Composers note Longfellows poem is a homage to the tranquility and serenity of night, qualities that are embodied by the concert I wrote this piece for, the Serenade in the Cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral. This concert takes place one evening in July every year just as night is falling, in the great cloister of the Cathedral; and above the open cloister rises Bell Harry Tower, the Cathedrals central tower. It was with the bell in this tower in mind that I included the optional bell part in the later stages of the piece. Ed Rex Ed was a chorister and, later, a choral scholar in the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, attending The Kings School, Canterbury in the intervening years. He has written for various groups, including The Kings Singers, VOCES8 and the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, and has composed music for theatre in the West End. In 2012 he was commissioned to write a piece for the Edington Festival, Beneath the Cross , the first performance of which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
