A song for composer John Woolrich, for tenor voice, bass clarinet and violin. Performed for its world premiere by James Gilchrist, Adrian Adlam and Mark van de Wiel in Folkestone, 2026.

The libretto for this song began with a list of common names for fungi, exclusively ones I have found myself in the wild. The names suggest characters, foods and not surprisingly, warnings of danger. I wove these into a dark fable, rendered eerie by the musical contrasts of high and low registers around the tenor voice.

“Maidens in their rosy bonnets,

Feast on beefsteak, witches’ butter.

Sup from goblet, scarlet elfcup,

Swallow silky oysterlings.”

– extract from Wood-wake

This is one of a series of fungi-inspired songs I am working on, to create a flexible cycle or book of songs from which pieces can be recombined for performance.