The Mother of God

This work was commissioned by the Verbal Arts Centre to mark the opening of its new building at Mall Wall and Stable Lane.

'W.B. Yeats is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. He wrote The Mother of God in between two of his most magnificent poems - Byzantium and Vacillation. The words alone inspired this setting. I read them several times, and then the music came to me, fully grown.' John Tavener