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2022 ushered in a new collaborative partnership with tenor Rolando Villazón, including the composer's setting of Shakespeare's 'Come Away Death' at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, and a song cycle of Nezahualcoyotl’s Nahuatl poetry that the tenor and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson toured throughout Europe, following a premiere at Brussels’ BOZAR. Staying in the deep past, Bell’s ’Beowulf’, written for the full forces of the BBC Symphony & Chorus and tenor Stuart Skelton, had its world premiere at London’s Barbican Hall, with Golden Globe winning actress Ruth Wilson as the narrator. Other recent highlights have included the world premiere Bell's 'Aurora' - a Concerto for Coloratura Soprano at the BBC Proms by soprano Adela Zaharia and the RLPO, and a performance of his orchestral song cycle 'The Hidden Place' at the Enescu Festival by the LSO, led by Gianandrea Noseda with Damrau as soprano soloist.
2023|24 sees the world premiere of his orchestral suite ’Stonewall ’69’, new productions of ‘Comfort Starving’, ‘The Man With Night Sweats’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’, along with brand new song cycles for both the New York Festival of Song and Brooklyn Art Song Society.