First real day of real life after Durham. It’s been quiet, but productive. I’ve worked through a bunch of stuff off my to-do list – sent a ton of emails, updated my website with the recording of the string quintet and generally sorted things out a bit. I also made a start on all three pieces I’ve been thinking of starting over the past couple of weeks – the orchestral arrangement of Deconstruct: Point, line, plane for the London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra call for scores; a solo cello tango I’m thinking of submitting to the Sequenza 21 call for scores; and finally took the first tentative steps towards my first opera. I’ve known what I wanted it to be about for some time (keeping it secret for now!) but I wasn’t sure how to begin. After talking to one of the composers at Durham I got all fired up and a bit of an idea on how to approach it, so now I’ve asked a friend who has a strong interest in the subject area to recommend some books, which she has, and I’m thinking of characters and possible arias and how to structure the whole thing. Very exciting!