So what can we expect to hear in this new Mass setting? It will be a reflection of Ben’s own musical experience, notably the breadth of the Anglican choral repertoire, and especially the music of “sacred minimalist” composers such as Arvo Pärt and John Tavener – whose simplicity and clarity he much admires. We can also expect a little of the rich colours of that jazz harmony. With his admirable ear, Ben seems to soak up musical influences like blotting paper: his receptive musical mind processes everything he hears, and then he writes “what I like the sound of.” He begins a composition, he says, by working on its words, carefully marking the inflections and accentuation of the language. As he does this, musical ideas take shape in his head: in our Hampstead Mass he has paraphrased a motif from one of Bach’s preludes in the Kyrie, and it threads its way again through the Sanctus and Agnus. He writes fluently and easily – not surprising, perhaps, for one who as a schoolboy, untutored and merely for fun, wrote several complete fugues. In his own words:

My love of sacred minimalism and melody can be found throughout the Hampstead Mass. In contrast to some of my other compositions – where rich jazz harmony is more prevalent – I took a more traditional and austere approach. I do, however, use some of those colours in the final bars of the Agnus Dei.

The HCMT Trustees will be pleased that their commission came at an opportune moment for Ben. He says that without it he would have had to take part-time work which would not only have interfered with his PhD studies, but also prevented him recently fulfilling another commission from the BBC, this time for Evening Canticles (you can hear the “Maida Vale” Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis – and several other compositions – on his website: www.benponniah.com). The Trustees can also feel that their charitable Object of maintaining and promoting “the performance and appreciation of Church Music in Hampstead” is being happily fulfilled by their support for such a promising choral composer near the beginning of his career. Ben Ponniah may well be “a name to watch”