Tesserae is an original artwork conceived as a performable graphic score. Commissioned by the Hard Rain Soloists Ensemble for Sonorities Festival in Belfast and New Music Dublin 2026, the work sits at the intersection of sound and image. It invites musicians and audiences to encounter notation not only as instruction, but as object, memory, and catalyst.

The score comprises five wooden panels of varying sizes and shapes, with each operating as both visual field and musical terrain. The natural wood grain - unique to every panel - quietly echoes my 1695 Italian violin whose long life carries a rich history of resonance and touch.

Once-played cello strings and strands of violin bow hair meander across the panels, spilling over and softening their edges. Bearing traces of sound, these materials transform lived musical experience into physical form, linking past interpretations with those yet to emerge.

Gold leaf and goldpoint gesture toward music’s capacity to illuminate and transform. Reflective surfaces and shifting shadows create subtle changes in light, ensuring that each encounter with the work feels slightly different. As performers respond individually, so too do listeners; interpretation becomes inseparable from perspective.

The panels may be arranged freely by the musicians - clustered, aligned, or configured according to musical, aesthetic, or practical considerations, and shaped by the character of each venue. In this way, the physical arrangement becomes part of the interpretative act, reinforcing the work’s openness and sensitivity to context.

Finally, colour. I don’t claim synaesthesia, but the particular rich, saturated shade of blue in Tesserae places the work firmly in G minor for me - a key of introspection and yearning.