I’ve recently returned from a week as guest composer at the Illinois State University Red Note Festival, organised by the indefatigable Carl Schimmel and Alex Stephenson. Performances included my Fifth Quartet and Six Chinese Songs, written for and performed by Justin Vickers, and Berceuse for Dresden, performed by the ISU Symphony Orchestra with the fine cellist Cora Swenson Lee, conducted by Useon Choi (above). As well as attending rehearsals I took part in 8 workshops and master classes with undergraduate and postgraduate composers, and it was a pleasure to meet the Irish composer Peter Fahey, whose Interludes had won the chamber music competition run by the Festival, for which there had been 444 submissions. An exhausting but stimulating week.