I had in fact, not been singing for long when my teacher suggested I enter for the Patricia Routledge prize. [1st Prize winner 2014].

I was studying privately alongside my doctoral work. I was unsure as to which path to take – singing or research – and my experience in that competition played a huge part in swaying me towards a singing career.
I was slightly at a loss as to where to start, but it seemed clear that a programme with a coherent theme would be better received than a random collection of songs pulled together by a loose idea…There were many hours spent in the library poring over collections of songs. After a while, a theme began to emerge: ‘Night time and the Moon’.

I felt the keystone of the programme should be Finzi’s setting of Hardy’s ‘At a lunar eclipse’, and this choice set the tone for other pieces that later joined it. Hardy’s text is extraordinary, and the tension between the peaceful shadow of the earth creeping across the moon is set against the knowledge of tumult in the human world.

As a result of this first song, I hit on the idea of weaving a set of pieces together along the lines of a journey through a single night. There was no distinction between poem and song in terms of hierarchy in the programme – each component was chosen to weave my story…Warlock’s ‘Autumn twilight’ showed night creeping in across the landscape, then came Manley Hopkins’ ‘Moonrise’, followed by Armstrong Gibbs’ ‘Silver’.

Larkin’s (‘Sad Steps’), which brims with the speaker’s acerbic thoughts, was followed by the Finzi, then Jeffrey’s ‘Omens’, which describes that ghostly time before dawn. Finally, Lord Alfred Douglas’ ‘Night coming out of a garden’ saw night retreat in the face of the coming day. Finally, the programme exploded into Quilter’s sparkling setting of Blake’s ‘Daybreak’.

I had no idea what to expect when I went for the first round. However, all went well, and I was thrilled to hear that I had reached the final.

The experience of singing in the final competition was wonderful. I knew my vocal technique was nowhere near as polished as my fellow competitors but, given that my goal had been to reach the final, I felt that I had already done well and resolved to simply enjoy myself! There was a very supportive atmosphere among the competitors; everyone was warm and friendly, which put me at my ease. After we had all finished our programmes, we awaited the judges’ decision, and I was stunned to hear that I had come second in the competition. The judges’ feedback was very positive, including useful suggestions for the future.

Getting to meet and have my photograph taken with Patricia Routledge was a highlight, too.

The competition gave me the direction to change course from engineering to full-time music. So two years later, I entered again, this time as a 1st year post-grad at RWCMD.

Having constructed one programme already was a great help. I was already sure I wanted to create a recital around some poems and songs from the First World War, the 100th anniversary of the start of which fell just a few months after the final. Although I didn’t want to repeat the same structure as in 2012, I again ended up with a quasi-narrative framework: John Jeffreys’ setting of ‘Black Stitchel’ ponders the gathering force of war. The insistent beat of a military drum accompanies the soldiers ‘marching all to war’ in Gurney’s setting of AE Housman’s ‘On the idle hill of summer’, and Wilfred Owen’s letter tells of arrival at the mud of the front. Elgar’s ‘A war song’ (1894) was included because it typifies the kind of arrogance that drove many men to their deaths in Flanders fields. Another of Owen’s letters describes the hell of ‘going over the top’, and Jeffreys’ Otterburn tells of ‘the lad who went to Flanders and never will return’. Owen’s harrowing ‘Spring Offensive’ fails to make sense of the slaughter, while Ireland’s ‘Spring Sorrow’ talks simply of the tentative green shoots that come after even this, the hardest of winters. It was not an easy programme to sing, but it earned me First Prize.

I can only encourage people who share my love of English Song to enter this competition. The experience it gave me of programme construction was invaluable and I can’t think of any other opportunity like it to deliver what can be a truly personal performance. Not only that, but I learnt that poetry and song deserve to share the stage equally, there are no two ways about it!

[Edited 2025]