She has also just completed a quintet entitled Cantator and Amanda for bassoon and string quartet, for this year's Rye Festival: it tells in purely musical terms the local legend of a friar who was punished for a love affair by being bricked up alive. The Wihan String Quartet and bassoonist Julie Price give the world premiere on  September 17.

Panufnik's diary is chock-a-block with commissions and she is currently composer-in-residence for the London Mozart Players (though that superb chamber orchestra is fighting for its financial life after the Arts Council pulled the plug on its funding). Compositional dreams remain: not least, she'd love to write a full-length opera. And since she identifies strongly with her father's roots, another dream would be a similar work to the Tallinn Mass, but in Polish. 

Last but not least: is she inspired by her Catholic faith? "Yes and no," she says, "because I approach the setting of both sacred and secular words in exactly the same way." She's in good company: J.S. Bach had a similar philosophy. What better forerunner could there be?