It was during the post-Christmas slump that I got an email from the managing director of one of London’s orchestras asking whether I might be able to provide some music “for a special event this year”. I didn’t twig what this could be; maybe a big birthday gala, I thought. I was gobsmacked to be told the special occasion was the coronation, but before I could run up and down the street with a megaphone, I had to take a vow of silence until the news of the commissions was revealed several weeks later by the palace.
I was one of 12 British composers asked to write for the event. The king had appointed a special team to organise the day’s musical content. There were, however, no summons to Buckingham Palace or be-wigged courtiers bearing gold-embossed letters. Our communications were in mundane modern forms of email, phone and Zoom.
