The award-winning composer Michael Nyman has created a new piece of music inspired by the Hawick Missal fragment, of which Dr Matthew Cheung Salisbury has played a key role in researching.

In 2012 we reported on how Dr Matthew Cheung Salisbury, stipendiary lecturer in music at Univ, helped to identify an 800 year old medieval holy music manuscript and assess its significance. Dr Salisbury translated the text of the Hawick Missal Fragment from the original Latin and transcribed the music into modern notation. We then reported in July how the Fragments Project (of which Dr Salisbury is a key member) brought together a group of singers and that the first ever recording of the music of the fragment was made at the chapel of Worcester College, Oxford.

The latest exciting news from the project is that the award-winning composer Michael Nyman has written a work inspired by the themes of the project, with the music from the fragment as its starting point. As musical director of the project, Dr Salisbury worked with him to develop the background of the work, discussing the fragment’s music and to illustrate the project’s historical backdrop. Nyman held the premiere for his composition at Kelso Parish Church on 14th September.

Further information on BBC News.

Published: 2 October 2013

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