Jonathan Slade, our Senior School peripatetic Flute teacher, has been working on a very exciting venture. The composition started as a fun project for the summer break last year, but got a little out of hand and ended up consuming all of his free time until mid-November! It turned into a large four-movement sonata with lots of shared themes, tracing a journey from the drama and conflict of the opening movement to a hopeful and redemptive conclusion in the last.

Jonathan, or Jonty as he prefers, is delighted that the sonata has been published by Aurea Capra Editions, with distribution across Europe, the US and Australia. A recording with the principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, Gareth Davies, is slated for release in July, and internationally celebrated flautist Michael Cox will give the UK premiere at the Just Flutes Festival in August. Although the work is written for advanced players, the slow movement is of around Grade 7 level. He is thrilled that Isabella in the Lower VI will be the first of his students to perform this movement at The Abbey!