Born in Manchester (1963) in the northwest of England, Sasha Johnson Manning studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Upon graduation, she established a career as a professional singer and choir director and also taught. Though she had written much for local choirs, her compositional skills were significantly encouraged through a formal association with the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus where she became its ‘Composer-in-Residence,’ creating an 8-movement ‘Requiem’ (Regent REGCD255). In parallel with her growing reputation in the Midwest, Sasha has been applauded in the UK for her appealing and affecting music, with ‘The Manchester Carols’ (a collaboration with the poet, Carol Ann Duffy) enjoying much popularity. Another notable commission came from the BBC, resulting in ‘The People’s Passion’, a work performed both in the UK, and far beyond, in Europe, Africa and the USA. For those who know Sasha primarily as a choral composer, this instrumental anthology will come as a surprise, but it provides important testimony to her versatility as an artist. Each month Third Baptist Church in Saint Louis, Missouri, features in their Sunday services solo keyboard works on a theme recognising the religious season and time of year. ‘A Year at Third’ was commissioned to fulfill that role. Modelled on ‘The Seasons’ by Tchaikovsky, the twelve short pieces are beautiful studies, capturing the different character of the twelve months of the year in quintessentially English styles. The recording concludes with two Christmas works for piano and String Quintet – the second an extended work in three movements – featuring rhapsodic treatments of well-known Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany carols.