“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
Dear Friends, I hope the New Year brings you health, contentment and all good things. For myself, 2025 is going to be a milestone year as I will be celebrating my 70th birthday in July. But before I say more about the events being planned to mark the occasion, I would just like to look back on some of high points of 2024. The year began with a brilliant song recital given by Rachel Roper (mezzo-soprano) and Claire Habbershaw (pianist) entitled ‘My Heart Makes Songs On Lonely Roads’.
Based on my song cycle The Pine Boughs Past Music Op.39, pianist Claire Habbershaw curated and directed an innovative presentation of readings and musical settings of Gurney’s poetry that told the story of his tragic life.
The Dante String Quartet and Brian Thorsett
In March, I attended a concert at The Conway Hall, London that featured my 1997 song cycle, Invite, to Eternity Op.31, inspired by the poetry of John Clare. The acclaimed American tenor Brian Thorsett and the Dante String Quartet, gave a memorable performance. Reviewing the concert for ‘Musical Opinion’ the editor, Robert Matthew Walker, wrote. ‘a performance of considerable depth and insight by Brian Thorsett.’ He continued, ‘Ian Venables is without doubt a truly gifted communicator of genuine musical qualities, one who deserves the attention of all serious singers.’ One of the major highlights of 2024 was the premiere in April, of my song cycle Out of the Shadows Op.55 given by the baritone Gareth Brynmor John, and the Pheonix Piano Trio at St John the Evangelist church in Oxford. Commissioned by Robert Venables KC in celebration of his thirtieth anniversary with his partner Gary Morris, the cycle consists of six settings of poems ‘themed’ around the love of man for man. In my programme note I suggested that the universality of love transcends sexual categories, and is at the heart of a humane world where gay people no longer need to hide in ‘the shadows.’
Gareth Brynmor John with marked eloquence captured the spirit of every song, lending it charm, carefully differentiating the moods particular and special to all six, weaving gorgeous expression, phenomenally rich timbres and a wealth of intelligent insights from the subtle web of Venables’s writing Roderic Dunnett, Classical Music
For Roderic Dunnett’s insightful review please click the following link: https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2024/06/venables.htm
In July, two critically acclaimed young American musicians, soprano Ellen Leslie and pianist Eric Choate gave a truly magical song recital at Elmslie House in Great Malvern, Worcestershire. Drawing together a wide-ranging programme of English and American music that included song settings by Eric Choate and Ian Venables, the concert also featured the premiere of my song Beginning at the End; a setting of a poem by the contemporary British poet, Jonathan Davidson.
The 2024 Worcester, Three Choirs Festival,
At the end of 2023, I was delighted to receive a commission from the Worcester, Three Choirs Festival, to compose a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for the combined Three Choirs Festival Evensong.The premiere to place on the 31st July, conducted by Samuel Hudson; the Director of Music at Worcester Cathedral and Artistic Director of the Festival and the service was broadcast live by BBC Radio 3.
Ian Venables and Dr Paul Ellison
On the same day, Dr Paul Ellison from San Francisco State University gave a brilliant and illuminating talk entitled, ‘Pathways to the Divine’ in which he discussed my Requiem alongside Rossini’s ‘Petit messe solennelle’. Illustrated with well-chosen examples and audio extracts, Dr Ellison focused upon two important elements in my Requiem, ‘the influence of the ancient modes, and the technique of word painting’ in order to show, as he put it ‘how Venables’ Requiem establishes pathways to the Divine’.In the evening concert on the penultimate day of the festival my Requiem Op.48 was given an outstanding performance. The Festival’s Youth Choir sang with great vitality, commitment and expressiveness and the London Philharmonia Orchestra were of top form under the consummate direction the conductor, Adrian Partington.The enthusiastic response from the audience, while taking my bow, was quite overwhelming.
a work of ravishing beauty. Every feature of it – the masterly way he employs just a handful of enchanting short phrases or motifs, beautifully related; the refined judgment he displays to elaborating every movement or section; the delicacy and intensity he brings to each evolving phrase; the wisdom with which he treats each line of the text, confirm the work as an undoubted masterpiece…’ Roderic Dunnett ,Church Times
Three Choirs Festival performance of Requiem
The performance was a triumph in every respect. Masterfully conducted by Adrian Partington, the Festival Youth Choir gave an outstanding account of the music… the Requiem is his finest achievement to date. This memorable performance confirmed me in that view (John Quinn, Seen and Heard)
A Documentary Film by Anthony Cheng
The US Premiere Screening of Anthony Cheng’s film documentary – ‘Hidden Music’ took place at ‘North American British Music Studies Association’ biennial conference at Oberlin, Ohio.
“Based on interviews with the composer, leading musicians and performers, the documentary presents an intimate portrait of his life and development as a composer of art-song, chamber and choral music”.
Anthony Cheng’s film was made with the generous support of the Limoges Trust
In the Autumn of 2024, my husband and I visited San Francisco, and stayed with our artist friend, Margaret Atkinson in the small seaside town of Half Moon Bay. Here, I 
found time to work on the final song in my new cycle The Wreaths of Time, co-commissioned by the American tenor, Brian Thorsett and Dante String Quartet. I was also invited to speak to the composition students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on the subject of art-song.
A few days later I had the great pleasure of attending a concert given by the tenor Brian Thorsett, soprano Ellen Leslie, cellist Matthew Linaman and pianist Kevin Korth all of who presented a programme of American songs by three distinguished SFCM Alumni composers, David Conte, Byron Adams, and Eric Choate.
SFCM Alumni Concert
I was honoured to be represented on the programme, and particularly as Brian Thorsett and Kevin Korth gave the US premiere of my Walt Whitman cycle; The Last Invocation Op.50. Furthermore, Ellen Leslie, accompanied by Kevin Korth performed three of my songs; Love lives beyond the tomb, Flying Crooked, and The November Piano.
It was a marvellous occasion and a joy to discover some exquisitely beautiful new music. Art-song is certainly alive and well on the West coast! To hear the SFCM premiere of The Last Invocation on Youtube, please click the following link: https://youtu.be/Mn4L-thASak
FORTHCOMING EVENTS IN 2025
As I mentioned earlier, I will be celebrating my 70th birthday this year. How did this happen, I ask myself?! But birth certificates do not lie, and my friends have been urging me to mark the occasion. With this in mind there are a number of concerts and events happening that will feature my music. For further details please go to the ‘Performances’ page on my website.
London Schools Symphony Orchestra Concert at the Barbican
Tuesday 14th January at 7.30
Conductor, Michael Lynch
2025 opens with the inspiring and award-winning conductor, Matthew Lynch leading the London Schools Symphony Orchestra in a programme of music by Britten and Holst and a performance of my Venetian Songs Op.22 in a newly orchestrated arrangement by Matthew Lynch. The songs will be sung by the tenor Alessandro Fisher; a BBC New Generation Artist and First Prize Winner at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. For further details and tickets please click the following link: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/london-schools-symphony-orchestra
Song Recital – ‘Love, Lives Beyond The Tomb’
Wednesday 5th February at the 1901 Arts Club, London at 8 p.m
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- Claire Habbershaw
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- James Laing
With James Laing – counter tenor and pianist Claire Habbershaw
7.30pm – Pre-concert talk with Dr Jonathan Clinch from the Herbert Howells Society
For further details about the programme and tickets please click the following link: https://www.1901artsclub.com/5-feb-2025-love-lives-beyond-the-tomb.html
This recital is sponsored by The Herbert Howells Society
Song Recital – ‘The Truth about Love’
Rachel Roper (mezzo-soprano) and Claire Habbershaw (pianist)
Friday 14th February at 7.30 p.m at the Bishop’s Palace, Hereford
Rachel Roper and Claire Habbershaw
‘The Truth About Love’ explores the themes of love and companionship in music. Their recital will include a performance of The Pine Boughs Past Music Op.39; a song cycle set to poems by Ivor Gurney. For further details and tickets please click the following link: https://3choirs.org/events/the-truth-about-love
‘Best of British’ – A Two-Day Celebration at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
17th and 18th February
‘A two-day celebration of invigorating, stimulating and enjoyable home-grown piano music, performed by RBC pianists and internationally-renowned artists’
The best of British highlights the major keyboard works of John Joubert, long-time music lecturer at University of Birmingham, and Dorothy Howell, a Birmingham native now enjoying a resurgence of interest. Interspersed with a Best of Birmingham theme, are major keyboard works by John Ireland, Frank Bridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ian Venables.
Day 1 – Lunchtime concert – ‘Made in Birmingham’ (1.05 am) is given by Rebecca Watson, John Lee, Ruimei Huang, Chiara Thomson, Ningxi Wu, Rufus Wainright, Zixin Wen and includes works by Joubert, Howell and Edmunds.
Afternoon Concert (3pm) is given by Chu Yu Yang violin, Eric McElroy, Yinan Tong, Roman Kosyakov, John Lee pianists and features music by Bridge and Ireland and includes Venables’s Three Pieces for Violin and Piano Op.11
Evening Concert (7.pm) showcases three major British chamber works, Ireland’s, Piano Trio, Elgar’s Piano Quintet, and Ian Venables’ Piano Quintet Op.27. For this concert, Roberto Ruisi (violin), Nicholas Trygstad (‘cello) and two student string players from RBC will be joined by the renowned pianist Mark Bebbington.
For further details and booking information please click the following link: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/events-calendar/best-of-british-17-18-02-2025
The Dante Quartet’s US Tour and Premiere of
‘The Wreaths of Time’ Op.57
6th March
The Moss Arts Center, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, in North Virginia
Brian Thorsett (tenor) and The Dante String Quartet
For the past six months I have been working on a new song cycle, commissioned by the acclaimed American singer Brian Thorsett, and in collaboration with the Dante Quartet; one of the UK’s most celebrated string quartets. While I was given complete freedom to decide which texts to set, my long standing and close association with Brian Thorsett made the subject of American poetry a natural choice. But what ‘theme’ or ‘themes’ would serve to bind together the cycle? Having taught US Politics, and drawing upon my memories and impressions of living in Boston for two months in 2005 I was instinctively drawn to the idea of exploring key moments in US political and social history. Of course, deciding upon a general theme was relatively easy but now the search for the right poems would begin, and this took quite some time. Apart from one poet, whose work I had set before, the cycle is based upon 19th and 20th century poets whose poetry I was less familiar with, and in two cases, a poet who I have never heard of!
Here is the cycle’s thematic arrangement along with the associated poet: ‘The War of Independence’ (Ralph Waldo Emerson), ‘The Civil War’ (Herman Melville), ‘Equal Rights for Women’ (Edna St Vincent Millay), ‘Racial Equality’ (Georgina Douglas Johnson), ‘Satire and Culture’ (Ogden Nash); ‘The Gay Rights Movement’ (Todd S.J Lawson), ‘Dreams and Hope’ (Langston Hughes). Central to each poem is the voice of the individual who find themselves caught up in the upheaval of their times.
For tickets and further information about the concert please click the following link:https://artscenter.vt.edu/performances/dante-quartet.html
The Dante Quartet continue their US tour with Brian Thorsett and will give three further performances of ‘The Wreaths of Time’. The first will be on the 8th March in San Francisco (details to follow) followed by a concert at Stanford University on Sunday 9th March and a final performance in San Francisco on the 11th March (details to follow). Please see ‘Performances in 2025’ page.
“Moments in Time” String Classics with
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conductor by Michael Poll
6th March at Lancaster Arts
Opening with George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, discover a composer who was the first African-American composer to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music. This work has been performed only four times in the UK. This evening will also include a rare performance of Grażyna Bacewicz’s Sinfonietta for String Orchestra, one of the greatest Polish composers of the twentieth century. The programme will also include the world premiere of the string orchestra version of Ian Venables’ Portrait of Janis. For tickets and further details please click the link below.
“One the most exciting events of 2025, is the Worcester Elgar Festival that runs from the 24th May to Sunday 1st June”
The 2025 Elgar Festival, Worcester
As this year’s ‘Composer in Residence’ I am involved in a number of activities during the week. 
I am particularly looking forward to working with a group of young singers in a Masterclass at Elgar’s Birthplace on Tuesday 27 May. For this event, the festival have invited applications from singers aged between 18 and 25 who would like to take part in a workshop that would give them an opportunity to study an English Song of their choice with the renowned British soprano, April Fredrick.
Another highlight of the week will be the showing of a new documentary film, entitled ‘Hidden Music’ directed by Anthony Cheng.
“Based on interviews with the composer, leading musicians and performers, the documentary presents an intimate portrait of his life and development as a composer of art-song, chamber and choral music”
The screening will be preceded by a performance of my Three Pieces for Violin given by violinist Shuwei 
Zuo and pianist Jiayi Chen.
The film will be followed by a Q and A session, hosted by Classic FM’s Zeb Soanes.
Friday 30th May sees a very special lunchtime recital at Huntingdon Hall given by April Fredrick, soprano, and pianist and composer Eric McElroy.
This song-recital bridges the Atlantic with an inspired blend of British, American, and Anglo-American composers including Elgar, Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Bliss, and featuring Ian Venables’s, song cycle Love’s Voice Op.22.
The recital concludes with Eric McElroy’s own song-cycle of war-poems by Robert Graves, A Dead Man’s Embers.
Choral events at the festival include a morning concert on the Saturday 31st May at 11 a.m at St Martin’s in the Cornmarket by the Elgar Chorale conducted by Piers Maxim.
The Elgar Chorale, conducted by Piers Maxim
This concert will include a performance of my setting of Psalm 67, O God Be Merciful. Considered by many to be the greatest organists of modern times, David Briggs transcriptions of symphonic masterpieces by Mahler, Vaughan Williams and Elgar have astounded audiences worldwide.
At 3 p.m
“Briggs performs his stunning transcription of Elgar’s First Symphony alongside the master’s Organ Sonata and the evocative and beautiful Rhapsody Op.25 by festival featured composer Ian Venables.” The instrument chosen for this very special event is the organ built by Nicholson & Co. Ltd in The Priory Church at Great Malvern.
Festival Choral Evensong at 5.30 p.m
Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir
The Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir conducted by Stephen Shellard perform at the service of Evensong. The music will include my Magnificat and NuncDimittis commissioned by the Three Choirs Festival for Worcester Cathedral Choir.
Please save the date! Saturday 31st May Festival Gala Concert at Worcester Cathedral
The English Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods, “will feature three powerful and very personal works” – These Things Shall Be by John Ireland, Out of the Shadows Op.55 (orchestral premiere) by Ian Venables and Edward Elgar’s Symphony no 2. As in previous years, the Gala concert is likely to be a sell-out concert, so please book your tickets early.
The final recital of the festival on Sunday 1st June is given by one of the UK’s most distinguished recording artists. 
“Wallfisch and renowned
pianist Simon Callaghan present a programme of lyrical music for ‘cello which brings together the three composers at the heart of this year’s festival, John Ireland, Ian Venables and Edward Elgar.” Their recital will include my early Elegy Op.2 and transcription of song At Malvern Op.24a
The Bradfield Festival – Arthur Bliss Memorial Concert
24th June
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Arthur Bliss (2nd August 1891 to 27thMarch 1975) and as part of the “50 for 50” initiative of the Bliss Trust and the Arthur Bliss Society the Bradfield Festival are dedicating a concert to English music from Bliss and his contemporaries. The young Taiwanese violinist Chu-Yu Yang and the renowned British pianist Mark Bebbington have included my Pastorale Op.11. no 1 in their programme.
70th Birthday Concert at The Temple Church
4th November 2025
The advanced publicity and details for these events will be published late this year but I can disclose that the evening concert will include two of my most recent chamber song cycles, Out of the Shadows Op.55 and Portraits of a Mind op.54. In the afternoon, there is a song recital given my mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist William Vann that will include my songs.
Further information for this special event will advertised in my Autumn Newsletter. Here is a link to the Temple website: https://www.templechurch.com/events
‘Hellens Music – The Tippett Quartet in Concert’
Saturday 15th November
Hellen’s, Much Marcle, Herfordshire
The Tippett String Quartet
Promoted by Espressivo this concert is part of ‘Hellens Music Through The Year’ 2025 programme. The Tippett quartet present an exciting programme opening with John Ireland’s early quartet, followed by Ian Venables’s String Quartet Op.32. To end the concert the quartet performs Schubert’s popular quartet ‘ Death and the Maiden.’
This special event is sponsored by The John Ireland Trust and supported by Adam Munthe, John and Kath Brain and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their generosity and support in arranging this wonderful 70th birthday concert.
For tickets and further information please click the following link: https://hellensmusic.com
Other News
Violin Sonata – Premiere CD Recording on SOMM
The talent young Taiwanese violinist, Chu-Yu Yang, and award-winning pianist, Eric McElroy have recorded my early Violin Sonata Op. 23 along with my Three Short Pieces Op.11.
Eric McElroy
Chu-Yu Yang
This premiere recording on the prestigious SOMM label also includes Arthur Bliss’s Violin Sonata and several premieres by Ivor Gurney.
The CD will be released in April 2025
Official Composer Youtube Channel
In December 2024, my composer Youtube channel was launched devoted to archival video performances of my music. The most current of these is the US premiere of my Walt Whitman song cycle The Last Invocation Op.50 (see below for the score) performed by Brian Thorsett (tenor) and pianist Kevin Korth at the SFCM on the 26th October 2024. Here is a link to the Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbby0Jaegh6nCAA_ufIus0A
Novello Score of The Last Invocation Op.50
Premiered at the Elgar Festival in 2021 by the tenor, Mark Wilde, and pianist David Owen-Norris the song-cycle was composed in the bicentenary year of the poet’s birth in 2019.The work comprises four settings of the poems, ‘Shine, shine, shine’, ‘Out of May’s Shows Selected’, ‘As at Thy Portals also Death’ and ‘The Last Invocation.’ The published score can be ordered online from musicroom.com. Please click the following link: https://www.musicroom.com/the-last-invocation-dam1346586?returnurl=%2fsearch%3fq%3dian%2bvenables%26count%3d50
Publications
ALBION’S GLORY
A Celebration of Twentieth Century English Composers By Stephen H. Smith
5* “Brilliant compendium of 20th century English composer biographies”
“This superbly written book collects all the main English composers of the 20th century and provides a brilliant overview of their works and careers in music. None of the usual overly academic style of prose, just plain, easily understood text which is very readable and digestible. I shall use this book frequently in finding out about the lesser-known composers who have mainly been forgotten, but it also provides instant access to the facts about the 10 best English composers and a shorter resume of ‘the best of the rest’. This is the most instantly accessible book about English classical music I have read in a very long time. An excellent volume. Highly recommended”
For more information please click the following link:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Albions-Glory-by-Stephen-H-Smith/9781800465435