What a pleasure to write for the Lyon based choir SPIRITO. My piece Così bella refers to the famous Bella Ciao, but with lyrics sung by the Modine; young Italian women who toiled in the rice fields. It will be toured next season.

Modine (rice weeders) These women from the poorest backgrounds spent the spring barefoot, with their skirts hiked up, wading through mud up to their knees, as they weeded and transplanted rice for days on end. Only their collective singing allowed them to endure the harshness of this thankless work, besieged by mosquitoes beneath a merciless sun.