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PRAISE & REVELATION This entirely new work was specially commissioned by the Heathfield Choral Society to celebrate the Millennium. It was made possible by a grant from the National Lottery Fund. Stuart Johnson chose texts from the Book of Psalms and the Revelation of St John (the last book of the New Testament), and set them for Chorus and Brass Band (with an alternative arrangement for Organ and Solo Trumpet). Click here for the Text of Praise & Revelation Stuart Johnson comes from Staffordshire and he was Director of Music for the county before he retired in 1997. Early in his life he had experience as a player in brass bands including the band of the King's Dragoon Guards. He then trained as a teacher to work in schools. For a period he was a lecturer at Northumberland College of Education and then became Music Director to the Metropolitan District of Sandwell. This was followed by his appointment to Staffordshire. He has long experience as a conductor, particularly in the choral and band fields and also wide experience as an adjudicator and examiner. He has written prolifically for bands and orchestras and his teaching publications are used in many countries. He has published over eighty compositions and arrangements, many of which have been broadcast on radio or television. His commissioned works include the cantata David and Goliath for the London Borough of Barnet which was first performed at the Royal Festival Hall; Oregon Overture for wind orchestra for the City of Oregon USA; Landscapes commissioned by the BBC to mark the 21st anniversary of local radio broadcasting in Stoke-on-Trent; Sinfonietta No.2 for the County of Hertfordshire; Wessex Dances for Swindon Concert Band and A Castle Suite for the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. He has recently completed several commissions, funded by National Lottery grants, for bands in Cumbria, the Isle of Wight, and Staffordshire. A recent work is Requiem for Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra. This was premiered successfully in front of a capacity audience in Lichfield Cathedral in March 1997, and received its first London performance at St John's Smith Square in March 1998. Stuart has written extensively for the theatre, his music for the production of Ann of the Five Towns was used for both the radio and television adaptations. In his book Wind Bands and Brass Bands in Schools and Music Centres, Dr. Devin Thompson describes Stuart Johnson as an eclectic "...who is more prolific than any other individual writer of repertoire for school bands." His music ranges in style from the evocative and demanding Sinfonietta for Wind Orchestra to his ubiquitous Bandstand Boogie which has set feet tapping all over the world. Apart from the latter his most performed work is probably Circus Suite, which was the British Youth Band Championship test piece in 1980. Northumbrian Suite and Landscapes have also been used as National Brass Band Championship test pieces. His recent composition The Flint Knappers was commissioned as a test piece for the 1998 East Anglian Band Festival and selected as a test piece for the 1999 Australian Championships. |
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