International Double Reed Society ​
50 for 50 
​Commissioning Grant-winner, 2022
Until the completion of Seville Cathedral in the early C16, Hagia Sophia was the world's largest church. Built by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century AD, it was the centre of Orthodox worship for the Byzantine, eastern Roman Empire until it fell to the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s. 
​Like Troparion, Byzantion I - Hagia Sophia is based upon Greek Orthodox chant:  this time, a Prokeimenon from a C12 manuscript from Patmos. Like Rievaulx - which features Gregorian chant at the beginning of the piece - it is also a piece about an iconic church building which testifies to the past, even though its function differs today. 
​​Hagia Sophia has two principal sources of inspiration:  the Icons of Sound virtual acoustic joint project between Stanford University and the choir Cappella Romana; and W.B. Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium (from The Tower [1928]). 

Byzantion I -
Hagia Sophia (2022)

for Cor anglais*, Bassoon** & Piano

Duration 5'20"

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"As in the gold mosaic of a wall..."
*or Tenor Saxophone or Viola;  **or Baritone Saxophone or Cello
Mixing and matching single and double reeds and/or strings is permitted.
Performance History
World Premiere
​ 51st IDRS Conference
Thursday 28 July 2022 - University of Colorado Boulder
with Kathleen Carter Bell, English Horn; Conor Bell, Bassoon;  Stephen Innis, Piano
​Second Performance
Saturday 18 February 2023 - Faculty Recital, Performing Arts Centre,
​ Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Kathleen Carter Bell, English Horn; Conor Bell, Bassoon; & Tiantian Liang, Piano
Third Performance
​Saturday 1 April 2023 - Honors Recital, The Recital Hall, Voxman Music Building,
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
​Amelia Johnson, English Horn; Sara Remoy, Bassoon; Mariya Akhadjanova, Piano 
​​​Watch on YouTube

British Premiere
​Thursday 29 June 2023
Trinity Laban Black Culture 365 Composer Feature Concert #2
St. Alfege Church, Greenwich, London ​SE10
​​Jessica Berry, Tenor Sax; Louis Suc, Baritone Sax; Leo Nicholson, Piano

Fifth Performance
Sunday 24 September 2023 at 1600 EDT
Sara Fruehe, Bassoon & members of the Off-Broadway Trio (English Horn & Piano)
Schwob School of Music, Columbus State University, Georgia, USA
​LIVESTREAM
Based in London, England, international prizewinning musician Althea Talbot-Howard is a classical composer who began her professional career in 1992 as a soloist and orchestral guest principal. In 2005, Gramophone Magazine called her “a superb oboist”.  A graduate of Girton College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music; she won Third Prize in the Paris-Ville d'Avray International Oboe Competition in 2007; and was one of twelve equal prizewinners in the Ora Singers Christmas Gift Composition Competition in 2019. 
​​
Of Afro-British ancestry, she is a 12th-generation direct descendant of King Charles II, who formalized Britain’s involvement in the Atlantic slave trade; and therefore a 14th-generation descendant of King James I & VI, who commissioned the Authorized Version of the Bible.  Both anti-slavery and Christian themes feature strongly in her compositional output.