Hymn to Artemis Locheia

The Clarinet Quintet Hymn to Artemis Locheia was commissioned by Professor Ian Craft in memory of his father. Ian Craft is a leading specialist in fertility, and heads a clinic in London. I visited this clinic for a whole day, and was privileged, with the permission of all concerned, to observe the various operations, treatments, embryo tranfers and consultations. I found the whole experience profoundly moving - the expression on mothers' faces at a successful outcome - the skill and devotion of the interventions - that the result became a hymn to an ancient Greek incarnation of a fertility godess, Artemis Locheia - a work which, I hope, captures something of the upbeat and joyous nature of my extraordinary day of observation.