In mid-2023, the Royal School of Church Music invited Joanna Forbes L’Estrange to write a 40-minute work, giving her free rein to compose whatever she chose, as long as it had broad appeal.

“There was no requirement for it to be exclusively ‘churchy’ in its subject matter,” says the British composer.

“I had the idea to write a piece about the changing of the seasons, since this is something which everyone in the world can relate to, and so I started collecting texts which would form the basis of the music. I quickly discovered that Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons had been published in 1725 and would, therefore, have its 300th anniversary in 2025,” she tells Limelight.

Joanna Forbes L’Estrange. Photo supplied

“Although lots of composers have written pieces inspired by The Four Seasons, none of them have composed a choral version, so I set about reimagining Vivaldi’s violin concertos to see if [they] would work for choir. I’ve loved this music since I was a little girl and have often thought that melodies as good as these deserve to be sung! To get inspiration, I went to Venice to hear the piece...