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.My Tenth Symphony - Prince Bishops - was written in 1997 in response to a commission, with funding from Arts England, from Ever Read Brass Band. The band gave the world premiere at Sunderland University under my direction in 1998. It is dedicated to my old friend, Canon Michael Whitehead CMP, Rector of St Ignatius Church, Sunderland.
The symphony is in four movements, played without a break, and concerns for bishops of Durham, three of them 'Prince Bishops' (clergy first given royal prerogative by William 1). The movements are:
1. Aldhun (the first Bishop of Durham)
2. Walcher (the first Prince Bishop), his death and the siege of Durham Castle
3. Robert d'Insula - a merry monk
4. Cuthbert Tunstall - the last Prince Bishop
The symphony was first recorded by Ever Ready Band conducted by Nicholas Childs in 1998.