Concert
Vocal and Choral
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This work was commissioned to commemorate the acquisition by the Victoria and Albert Museum of Queen Victoria's sapphire and diamond coronet. It explores the meaning and history of the piece in a setting of eight poems, written by women across different cultures over three thousand years and translated by Jane Hirshfield, for mezzo soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra.
Commissioners: Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells, premiere 11 April 2019
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A setting of the liturgical text, for choir and organ.
Commissioner:
The Norfolk and Norwich Festival, premiere 6 May 2006
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A setting of the liturgical text, for choir and organ.
Commissioner:
Wells Cathedral Choir, premiere 2 October 2022
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This hour-long a cappella work describes the ancient Christian pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela through a collage of sacred, mediaeval and original texts, assembled and added to by poet Robert Dicksinson, whose various languages and tones reflect both the diversity among pilgrims and the experience of pilgrimage itself.
Commissioner: Tenebrae, premiere 17 July 2005
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Joby’s first setting of a modern language other than English follows the dreamlike flow of Octavio Paz’s epic circular poem, known in English as Sunstone, as the a cappella choir journeys through the poet’s surreal cosmic vision.
Commissioner:
Conspirare, premiere 23 January 2026
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An exquisite setting of W. B. Yeats’ short poem of deluded longing.
Commissoner:
Tenebrae, premiere 11 December 2026
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This a cappella work took for its text the Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie's meditation on the folk custom of wishing trees, into the trunks and limbs of which people would press coins in hopes of obtaining their dearest desires. The setting passes the lines of the poem between three tenors and three baritones and was inspired by Elizabethan madrigals, written as it was in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee and premiered by the King's Singers in a 2002 BBC Prom entitled The Oriana Collection, which also featured madrigals from Thomas Morley's 1601 compilationThe Triumphs of Oriana (a common contemporary reference to Queen Elizabeth I)
Commissioner:
The King’s Singers, premiere 25 July 2002
Instrumental
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In 1963, celebration of his 50th birthday, Benjamin Britten was asked to conduct a Prom of his own music and began the programme with his arrangement of Henry Purcell's Chacony in G Minor. Almost 50 years later, Joby reworked Purcell’s original to offer a new arrangement of the work in commemoration of that event.
Commissoner:
BBC Proms, premiere 14 August 2011 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
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Written for soloist Alison Balsom, this work describes the dramatic landscapes of eastern California's Sierra Nevada.
Commissoner:
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, premiere 28 October 2006
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Written for acclaimed soloist Miloš Karadaglić, this work both describes the phases of the moon, and reflects Karadaglić’s Montenegran heritage.
Commissioner:
BBC Radio 3 and Borusan Istanbul, premiere 2 August 2018 at the BBC Proms
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This 15-minute work mirrors the phenomenon known as a sneaker or sleeper wave, most prevalent on the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States and Canada. These waves build under the surface by gathering the force of other, smaller waves through which they travel, creating a massive swell which then engulfs the shore.
Commissioner:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, premiere 2 September 2004, BBC Proms
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Originally conceived as a dance score for Carolyn Carlson's Eau, this work has since been adapted for concert use. It describes the various properties, processes and systems of water. Parts of the work form the score for Christopher Wheeldon's 2013 work, also called Tide Harmonic, premiered by Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Commissioner:
CCN Roubaix, premiere 2009
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Commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra as part of the interactive installation Universe of Sound, this response to Holst's The Planets was presented as an eighth movement to that piece. The title is drawn from the 1821 play Cain by Lord Byron.
Commissioner: Philharmonia Orchestra, premiere 8 July 2012