Jasper Dommett uses music to embrace uniqueness, experiment, and innovate. They love bringing non-classical influences into their work, finding poetic connections and infusing their music with a wide range of emotions and ideas, harnessing creative freedom through chamber music. You can read more about Jasper and their music on our website here. 

Jasper's new dramatic song cycle, Folds on Folds, commissioned by the RPS as part of the RPS Composers programme, will be performed by Hebrides Ensemble and mezzo soprano Rebecca Afonwy-Jones as part of an afternoon concert at Lammermuir Festival. Folds on Folds is inspired by Boulez’s iconic work Pli Selon Pli – from which Jasper's piece takes its name – and this concert celebrates Boulez and Berio's centenaries, as well as Ravel’s 150th anniversary, bookending the new song cycle with Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro and Mother Goose Suite, and closing with Berio’s Folksongs.

Jasper says: 'Folds on Folds opens with the nursery rhyme Wind the Bobbin Up a playful, familiar tune that also marks the first practical step in sewing. It felt like the perfect place to begin since winding the bobbin is, of course, the first thing you do when you sew. I often turn to sewing as a quiet refuge from the pace of London life. It offers comfort, focus, and occasionally frustration when things unravel.

The piece is shaped by the physicality of sewing. I started by notating the sounds of the machine itself, its clunks, whirrs and sudden jolts, and proceeded to stitch together musical and textual fragments in a way that mirrors the act of piecing fabric. Much of the text comes from real pattern instructions.

I’m especially grateful to be working with Rebecca Afonwy-Jones and the Hebrides Ensemble on this piece. Their sensitivity and detail feel deeply connected to the sound world I’ve tried to create.'

Jasper is one of seven individuals supported on the 2024 RPS Composers programme, giving each a commission and premiere with a noted ensemble, festival or venue, as well as a year of professional development which gives them the chance to meet industry experts and professional composers, furthering their confidence and skills to seek further commissions and premieres of their own. The RPS Composers programme is made possible by a range of trusts and foundations, and through the kind support of RPS Members.

You can find out more about RPS Membership and how you can help us support talented musicians like Jasper here.

Public booking for this concert is open from 6 June 2025. Follow the link below for booking information on the Lammermuir Festival website.