The Coming of Night was premiered by members of the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Chloe Rooke on BBC Radio 3 Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny on October 25th 2021. 

Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and the BBC CO for BBC Radio 3's 'Capturing Twilight' series.

The piece is inspired by a poem by Emily Dickinson of the same title and it aims to explore the atmospheres, colours and images within her depiction of twilight and transition from sunset to night. The first lines of Dickinson's poem read:

"How the old mountains drip with sunset,
And the brake of dun!
How the hemlocks are tipped in tinsel
By the wizard sun!"

Image © Copyright BBC Radio 3 & BBC Concert Orchestra

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

The Coming Of Night (for Sextet)

Gaia (for Piano Trio and Clarinet) was commissioned and premiered by the Gould Piano Trio and clarinettist Robert Plane at the 2023 Corbridge Chamber Music Festival.

The piece is inspired by Gaia, the Ancient Greek Goddess of the Earth. It is a celebration of the fragile beauty of the Earth whilst also being a quiet plea for humanity to work to restore harmony and balance to our planet. Whilst working on this piece, Corbridge and the spectacular landscape surrounding it was at the forefront of my mind. It was these powerful images that drove me to try to capture and evoke through music the essence of the precious rivers, woodlands, hills, valleys and ecosystems here and throughout the world.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

Gaia

Performed by Fenella Humphreys. Commissioned by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ty Cerdd for the CoDI one2one scheme, this piece is inspired by the words of Alexander Pope. The first movement was premiered by Nick Whiting (Associate Leader of BBC NOW) in June 2020. The piece was then extended into a three-movement suite for solo violin in 2021 and was premiered by Fenella Humphreys at the Presteigne Festival 2021.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

Tincture Of The Skies

Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival and premiered by Mathilde Milwidsky (violin), Alexei Watkins (horn) and Ivana Gavrić (piano) on Friday 25th August 2023 at the Presteigne Festival.

The Lonely Tree grows on the edge of Llyn Padarn near Llanberis. This solitary birch tree is reflected in the crystal-clear water around it and framed by the spectacular mountains behind. The piece, for violin, horn and piano, explores the beauty and power of this arresting landscape as well as its fragility.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

The Lonely Tree Of Llyn Padarn

Premiered by Robert Plane and the Presteigne Festival Orchestra, conducted by George Vass on Monday 28th August 2023 at the Presteigne Festival 2023.

I. Expansive, Resonant, Freely
II. Flowing, Singing
III. Freely, Spirited

The First Swallow is a poem by Charlotte Smith, first published in 1807, the year after her death. This piece takes inspiration from Smith's depiction of the springtime return of the swallow. In three movements, the piece explores the essence of the atmospheres, colours and images found within the poem. The piece was originally written for Clarinet Quintet (commissioned and premiered by Richard Hosford and the Gaudier Ensemble at the Cerne Abbas Music Festival 2022) and was adapted and developed here for String Orchestra and Clarinet in A.

Come, summer visitant, attach
To my reed roof your nest of clay,
And let my ear your music catch,
Low twittering underneath the thatch
At the gray dawn of day.

[Extract from The First Swallow, by Charlotte Smith 1749 - 1806]

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

The First Swallow

for Solo Guitar

Premiered by Tom McKinney as part of Psappha’s ‘Composing for Guitar’ scheme in 2021.

Veiled Dawn is inspired by The Three Rigis, painted by J.M.W Turner in the early 1840s. Each watercolour depicts the transcendent view of Mount Rigi at a different time of day and the piece explores the essence of transitory light, colours and atmospheres within the paintings.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

Veiled Dawn

Commissioned by the Oxford Symphony Orchestra (Oxford's leading non-professional large symphony orchestra)

‘Holloway - the hollow way. A sunken path, a deep & shady lane. A route that centuries of foot-fall, hoof-hit, wheel-roll & rain-run have harrowed into the land. A track worn down by the traffic of ages & the fretting of water.....ways that still connect place to place & person to person'. 

Extract from 'Holloway' by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards, p. 3 (Quive-Smith Editions in 2012, Faber & Faber, London, 2013).

I was inspired to write this piece after reading Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood and Dan Richard’s book, ‘Holloway’. Following a late summer walk along an Oxfordshire holloway, I began to focus on the words above. I feel they encapsulate what I hope to evoke through the music - the power of time connecting with place along a trackway well-travelled. I am hugely grateful that the authors of the book have given me permission to include the above extract in the score and programme note. 

The Holloway was commissioned by the Oxford Symphony Orchestra and was premiered by Robert Max and the orchestra on June 22nd 2024 at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

The Holloway

Suite for Chamber Orchestra

I. Argyle
II. Nymph Divine
III. The Silver Faulken
IV. Love’s Triumph
V. The Wedding Dance

The Dancing Master is a manual containing the music and instructions for English Country Dances, first published in 1651 by John Playford. Designed to aid in the teaching of dancing, the first edition contained over 100 dances each with a single line of melody and today the manual encompasses three volumes. ‘Dancing with Playford’ is made up of five short movements, each of which uses a different Playford dance tune as its genesis.

Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival and composed in celebration of the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Jane and Robin Wickenden.

Premiered by the Presteigne Festival Orchestra conducted by George Vass on 26th August 2024.

Image © Copyright Alex Ramsay

Dancing With Playford

For Eight Voices SSAATTBB

The Royal Philharmonic Society commissioned Sarah Frances Jenkins as one of its 2024 Composers to write this work for The Marian Consort, with support from the Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund.

This piece is a reflection on extracts from William Morris’ epic poem ‘The Earthly Paradise’. The extracts chosen follow the arc of a day from the first glimmers of light at dawn through to night. The title ‘Halfway to Zenith’ is a line from Morris’ poem. ‘Zenith’, meaning ‘the high point’ and ‘the way above your head’ describes the highest point in an arc travelled by a celestial body. This work links the arc of a day with the depictions of nature found within William Morris’s and Edward Burne-Jones's exquisite artwork in the Chapel at Castle Howard, where the piece was premiered by The Marian Consort at the Ryedale Festival in 2024.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

Halfway To Zenith

for Solo Piano

Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for International Women's Day 2025 and premiered by Siwan Rhys live on BBC Radio 3’s Saturday Morning programme on Saturday 8th of March, 2025. 

Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for International Women's Day 2025 and premiered by Siwan Rhys live on BBC Radio 3’s Saturday Morning programme on Saturday 8th of March, 2025. 'I am out with lanterns, looking for myself' is a quote taken from a letter written by Emily Dickinson to her friend Elizabeth Holland in 1856. Dickinson was describing how bewildering it felt to move house. When I came across the phrase, it evoked a very strong image of someone walking into the darkness with a flickering lantern held out in front of them; on one level, exploring their new environment, but on a deeper level, looking for themselves.

To listen to Sarah's live interview with Tom Service: https://www.sarahfrancesjenkins.com/i-am-out-with-lanterns-looking-for-myself

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

I am out with Lanterns, Looking for Myself

And the Sun Stood Still [EXTRACT]
- for Symphony Orchestra

Commissioned and premiered by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Bramwell Tovey at the QEH in December, 2018.

Inspired by the winter solstice and the primal, prehistoric resonance that it holds. Images of bleached, mid-winter landscapes; crystal shafts of frozen light and an intense, bright, burning sun low on the horizon.

The energy within shafts of frozen light is depicted alongside the intense darkness invoking the ancient belief that the winter solstice was a day when dangerous spirits walked the earth. Seeing the sun at its lowest point in the sky made people fear that its strength would never return.

But ultimately the winter solstice brings a feeling of hope and renewal.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

And the Sun Stood Still [EXTRACT]

For Piano and Chamber Orchestra. Duration: 7’30”
Premiered by the Aurora Orchestra in August 2018.
When exploring Mahler's settings from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, I was struck by the beauty of those depicting nature, but also by the hidden darkness of the considerable number set in the world of soldiers. I combined lines from seven of these to create a new poem; allowing me to explore the relationship between the natural world and the duties of a soldier, through music.

The title, Trallali, Trallaley, Trallallera, reflects the folk tradition of the poems 
and also represents the youthful optimism of the soldiers during the dawn patrol. As the piece progresses, the title takes on a dark irony as the soldiers are confronted by the horrors of war; the pastoral scene interrupted by the discovery of fallen comrades. I have explored parallels between the cyclical patterns found in nature and the continuation of conflict despite "The war to end all wars". 

I hope that the piece has a special resonance with 2018 marking the centenary of the end of the First World War.

© Copyright Sarah Frances Jenkins

Trallali, Trallaley, Trallalera

Sarah Frances Jenkins is a composer and clarinettist based in the UK.

Sarah Frances Jenkins

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