The Bagpipe Society

A New Work for Old Pipes

At the end of January this year I was contacted, via Julian Goodacre, by Gina Fergione, a singer and composer. She told me that she was in the process of composing a piece called The Cornish Suite and was scoring it for voice, Cornish Bagpipes and orchestra. The timescale was tight as its premiere was due in May and she was looking for a player to perform it in concert as part of the Stoke Newington Contemporary Music Festival. Whilst never one to shy away from a challenge, I felt that this would be a step too far given my very basic grasp of the instrument! I politely declined the opportunity but took time to explain to Gina the challenge that composing for the double chanter pipes could pose both in terms of restrictions and possibilities.

The chamber opera is based on the story by librettist, Lynda Morgan, of Emily Hobhouse, an activist and campaigner in the second Boer War. She defied the government of the time to raise awareness of the conditions in British concentration camps during the war. Emily was born in Cornwall and returned there towards the end of her life. Gina knew that she wanted the sound of bagpipes in the opera, together with the cello, and in carrying out research she found a recording of Cornish pipes. She recounts that she “immediately loved the fragile, primitive and struggling sound, which seemed to represent the challenges that Emily had experienced in her life“.

Not being able to help her myself, I contacted a few people who I thought may be better suited to the task but these approaches did not bear fruit. With a following of over 2000, I decided to put a notice up on the Bagpipe Society’s Facebook page asking if there were any players of the Cornish Double Chanter Bagpipes out there who would be able to work with Gina on this project. Sure enough, the power of Facebook delivered and Thomas Aber got in touch with me. Thomas Aber is a recently retired professional orchestral clarinettist, based in Missouri, and declared himself to not only be a player of Cornish bagpipes but he would be more than happy to cope with any challenge thrown up by a contemporary music score. Perfect! Thomas had worked on another contemporary music project using Cornish pipes so this was familiar territory for him. I put the composer and the piper in touch with each other. Thomas had been immediately intrigued by the project and when he found out more about the progressive subject matter of Gina’s opera, the deal was sealed. Living in the States was not an issue and, as Thomas explains, “long distance collaboration has become all too familiar in recent times, so that aspect of the project was not an unusual challenge“. Thomas sent Gina some audio clips of his playing, along with a description of the pipe’s range and abilities with playing harmonies and she, in turn, sent some themes to record. There was some give and take with regards to tempo and the use of a basic tonic drone versus more complex harmonisation. Thomas then sent her some recorded segments to include in her work. He has not yet heard the finished result!

Gina completed the work at the end of April and it has its premiere on 8th May as part of the Stoke Newington Contemporary Music Festival. Gina will sing the role of the protagonist and the soundtrack will include a recording of the Cornish bagpipes by Thomas Aber. She has told me that this has been, so far, one of the most challenging things she’s ever done – but hopefully the most rewarding. I wish her every success with this work and am pleased to have played a small part in helping her achieve her aims.