The Lord of Misrule of the title comes from a medieval Christmas tradition of handing over the Leadership for the day to the village idiot or the lowliest servant of a household – usually creating chaos to reign. With its surprises and disruption Jonathan’s piece challenges all the players in a densely packed but transparent score and gives great opportunities for the enlarged percussion section and the instruments of the extremes, such as piccolo, contra-bassoon, double bass and tuba. Jonathan has been Co-Principal Flute in the Hallé for many years and has recently resigned his post there to freelance and concentrate on composition.