Jersey’s rich musical history is beautifully entwined with its unique position in the Channel between England and France. As a professional opera singer from Jersey now living and working in the UK, I’ve only become more inspired and dedicated to celebrating the huge wealth of musical talent and developing the extensive social and coultural benefits this project will have for people all over the Island.

Jèrriais is the language spoken by our ancestors, inhabitors of this beautiful island hundreds of years ago, it also served as a way of communication under Nazi occupation, and is as colourful and unique as the people and our way of life are.

Georgia says “I’ve wanted to commission a song cycle of Jèrriais ever since my final year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. As a part of my course I had to devise and manage a project so I decided to delve into Jersey’s rich musical history and wasn’t disappointed with what I found! The unique position of the Channel Islands has meant we’ve benefited from influence from both sides of the Channel, and equally people from all art forms have found great inspiration from our beautiful Island.

Victor Hugo famously spent many years on the Islands and numerous French composers used his texts and stories as the basis for librettos of operas and musicals, or set his beautiful poetry in song; including Faure’s haunting L’absent. Equally on the other side of the Channel, Poet Laureate John Masefield wrote his Sea Salt Ballads about his love of Jersey, one of which was to be the setting for John Ireland’s most famous song Sea Fever. John Ireland was actually on Jersey writing his piano work ‘An Island Spell’ when the news of the incoming occupation hit, so he was evacuated along with thousands of other Islanders, including my great-grandmother and infant grandmother who was born only days before the final ship sailed. John Ireland also wrote a distinctly ‘French-sounding’ impressionist song cycle called ‘Marigold’ which was the name of my grandfather’s boat I spent many happy days upon. Back on the French side of the Channel, Claude Debussy sent his final draft of Fête Galantes II to his publishers in Paris whilst staying at the Grand Hotel on the Esplanade. It’s the social, cultural and historical commentary and importance of these works that also piqued my interest and that’s why I would love to have a piece written in Jèrriais, by a Jersey composer to be performed by Jersey musicians for her people.

Charles Mauleverer will be composing this work, he says 'I'm delighted to have been asked by Georgia to collaborate on a new composition. I've previously written a very short piece in Jèrriais for the Musical Originals, but this is my first venture in writing longer form songs in our precious local dialect, of which there are very few examples in the repertoire.’

What makes this project even more exciting is the celebration of home grown talent and this will be hopefully the first of many projects Georgia and Charles will be undertaking together.