Two weeks to world premiere and it’s sounding “fantastic”

Emily Hazrati, the band’s adopted composer, watched players rehearse her piece, Dawn, Wisdom, for the first time in Holy Cross Church, where it will be performed later this month.

She said:

“It was quite something experiencing Dawn, Wisdom in Holy Cross Church for the first time.

I left tonight’s rehearsal buzzing with excitement and felt particularly emotional after such a powerful rendition of the first movement!”

Dawn, Wisdom, which has three movements, is inspired by the landscape around Uckfield and is the result of 10 months of collaboration between Emily and the band.

It depicts mist rising over the River Uck, the morning sun on surrounding hills and the start of a new day.

Emily said the title was inspired by Uckfield’s origins. She said the town’s name roughly translates as “open land of a man called Ucca”, an Old English version of the Anglo-Saxon name Uhtraed, which itself means dawn-wisdom.

Dawn, Wisdom, is the central part of a free concert in Holy Cross Church on Saturday 26 October at 7.30pm. The concert also features pieces spanning five centuries, from Venice to Saturn and back to the Beatles.