A COMPOSER has been commissioned to create four pieces of music based on a historic estate.

Composer Errollyn Wallen has been chosen to create the Cliveden Suite, four pieces of music to be played inside the National Trust's Sounding Chamber on Cliveden estate. Each piece has been inspired by a former lady of the house.

The Sounding Chamber has been recently restored by the National Trust, as part of a five-year, £6 million restoration project at Cliveden. The process began by removing damaged rendering from the walls, which uncovered hidden light wells in the chamber ceiling. The restoration team theorised that these light wells were also intended to funnel music throughout the household. Upon the completion of Ms Wallen's work, the Sounding Chamber will once again be used for its intended purpose.

Ms Wallen's compositions have previously been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the London 2012 Paralymipc Games, and were played in space on NASA's STS-115 Space Shuttle mission.

Ms Wallen said: "I am delighted to have been chosen to compose the Cliveden Suite, commissioned to commemorate four fascinating women of Cliveden. Music has a way of pushing through the cracks of history’s perception into the realm of imagination’s exactitude.

"I intend for my suite to convey thumbnail sketches of the vivid characters of these women and to give a sense of the atmosphere in which they lived."