May 22, 2026

A video-performance of STORM SURGE

Conductor Peter Kleine Schaars with Nigel Clarke at the recording session of STORM SURGE in 2013.

Here is a video-performance of ‘STORM SURGE’, featuring music by Nigel Clarke and the poet Martin Westlake’s evocative words. This impressive performance here is given by the Marinierskapel der Koninklijke Marine conducted by Major der marinierskapel Peter Kleine Schaars. The Speaker is Frank Renton.

This premiere of ‘STORM SURGE’ was presented by the Marinierskapel der Koninklijke Marine, conducted by Peter Kleine Schaars, at the Doelen Concert Hall in Rotterdam in 2013. ‘STORM SURGE’ is a musical depiction of the devastating North Sea storm surge (Watersnoodramp) of 1953. The disaster claimed 2,551 lives—1,836 in the Netherlands alone—as well as victims in Scotland, England, and West Flanders, Belgium. Nine per cent of Dutch farmland was flooded, more than 30,000 animals drowned, and tens of thousands of properties were damaged or destroyed.
May 22, 2026

BRUEG[H]EL 3 at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium

Peter Sheppard Skareved performing at the RMFAB

On 21 May 2026, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium hosted its third concert event dedicated to the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Peter Sheppard Skareved presented nine miniatures from Nigel’s BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH cycle, interwoven with period music by Marini, Ortiz, Bassano, and Hume. Performing on both historic violins and a viola, Peter evoked the musical world of the Brueghel family. The evening, arranged for a private audience in the Brueghel Room, was hosted by Christine Ayoub (Philanthropy & Maecenas Relations) and featured an introduction to the room’s treasures by Sabine van Sprang (Curator of Flemish Painting from 1550 to 1650).

Peter Sheppard Skareved (Violin) with Sabine van Sprang (Curator of Flemish Painting from 1550 to 1650) in the Bruegel Room, RMFAB

The program featured selections from Nigel’s BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH, including: “The Wedding Dance in the Open Air,” “The Adoration of the Magi,” “Fall of the Rebel Angels,” “Landscape with Bird Trap,” “The Numbering at Bethlehem,” “Fragment of a Kermis,” “Yawning Man,” “The Massacre of the Innocents,” and “Battle of Carnival and Lent.”
This summer, Peter Sheppard Skareved will record both volumes of Nigel’s BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH, which together comprise 25 miniatures. The album is set for release this autumn on the Métier Records label.
BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH forms part of an ongoing collaboration between Nigel, Peter, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium, exploring the legacy of the Brueghel family.
This September, Nigel’s new work, “BRUEG[H]EL”: Symphony for Piccolo/Flute, and Symphony Orchestra, will be recorded by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neil Thomson, with Jennifer Gunn as Piccolo/Flute soloist.

Nigel Clarke infront of Pieter Bruegel the Elders Fall of the Rebel Angels. Photograph by Peter Sheppard Skareved

May 12, 2026

La Fleur En Papier Doré in Zele, Belgium

Koninklijke Harmonie Sinte-Ceclia performing Nigel’s `La Fleur En Papier Doré’

A big thank you to conductor Bart Picqueur and the musicians of the Koninklijke Harmonie Sinte-Ceclia for an outstanding performance of my`La Fleur En Papier Doré’ in the small Flemish town of Zele.

The concert’s concept was inspired by a bar of the same name (`La Fleur En Papier Doré’), located in one of the few small 17th-century houses to survive the bombing of Brussels. Refurbished in 1830, the building became an artists’ café in the early 20th century, serving as a meeting place for Belgian Surrealist painters and writers from the 1920s onward. The bar was frequented by artist René Magritte and later by many others, including Hergé (the author and illustrator of Tintin), Pierre Alechinsky, Louis Scutenaire, and singer Jacques Brel.

Conductor Bart Picqueur

Composers also featured in the concert were Alexandre Kosmicki, Rogier van Otterloo, Frédéric De Creese, Dirk Brossé, Gus Visor , Steph Van Uytvanck and Toots Thielemans.

 

Poster/Flyer for La Fleur En Papier Doré in Zele

A recreation of the bar at La Fleur En Papier Doré in Brussels

 

La Fleur En Papier Doré in Brussels

April 29, 2026

Hauts de France Brass Band compete in the 2026 European Brass Band Championships in Linz, Austria

Nigel Clarke attended the 2026 European Brass Band Championships at the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria, where his composition “Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock” was performed by the Hauts de France Brass Band under the baton of Luc Vertommen. The band placed 6th out of 15 ensembles from across Europe. Nigel remarked that the band delivered one of the finest performances of his brass band works and congratulated the Hauts de France Brass Band and their conductor on their extraordinary achievement.

 

Nigel on stage with conductor Luc Vertommen, Hauts de France Brass Band after the performance of Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock in the Brucknerhause, Linz, Austria

Hauts de France Brass Band performing Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock in the Brucknerhause, Linz, Austria

Hauts de France Brass Band performing Dial ‘H’ for Hitchcock in the Brucknerhause, Linz, Austria

April 29, 2026

Hauts de France Brass Band win the 2026 Vlaams Flemish Open Brass Band Championships

Hauts de France Brass Band under the baton of Luc Vertommen win 2026 Vlaams Flemish Open Brass Band Championships in Mechelen, Belgium with their own choice test piece Nigel Clarke‘s Dial “H” for Hitchcock. The set test piece was `Sotscop’ by Ben Haemhouts.

Hauts de France Brass Band under the baton of Luc Vertommen perform at the 2026 Vlaams Flemish Open Brass Band Championships in Mechelen, Belgium

Hauts de France Brass Band celebrate thier win at the 2026 Vlaams Flemish Brass Band Champoinships

April 21, 2026

2nd Brueg[h]el’s Brush Concert at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium

On 16 April Peter Sheppard Skaerved gave the second concert in a series of music from the time of the Brueghel family at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium.  Peter also performed 8 miniatures from Book 1 of Nigel’s BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH.

 

Peter Sheppard Skaerved performing Nigel’s BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH in the Bruegel Room at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium.

Nigel Clarke in the Bruegel Room at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium before a performance of is BRUEG[H]EL’S BRUSH

Here below is a link to Youtube to hear a few moments of rehearsal before the concert on 16 April at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Belgium. Peter is Sheppard Skaerved is rehearsing Nigel’s `The Numbering at Bethlehem’ from Nigel’s Book 1 Brueg[h]el’s Brush.

See Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBrYNE51d88&list=RDrBrYNE51d88&start_radio=1

April 7, 2026

SAMURAI performed by North Texas Wind Symphony

Nigel’s wind orchestra work Samurai was performed by the world famous North Texas Wind Symphony at the University of Texas , Austin, under the direction of conductor Katharine Reed. The concert took place in the Margot and Bill Winspear Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Centre on 26 March 2026.

In September the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of  Neil Thomson will record Nigel’s new arrangement of Samurai for symphony orchestra .

 

April 7, 2026

`Wedding Dance in the Open Air’ receives its Swedish Premiere.

Nigel’s Wedding Dance in the Open Air (Brueg[h]el’s Brush, Book 1) received its Swedish premiere at the Connect Festival 2026. The concert by Peter Sheppard Skaerved (Solo Violin) was held on 28 March at St Maria Kirk, Malmö. Other composers in the concert were Sadie Harrison and Robert Saxton. There were also many premieres of solo violin works by young Swedish composition students from the Malmö Academy of Music.
Wedding Dance in the Open Air  along with the complete Brueg[h]el’s Brush cycle of violin and viola miniatures (Books 1 & 2) will be recorded later in the year with Peter Sheppard Skaerved as soloist on the Devine Arts label.

Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin) with Swedish student-composers in Malmo enjoying the audiences thanks.

MNBMNB
April 7, 2026

The Regimental Band of the Grenadier Guards perform `Earthrise’

Nigel’s EARTHRISE was performed by the Regimental Band of the Grenadier Guards, conducted by Captain Andrew Porter at Regents Hall, Oxford Street London on 26 March 2026. The concert, titled “A Voyage of Discovery,” celebrated America’s pivotal role in the space race.
Regimental Band of the Grenadier Guards under the direction of Captain Andrew Porter

Regimental Band of the Grenadier Guards under the direction of Captain Andrew Porter

March 22, 2026

Nigel Clarke’s BREUG[H]EL – Symphony for Piccolo/Flute to be recorded in September 2026

Nigel’s BRUEG[H]EL – symphony for piccolo/flute to be recorded this September by Jennifer M. Gunn (piccolo/flute) and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Neil Thomson. BRUEG[H]EL was composed specifically for Jennifer M. Gunn, who was appointed flute and piccolo of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim in 2005.

BRUEG[H]EL is inspired by four extraordinary Northern Renaissance paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger (father and son) displayed at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium. The four paintings are Pieter the Elder’s Winter Landscape with Bird Trap and The Fall of Icarus, (the latter of which is attributed to him though is possibly by a follower) as well as Pieter the Younger’s The Massacre of the Innocentsand Battle of Carnival and Lent, which are reworkings of his father’s work.

BRUEG[H]EL will be released on the Divine Arts record label in the spring of next year. The recording will also feature two additional works: ‘Samurai’, newly arranged for symphony orchestra, and ‘Pulp and Rags’ for string orchestra.

`Winter Landscape and Bird Trap’ – Photograph with thanks to The Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium

Copyright Nigel Clarke. All Rights Reserved
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