A rare butterfly and Britain’s largest slug are amongst the animals which have inspired a piece of music to be performed by the Lyric Chamber Orchestra.
Local composer Gabi Mills came across Dartmoor’s Little Five and decided to write some music about the National Park’s special wildlife.
Gabi said:
“I came across the Little Five on the National Park website. I studied biology at university, and yet I’d never heard of some of these animals. It’s amazing that we have this habitat on our doorstep, and yet most people don’t know about these creatures.”
The globally endangered Marsh Fritillary Butterfly inspired Gabi to write a movement with solo flute, the cello plays the solo for Britain’s largest slug, and another movement in the piece was composed about the rare Blue Ground Beetle. Gabi decided to add a movement about the buzzard; although the bird was not included in Dartmoor’s Little Five, she felt it appropriate to include a more commonly recognised animal.
Gabi began composing during lockdown. She said:
“Music has always been part of my life; it’s like another language. The musical ideas have always been at the back of my head, and letting them out during lockdown was kind of cathartic.”
The Lyric Chamber Orchestra’s Music Director Trish Calnan said:
“Each time we play the Dartmoor suite, I hear so many new and different colours in it, and I’m really loving playing the piece. I love the way Gabi writes, with really interesting and wonderful harmonies, and I feel very strongly that she composes music with an important story which makes the notes fill with colour, joy and humour too.”
The orchestra will perform Gabrielle Mills’ ‘Dartmoor Suite’ as part of a programme of contemporary music, which also includes works by local composer Elfyn Jones, Jeff Moore’s ‘The Sea and the Sky’ and the rarely-performed Cello Concertino by Hans Gál.
The concerts will take place:
7pm Friday 7 November 7pm atSt Edmunds Church, Kingsbridge
4pm on Saturday 8 November at St Johns Church, Bridgetown, Totnes
3pm on Sunday 9 November at St Andrew’s Church, Ashburton.
Full details and ticket information are available on the Lyric website.
Gillian Taylor PR 