‘There was a monkey’ is a playful setting of a quirky anonymous 16^th-century text with punchy rhythms and a dance-like character. Commissioned by the London Youth Choir, it was first performed by them on 22 November 2013 – the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth. It is the 11^th reflection in the LYC’s Friday Afternoons: Reflections choral series, inspired by the composer’s fabulous children’s song cycle of the same name.

Duration: c.2 minutes