PRESS RELEASE
ROXANNA PANUFNIK'S A BEASTLY TALE PREMIERES IN MAY 2002

Roxanna Panufnik's A Beastly Tale will be given its premiere in a concert tour in May 2002 by the City of London Sinfonia with Patricia Rozario as soloist and with a further performance in July. It is a 22-minute musical setting of The Crocodile and the Monkey, one of the Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth, the renowned author of the novels A Suitable Boy and An Equal Music.

Setting one of the Beastly Tales came about because Stephen Carpenter, General Manager of the City of London Sinfonia, asked Panufnik what she calls the dream question for any composer: "Is there anything you would like to write for soloist and orchestra?" She had just read Vikram Seth's animal anthology Beastly Tales.

Roxanna says she reacted so strongly because: "This book is a beautifully crafted and witty rendition of some internationally well-known stories and a couple of new ones of his own. They are intensely musical and immediately conjured up kaleidoscopic images and textures - the orchestra would be an ideal vehicle to bring them to life."

"Soprano Patricia Rozario was an obvious choice as soloist - not only because of her incredibly dramatic and expressive vocal range but also because she was born and brought up in Bombay and this particular Beastly Tale originates from India."

A Beastly Tale was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for Patricia Rozario and the City of London Sinfonia. The Genesis Foundation, which commissioned Roxanna Panufnik's Westminster Mass in honour of Cardinal Hume's 75th birthday, performed by the Choir, and the City of London Sinfonia at Westminster Cathedral in May 1998, continues its association by sponsoring the premiere tour of this new work.

Roxanna Panufnik is recently married and is the proud mother of a baby daughter.

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