Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
I’ve always bought into the idea that you have to do what you’re good at and you have to do what you love, and I’m very lucky that the two are one and the same. For as long as I can remember I’ve always thought musically. Long before any formal education in music or the piano, it seemed an obvious and natural form of expression. My mind has always been full of musical invention – as much now as when I was five years old – the only conscious decision I made was when I was 15, when I decided to write some of it down.
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
I think that discovering opera played a pivotal role in shaping my attitude towards composition and music as a whole, in that it convinced me of exactly what I wanted from a piece of music. I saw Tosca at Covent Garden, which was a perfect introduction as it clearly said to me, ‘this is what music should be, and this is how it should make you feel’. Ever since, Puccini has been extremely important to me, as has Italian opera as a whole.
Antonio Pappano at Covent Garden and James Levine at the Met Opera in New York have broadened both mine and thousands of other peoples’ love of music. On a more personal level, I am exceedingly grateful to my last piano teacher, Warren Mailley-Smith, for the mountain of support he gave me, in particular as a composer.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
I’m fortunate that I’ve never been lacking in inspiration or ideas. The greatest challenge has always been one of structure – I know what I want the music to do and have the musical ideas to express it, but sometimes putting it all together in an ordered and balanced way can prove elusive! Generally I find it just needs time – I leave something for a while, and after some time away, it either works itself out and fits together or it doesn’t. Usually it does!
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