, respectively.”