To find out more about the artistic conception behind 
Byzantion I, II, III & IV, ​
a new cycle of pieces for
​​English Horn, Bassoon & Piano OR
Tenor & Bari Saxes & Piano,
in different combinations, visit​
​ABOUT BYZANTION
Byzantion II ~ Bassoon/Bari Sax & Piano
WANTED!!  Co-commissioners to give state premieres during 2024-2025!

CONSORTIUM DATES & FEES
Consortium Opened: Tuesday 4 June 2024
World Premiere at IDRS: Tuesday 23 July 2024 at 1015 in Kitt Recital Hall, NAU, AZ, USA
Closing Date: The earliest possible closing date is 30 September. However, the consortium will remain open until my fee has been met.  Therefore, anyone wanting to perform the piece will need to become a co-commissioner.  Please note the benefits, listed below, that co-commissioning brings.  Many thanks!
PDF Score & Part sent out by email: from Friday 09 August 2024*
*alternative scores for Bari Sax & Bass Clarinet will also be available, sometime after 09 August
Exclusivity Period: Until 10 June 2025, or thereafter, should the consortium still be open
​Only co-commissioners will be able to play the piece, for as long as the consortium remains open.
​
Co-commissioners’ names will be listed at the front of the score, and also on this website. ​​
Included in the package: BONUS SCORES & major discount on The Door of No Return!
​
Co-commissioners are offered one or two free scores, as follows:

Option One – 1 Work for Piano Trio 
A free PDF score & parts of Byzantion I – Hagia Sophia for EH, Bassoon & Piano ​
Option Two: 2 High-Low Duets
​A free PDF score of On Walmer Beach  for English Horn & Bassoon/Bari Sax/Bass Clarinet
​PLUS ...
​​Three Country Dances by Ignatius Sancho for Oboe & Bassoon/Bari Sax/Bass Clarinet
On Walmer Beach is an original work, whilst Three Country Dances is my new transcription of three short pieces by ex-slave British composer Ignatius Sancho. They are beautiful dances (one reel, one courtly dance and one jig) - and the back story behind their composition is quite remarkable.  Videos of both works can be viewed on their Feature Pages.  

​Please let me know your required instrumentation.  Many thanks.
PROMOTIONAL OFFER for Co-commissioners, only: 50% OFF The Door of No Return at June Emerson Wind Music!
Find out more about The Door of No Return for Bassoon & Piano
PRICE
Standard Rate: US$125.00/£99.00
Student Rate: $99.00/£78.00
TO JOIN THE CONSORTIUM...
Please send a message via the CONTACT page. Many thanks. ​
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.