Fireflies in Winter is a new song cycle in six movements, scored for soprano, violin and piano, drawing on folk tales and seasonal customs collected across the Yorkshire Dales over the past three winters.

Each movement sets a different fragment of oral folklore — a story about a lantern-maker, a half-remembered lullaby, a account of the last night of the old year — reworked into new texts and paired with music that moves between close, spare writing for the trio and passages of full, dense harmony.

The programme opens with a specially commissioned premiere performance at St George's Bristol in the spring, followed by a short UK tour taking the work to Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle — each city chosen for its own connection to the folk material the cycle draws on.

Alongside the live performances, the campaign funds a studio recording of the full cycle, released as an album so the work reaches audiences beyond the four touring dates.

New chamber song cycles rarely reach audiences beyond a single premiere performance — this campaign exists specifically to fund both the touring performances and a studio recording, so the work has a life beyond one evening in one city, and so the folk material it's built from reaches a wider audience than the original oral tradition ever could alone.

Elena Marchetti studied composition and violin at the Royal Northern College of Music before spending several years performing across Europe with a range of chamber ensembles. Fireflies in Winter continues a long-running interest in setting spoken and oral material to music, following two previous song cycles performed in Bristol and Manchester. [CPA regression check 2]

Elena Marchetti (composer, violin), Grace Oyelaran (soprano), Tobias Fenn (piano), the Marchetti Chamber Collective string trio, and sound engineer Priya Anand.

£4,500 covers venue hire and technical production for the Bristol premiere and the three touring dates. £3,200 pays commissioned fees for the five performers involved across all four performances. £2,300 funds studio time, engineering and mastering for the album recording. £1,200 covers score engraving, programme design and print materials for each venue. £800 is allocated to marketing and audience development across the tour. The remaining £0 is intentionally left unbudgeted as contingency is already folded into the venue and production figure above.

If the full target is not reached, the Bristol premiere and the studio recording will still go ahead in full — the touring dates in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle would be reduced to whichever of the three the remaining budget can cover, prioritised in that order.

The main risk is venue availability for the touring dates, which are provisionally held but not yet contracted. Musician availability has been confirmed in writing for all four dates. Recording costs are fixed via a quoted studio rate, so are not exposed to overrun risk.

£15 — digital download of the finished album ahead of general release.
£40 — the above, plus a signed copy of the printed score.
£90 — the above, plus your name listed in the programme for all four performances.
£250 — the above, plus two tickets to the Bristol premiere and a post-concert meet with the ensemble.

The project has received a development grant from the Bristol Music Trust and rehearsal space donated by St George's Bristol for the six weeks preceding the premiere.

Frequently asked questions:

Will the recording be available if I don't attend a performance? Yes — the album will be released digitally to everyone who supports at the £15 tier or above, regardless of which (if any) performance you attend.

Is the song cycle sung in English? Yes, throughout — the original folk material has been reworked into new English texts rather than performed in dialect.

Can I request a specific tour date for my reward tickets? Yes, once the tour dates are confirmed we'll contact £250 supporters directly to arrange this.