About

This arrangement was commissioned by the ReVamp Collective for their inaugural concert at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on February 28th, 2024. Eva Laverty, leader of the ReVamp Collective, approached me during the summer of 2023, following our collaboration on previous arrangement projects earlier that year. During our discussion, she expressed her desire to include Debussy’s Suite bergamasque in the concert repertoire, specifying that the arrangement should incorporate percussion and any additional instrumentation of my choice.

The third movement of Suite bergamasque, Clair de Lune, is a widely recognized piece, serving as the foundation on my decision for the most suitable ensemble to arrange this for. Given the overall warm and mellow character of the Suite, the vibraphone emerged as an ideal choice for percussion. A wind quintet, being a well-established and conventional ensemble, presented itself as a harmonious blend with the vibraphone, preserving the original work’s warmth and mellowness.

The arrangement was brought to life by Eva Laverty on vibraphone, joined by Charlotte Mahoney on flute, Benjamin Yoder on oboe, Simon Salters on clarinet, Michelle Amezcua on horn, and Liam Fleet on bassoon.