Roxanna Panufnik's new work, Seven Heavens, written for brass septet Septura's 10th anniversary, receives its world premiere this Saturday November 16 at Wigmore Hall in London.
When brass septet, Septura, approached me about a 10th anniversary commission and mentioned the word ‘spiritual’ the Muslim concept of seven levels, or ‘Jannah', of paradisiacal afterlife came to mind. Each heaven has its own unique mood and atmosphere, with metaphorical imagery, and is be portrayed in a short movement, where one of the players will be featured as a soloist, with the other six accompanying them. Throughout the piece I have used Arab maqāms (or scales) to place the work’s sound world at the source of Islam. - Roxanna Panufnik
Seven Heavens is the latest work to join Panufnik's extensive and varied collection, which was celebrated earlier this week at the Ivors Classical Awards 2024 where she took home the award for Outstanding Works Collection. Find out about the award here.
