This is a demo recording of 'a jar of blinking lights', a piece for SATB choir and saxophone quartet composed in 2024 for Audi’s Sommerkonzerte Composers Competition.

The text is compiled from interviews with Lynn Frierson Faust, a world-leading expert on fireflies.

a jar of blinking lights - SATB Choir and Saxophone Quartet

Chief of War (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack)

Infected Bloodlines

The Gilded Age: Season 3 (Soundtrack from the HBO® Original Series)

Letter from the Duke

A new setting of Psalm 24, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates" commissioned by the Edinburgh Festival of the Sacred Arts to celebrate the 375th anniversary of the Scottish Psalter of 1650, generously funded by Canonmills Baptist Church. This recording is from the premiere performance on 13th August 2025 in Sacred Heart Church, Edinburgh, sung by the Sacred Arts Festival Singers directed by Calum Robertson with John Kitchen on organ.

The concert also featured premieres of new works by Zoe Lucia Watkins, Alexander McNamee and Jonathan Love.

It also received a lovely review in the Edinburgh Guide:

"‘Lift up your heads’ required eight parts, but the resulting sound left you stunned into silence. It unashamedly combined the full-choir and organ, though peppered with meaningful moments where the voices shone beautifully and unaccompanied... a highly impressive programme – a real joy to hear some freshly composed works, and to behold the inspiring great talent of the young musicians who wrote them." (https://edinburghguide.com/festival/2025/the-scottish-metrical-psalter-church-of-the-sacred-heart-review-21797)

For a copy of the score, contact Chris on hutchingsmusic@hotmail.com.

Lift Up Your Heads - premiere

Madeleine Dring’s jazzy setting of ‘Under the greenwood tree’ is one of her Seven Shakespeare Songs. The words by William Shakespeare come from ‘As You Like It’:

Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
            Here shall he see
            No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun
And loves to live i' the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
            Here shall he see
            No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Under the greenwood tree - Madeleine Dring

Anthony Esland is an award-winning composer from the UK. He studied composition and organ performance at Cambridge University, conducting at the Guildhall School of Music, and has an MA in composing for film and TV from the National Film and Television School.

Anthony has written over twenty scores for films, TV, and games, and composed concert music for a variety of soloists and ensembles. His choral music has been performed by choirs such as the BBC Singers in the UK, KC VITAs and Lux in the US, and his chamber music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Anthony has worked with many eminent musicians and ensembles, notably Dame Judith Weir, the ORA Singers, and Trio Sonorité, and been awarded prizes in international composition competitions. He’s also received awards and bursaries for his music from organisations such as the PRS Foundation, Sound and Music, and the Bliss Trust.

a jar of blinking lights - SATB Choir and Saxophone Quartet

Anthony Esland

Related tracks