Knussen and the London Sinfonietta in a recording of Stravinsky’s The Flood and Requiem Canticles. In 1988, Wood helped devise a BBC Two documentary about Lili Boulanger – Whom the Gods Loved directed by Hilary Boulding. The film culminated in performances of the Pie Jesu as well as Boulanger’s monumental Du Fond de l’Abime with Linda Hirst, Martyn Hill, New London Chamber Choir and the London Sinfonietta. Percussion activities Alongside his activities as a conductor and composer, Wood was also active as a percussionist in many contemporary ensembles including Lontano, Gemini, Matrix (director Alan Hacker), Dreamtiger, Endymion and the London Sinfonietta. In this capacity he was noticed by the new director of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Friedrich Ferdinand Hommel, who invited him to succeed Christoph Caskel as Professor of Percussion from 1982. He retained this position throughout the Hommel years until 1994. During this time he pioneered a wide range of new for solo percussion and percussion ensemble, including many new pieces of his own, such as Choroi kai Thaliai (1982), Ho shang Yao (1983) and Rogosanti (1986), which he toured extensively with the soprano, Sara Stowe and the sound engineer, John Whiting. All of these pieces were also recorded for CD and released by Continuum. He was artistic director of the 1988 and 1990 Percussion Festivals in London, and also devised two BBC TV documentaries on percussion in the BBC Two series Music in Camera, directed by Hilary Boulding. One of Friedrich Hommel’s principal aims as Director of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse had always been to establish the courses as a centre for the rapidly evolving world of percussion. To this end he commissioned Wood to write a large-scale work for percussion ensemble which would make full use of the large number of talented young percussionists from all over the world who were coming to Darmstadt for the summer courses. The result was Stoicheia, a 65-minute work for two percussion soloists, two percussion ensembles, four synthesizers and electronics. The two soloists were Steven Schick and Wood himself, and the work was subsequently recorded by Wergo. 1980s and 1990s During the period from 1983 onwards Wood started to experiment with microtonality. In Ho shang Yao (Songs by the River) he devised simple prototype quartertone extensions for marimba and glockenspiel. As a result of this and further experiments in works such as Spirit Festival with Lamentations , Stoicheia and the quartertone marimba concerto,