26/7/2022 –

Over the winter, Xavier completed his newest composition, The Redcrosse Knight, for the Netherlands Youth Orchestra (JeugdOrkest Nederland), which will be the opening work for the coming concert season and which will be performed first in Florence before having several more performances in other Italian cities. As per the orchestra’s tradition, various performances in the Netherlands will follow suit and the tour will conclude in Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

The Redcrosse Knight is loosely based on Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene, which was written by Spenser in an attempt to curry favour with Queen Elizabeth I. His attempt proved successful and Spenser was granted substantial financial support as a consequence. In his epic, Spenser depicts a world that is rich in fantasy, in which St. George of Redcrosse, flag bearer of the flag that is used by the English to this day, roves around the mythical land, sent to complete a quest at the behest of the Faerie Queene, a literary depiction of Queen Elizabeth I. Xavier thought it an appropriate subject to close his studies at the Royal College of Music in London with.

For more information and concert dates and tickets, please visit www.jeugdorkest.nl. Website is displayed in Dutch only.