The CD of music from my opera Jesse Owens, together with some preludes for piano are to be released shortly by Stone Records. This will be the second in a series of three, the first CD being released in January 2016. It has been somewhat strange how the music has evolved since its conception, firstly written as an opera, then modified as a song cycle (The Sharecropper’s Son), completing with Incidental Music from the Opera Jesse Owens, for full orchestra. It is the incidental music, and a collection of the songs, arranged for soprano, baritone, and piano, which will be on the new CD. 

I found the story of the iconic athlete Jesse Owens ideal for an opera, it encompassed so many of the elements needed for such a medium. It was originally conceived for the London Olympics of 2012 and I would have to say that the two years of writing marked the most desperate period of my writing life. Shortly after completing the work, the company for which I was writing the opera collapsed the proje...