Colour Poems was written for the Cheltenham Bach Choir (conductor Stephen Jackson), for their ‘Gloucestershire Composers’ concert in June 2006.
The piece is dedicated to the memory of two people who influenced my early musical life. John Sanders was choirmaster at Gloucester Cathedral whilst I was a chorister there and introduced me to a vast amount of fabulous choral music. Later, as I was leaving school to study music in London, the composer Tony Hewitt-Jones took the time to look at my early compositions, encouraging me to think about new ideas and structures. Both had strong connections with the Cheltenham Bach Choir, as do my parents, so it seemed very fitting, as well as a privilege, to contribute a piece to CBC's repertoire.
The texts are four Haiku, a Japanese form in which (most commonly) a poem has three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. They were written by Charlotta, then aged 10, for a school project in English at Dumpton School, Dorset.