Zelhem Wildlife was my first paid classical composition, composed while was studying at the Conservatory of Amsterdam under Daan Manneke. This was a period in my life when I was still very much searching for a sound language to call my own, and the inescapable seeds of what is to come are audible in this piece. There is a firm rhythmic drive, there are moments of introspection, and there is a relentlessness to the musical drive that is firmly rooted in my pop music background.

The piece was commissioned by Kamermuziek Zelhem and premiered by Ivo Janssen. Zelhem lies in a rural part of the Netherlands, where in my imagination all sorts of wildlife roams, from elephants and tigers to your regular foxes and hedgehogs. The good people of Zelhem assured me at the concert that this was actually the case, so the place is worth a visit if you ever make it down to the Netherlands.