Departure of the Queen of Sheba (1999)
(for oboe, cor anglais and string orchestra (or keyboard))

Departure of the Queen of Sheba was commissioned by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. 

The first performance was given by Celia Nicklin (oboe), Rachel Ingleton (cor anglais), and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, directed by Kenneth Sillito, 7 October 1999, St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, London.

The piece may also be performed as a chamber work for oboe, cor anglais and keyboard, using the keyboard reduction score. The oboe and cor anglais soloists should stand facing each other in front of the orchestra, with the oboe on the left and the cor anglais on the right (from the audience's viewpoint).

Composer's Note
Departure of the Queen of Sheba uses the same instrumentation as Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Sinfonia to Act III of the oratorio Solomon), except that the second oboe is replaced by the cor anglais. Some of the musical material is also derived from the Handel, although subjected to various transformations. The feeling of the piece, however, was inspired by the Brazilian artist Ana Maria Pacheco's wonderful painting Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in the Garden of Earthly Delights. The music attemps to depict the private moment of parting of these two legendary lovers. The mood is gentle and intimate – a wordless duet with the oboe as the voice of Sheba and the cor anglais as the voice of Solomon. Three sections of the score are headed with quotations from the Song of Solomon: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth"; "His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me"; "Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits".