In September 2017, Giles Taylor (the Director of Music here at Whitkirk) read an article by the composer Professor Philip Wilby in a magazine published by the Royal School of Church Music. In the article Professor Wilby spoke about “Ripon Cathedral New Music Week” (a festival of contemporary music) which was to take place in May 2018 and be a celebration of fifty years of new music. During the week-long event the regular services at Ripon Cathedral were to include not only liturgical music written by established contemporary composers but also would encourage the submission of new compositions with any successful new scores being prepared for performance and recording.
Giles submitted a piece of organ music which he had composed called “Carillon” and he was delighted when he heard that the assessment panel wished to include the piece as part of “Ripon Cathedral New Music Week”. Giles’ piece was played as the organ voluntary at Choral Evensong at Ripon Cathedral on Sunday 13 May 2018 and it was also one of the pieces that was played at Ripon Cathedral’s Lunchtime Concert on Thursday 17 May 2018. On both occasions “Carillon” was played by Tim Harper, the cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music.
In 2019 the Second Edition of a book called “Music at Ripon Cathedral 657-2019” (written by Malcolm S. Beer and Howard M. Crawshaw) was published. The book contains two references to Giles’ organ solo “Carillon”, one in Chapter 11 – “The Millennium and a New Era” and the other in Chapter 15 – “Written for Ripon”.
Giles’ organ solo “Carillon” was published in November 2019 by Tim Knight Music.