Cerddoriaeth Gerddorfaol Cymru - The Orchestral Music of Wales
In 2014, Camerata Wales l Cymru was awarded a large grant by the Arts Council of Wales in support of its Penblwyddi / Anniversaries project. The project featured the live performance and recording of Welsh orchestral music, and focused on the significant anniversaries of five iconic Welsh cultural figures: the composers Alun Hoddinott, Karl Jenkins & William Mathias; the renowned Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and HRH The Prince of Wales.
As part of the project, this free online archive of orchestral music by Welsh composers was established, with the vision of making the music of Wales and Welsh composers more readily available and accessible to all.
Over the coming months and years it is aspired to expand this archive to include further samples of music by all noted composers of Welsh orchestral music, and to work with our partners to establish a visual as well as aural aspect to the archive, in order to increase awareness of, and access to, the orchestral music of Wales.
Please scroll down to browse samples of music by the featured composers included in the archive thus far, plus additional biographical information. Simply click on the audio icons below each title to hear samples of the music. The accompanying links also link through to full hire information for the musical parts.
For additional information or to contribute to our Orchestral Music of Wales initiative, please contact us here
As part of the project, this free online archive of orchestral music by Welsh composers was established, with the vision of making the music of Wales and Welsh composers more readily available and accessible to all.
Over the coming months and years it is aspired to expand this archive to include further samples of music by all noted composers of Welsh orchestral music, and to work with our partners to establish a visual as well as aural aspect to the archive, in order to increase awareness of, and access to, the orchestral music of Wales.
Please scroll down to browse samples of music by the featured composers included in the archive thus far, plus additional biographical information. Simply click on the audio icons below each title to hear samples of the music. The accompanying links also link through to full hire information for the musical parts.
For additional information or to contribute to our Orchestral Music of Wales initiative, please contact us here
Cyfansoddwyr Cymru l Composers of Wales
Alun Hoddinott
Sonata for Euphonium & Orchestra (orch. Christopher Painter)
Soloist: David Childs
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Soloist: David Childs
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
This Sonata was written specially for international euphonium soloist David Childs, by Alun Hoddinott. The Sonata is the predecessor to Hoddinott's Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra "The Sunne Rising - The King Will Ride", Op 182, additional information on which can be found here
Originally scored for euphonium and piano, the Sonata was orchestrated for Camerata Wales l Cymru and David Childs by Christopher Painter, especially for the first phase of the Anniversaries project, at the request of Owain Arwel Hughes CBE.
The work was premiered at Bangor Cathedral, in association with Pontio and the Arts Council of Wales, on Friday 16 January 2015 by David Childs and Camerata Wales l Cymru, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. The work is published and available for hire from Oriana Publications
Originally scored for euphonium and piano, the Sonata was orchestrated for Camerata Wales l Cymru and David Childs by Christopher Painter, especially for the first phase of the Anniversaries project, at the request of Owain Arwel Hughes CBE.
The work was premiered at Bangor Cathedral, in association with Pontio and the Arts Council of Wales, on Friday 16 January 2015 by David Childs and Camerata Wales l Cymru, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. The work is published and available for hire from Oriana Publications
About Alun Hoddinott
Alun Hoddinott was born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, in 1929. His compositional talents developed early, and he won a university scholarship at the age of sixteen. After graduating from University College, Cardiff, he studied for some years with the Australian composer and pianist, Arthur Benjamin. He was awarded the Walford Davies prize for composition when he was twenty-four, and achieved his first national success a year later when his Clarinet Concerto was given its first performance at the Cheltenham Festival by Gervase de Peyer and the Hallé Orchestra, under Sir John Barbirolli.
In 1951 he was appointed lecturer in music at the Welsh College of Music and Drama; he later became lecturer at University College, Cardiff and was made Professor and Head of Department there in 1967. Among his many awards are the John Edwards Memorial Award, the Arnold Bax Medal for composers, the Hopkins Medal of the New York St David's Society and the CBE. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, and a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Welsh Music Guild.
Hoddinott has achieved a mastery of composition which embraces almost every musical medium. His strong creative urge, stimulated by a tremendous variety of eminent performers, is reflected in a substantial body of works. Essentially chromatic, his music often shows a dark Celtic intensity, manifested in his nocturnal slow movements.
Alun Hoddinott's works have been broadcast, performed and recorded worldwide and his music has been released on CD by most major labels, including Chandos, Nimbus, Clarinet Classics, Decca, Sain and Warner Classics.
Amongst his prodigious list of compositions there feature ten symphonies, three piano concertos, six operas (including Tower, the story of the successful battle to keep open the last remaining deep coal mine in Wales), thirteen piano sonatas and numerous choral, vocal and instrumental works.
Alun Hoddinott died, after a long illness, on March 12th 2008, aged 78.
Alun Hoddinott was born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, in 1929. His compositional talents developed early, and he won a university scholarship at the age of sixteen. After graduating from University College, Cardiff, he studied for some years with the Australian composer and pianist, Arthur Benjamin. He was awarded the Walford Davies prize for composition when he was twenty-four, and achieved his first national success a year later when his Clarinet Concerto was given its first performance at the Cheltenham Festival by Gervase de Peyer and the Hallé Orchestra, under Sir John Barbirolli.
In 1951 he was appointed lecturer in music at the Welsh College of Music and Drama; he later became lecturer at University College, Cardiff and was made Professor and Head of Department there in 1967. Among his many awards are the John Edwards Memorial Award, the Arnold Bax Medal for composers, the Hopkins Medal of the New York St David's Society and the CBE. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, and a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Welsh Music Guild.
Hoddinott has achieved a mastery of composition which embraces almost every musical medium. His strong creative urge, stimulated by a tremendous variety of eminent performers, is reflected in a substantial body of works. Essentially chromatic, his music often shows a dark Celtic intensity, manifested in his nocturnal slow movements.
Alun Hoddinott's works have been broadcast, performed and recorded worldwide and his music has been released on CD by most major labels, including Chandos, Nimbus, Clarinet Classics, Decca, Sain and Warner Classics.
Amongst his prodigious list of compositions there feature ten symphonies, three piano concertos, six operas (including Tower, the story of the successful battle to keep open the last remaining deep coal mine in Wales), thirteen piano sonatas and numerous choral, vocal and instrumental works.
Alun Hoddinott died, after a long illness, on March 12th 2008, aged 78.
Karl Jenkins
O Beata Trinitas
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
O Beata Trinitas was commissioned by Professor Medwin Hughes DL DPhil DPS FRSA and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and was premiered at Trinity College, Carmarthen on 28 June 2009. The piece is a 12 minute work, scored for SATB Chorus and orchestra, based on text in Latin, English and Welsh by poet, author and lyricist Grahame Davies. O Beata Trinitas is published and available for hire from Boosey & Hawkes
About Sir Karl Jenkins
A recent exhaustive survey shows that Sir Karl Jenkins is now the most-performed living composer in the world. Educated at Gowerton Grammar School, Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music, London, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace alone has been performed over 1500 times in 20 different countries since the CD was released, while his recorded output has resulted in 17 gold and platinum disc awards.
In the field of advertising music, he has won the prestigious D&AD Award for Best Music (twice), the Creative Circle Gold and several CLIOs (New York) and Golden Lions (Cannes). Credits include: Levi’s, British Airways, Renault, Volvos, C&G, Tag Heuer and Pepsi, as well as US/global campaigns for De Beers and Delta Airlines, and BAFTA ‘gongs’ for his scores for the documentaries The Celts and Testament.
After this period as a media composer, his return to the music mainstream was initially marked by the success of the Adiemus project. Adiemus, combining the ‘classical’ with ethnic vocal sounds and percussion with an invented language, topped classical and ‘pop’ charts around the world.
His output includes the harp concerto: Over the Stone, commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales for the royal harpist, Catrin Finch; Euphonium Concerto for David Childs; the concertante Quirk, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Colin Davis as part of its 2005 centenary season; Tlep, written for virtuoso violinist Marat Bisengaliev; and In These Stones Horizons Sing, featuring Bryn Terfel and Catrin Finch with the WNO Orchestra and Chorus, which was premiered at the royal gala opening of the Welsh Millennium Centre in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen.
In the summer of 2005, he scored the feature film River Queen, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Samantha Morton, the soundtrack of which won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Score at the Shanghai Film Festival.
His CD releases on EMI Classics include: Requiem; Kiri Sings Karl with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; This Land of Ours with the Cory Band (world brass band champions); Stabat Mater; Quirk, a collection of concertos that includes La Folia, commissioned by Dame Evelyn Glennie; Stella Natalis; and Gloria, premiered by a chorus of 2,500 at the Royal Albert Hall in July 2010.
In 2004, he entered Classic FM’s Hall of Fame at number eight, the highest position for a living composer, and has since been the highest-placed living composer, as well as, in 2006, number four amongst British composers.
2012 saw Karl release The Peacemakers CD on EMI Classics, a number one on the UK classical charts, and after its concert performance debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall, it was performed on a sell-out UK concert tour in Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin and London’s Royal Festival Hall, with the composer conducting.
Karl is signed to Deutsche Grammophon Records in Berlin; his first release was a return to Adiemus, titled Colores, realised in June 2013. It has a Latin theme and features performances from Rolando Villazón, Portuguese Fado singer Cuca Roseta, guitarist Miloš Karadaglic ́, Pacho Flores trumpet and the Adiemus Singers from Finland. His most recent release Motets features arrangements of some of Karl’s most loved works, in motet form, sung by Polyphony and conducted by Stephen Layton. It has spent many weeks at number one on the classical music charts in the UK.
In his 70th birthday year Karl debuted two new commissions in October, a cantata Luke The Healer (recently broadcast by Classic FM), and a new orchestral piece in recognition of the centenary of the birth of Dylan Thomas and named after his fictitious village in Under Milk Wood entitled Llaerggub.
Karl holds a DMus (Doctor of Music) from the University of Wales; has been made both a fellow and an associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where a room has been named in his honour; has fellowships at Cardiff University, Swansea University, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Trinity College in Carmarthen and Swansea Metropolitan University; and was also presented by Classic FM with the Red F Award for Outstanding Service to Classical Music.
He has been the subject of ITV’s The South Bank Show by Lord (Melvyn) Bragg; as well as being a ‘castaway’ on Desert Island Discs; and had a BBC documentary made on his place as the most performed living composer, with endorsements from Bryn Terfel, Kiri Te Kanawa and Terry Waite, amongst many others.
Further awards include: an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Leicester; the Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Glamorgan; and two honorary visiting professorships, one at Thames Valley University/London College of Music and the other at the ATriUM, Cardiff. In November 2009, he was given the Cymru for the World Award and, in March 2010, was honoured with the Hopkins Medal given by the St David’s Society for the State of New York.
He was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen in the 2005 New Year Honours list, a CBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours list, and in the 2015 Birthday Honours list, became the first Welsh born composer to receive a knighthood for services to composing and crossing musical genres.
A recent exhaustive survey shows that Sir Karl Jenkins is now the most-performed living composer in the world. Educated at Gowerton Grammar School, Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music, London, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace alone has been performed over 1500 times in 20 different countries since the CD was released, while his recorded output has resulted in 17 gold and platinum disc awards.
In the field of advertising music, he has won the prestigious D&AD Award for Best Music (twice), the Creative Circle Gold and several CLIOs (New York) and Golden Lions (Cannes). Credits include: Levi’s, British Airways, Renault, Volvos, C&G, Tag Heuer and Pepsi, as well as US/global campaigns for De Beers and Delta Airlines, and BAFTA ‘gongs’ for his scores for the documentaries The Celts and Testament.
After this period as a media composer, his return to the music mainstream was initially marked by the success of the Adiemus project. Adiemus, combining the ‘classical’ with ethnic vocal sounds and percussion with an invented language, topped classical and ‘pop’ charts around the world.
His output includes the harp concerto: Over the Stone, commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales for the royal harpist, Catrin Finch; Euphonium Concerto for David Childs; the concertante Quirk, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Colin Davis as part of its 2005 centenary season; Tlep, written for virtuoso violinist Marat Bisengaliev; and In These Stones Horizons Sing, featuring Bryn Terfel and Catrin Finch with the WNO Orchestra and Chorus, which was premiered at the royal gala opening of the Welsh Millennium Centre in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen.
In the summer of 2005, he scored the feature film River Queen, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Samantha Morton, the soundtrack of which won the Golden Goblet Award for Best Score at the Shanghai Film Festival.
His CD releases on EMI Classics include: Requiem; Kiri Sings Karl with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; This Land of Ours with the Cory Band (world brass band champions); Stabat Mater; Quirk, a collection of concertos that includes La Folia, commissioned by Dame Evelyn Glennie; Stella Natalis; and Gloria, premiered by a chorus of 2,500 at the Royal Albert Hall in July 2010.
In 2004, he entered Classic FM’s Hall of Fame at number eight, the highest position for a living composer, and has since been the highest-placed living composer, as well as, in 2006, number four amongst British composers.
2012 saw Karl release The Peacemakers CD on EMI Classics, a number one on the UK classical charts, and after its concert performance debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall, it was performed on a sell-out UK concert tour in Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin and London’s Royal Festival Hall, with the composer conducting.
Karl is signed to Deutsche Grammophon Records in Berlin; his first release was a return to Adiemus, titled Colores, realised in June 2013. It has a Latin theme and features performances from Rolando Villazón, Portuguese Fado singer Cuca Roseta, guitarist Miloš Karadaglic ́, Pacho Flores trumpet and the Adiemus Singers from Finland. His most recent release Motets features arrangements of some of Karl’s most loved works, in motet form, sung by Polyphony and conducted by Stephen Layton. It has spent many weeks at number one on the classical music charts in the UK.
In his 70th birthday year Karl debuted two new commissions in October, a cantata Luke The Healer (recently broadcast by Classic FM), and a new orchestral piece in recognition of the centenary of the birth of Dylan Thomas and named after his fictitious village in Under Milk Wood entitled Llaerggub.
Karl holds a DMus (Doctor of Music) from the University of Wales; has been made both a fellow and an associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where a room has been named in his honour; has fellowships at Cardiff University, Swansea University, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Trinity College in Carmarthen and Swansea Metropolitan University; and was also presented by Classic FM with the Red F Award for Outstanding Service to Classical Music.
He has been the subject of ITV’s The South Bank Show by Lord (Melvyn) Bragg; as well as being a ‘castaway’ on Desert Island Discs; and had a BBC documentary made on his place as the most performed living composer, with endorsements from Bryn Terfel, Kiri Te Kanawa and Terry Waite, amongst many others.
Further awards include: an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Leicester; the Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Glamorgan; and two honorary visiting professorships, one at Thames Valley University/London College of Music and the other at the ATriUM, Cardiff. In November 2009, he was given the Cymru for the World Award and, in March 2010, was honoured with the Hopkins Medal given by the St David’s Society for the State of New York.
He was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty The Queen in the 2005 New Year Honours list, a CBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours list, and in the 2015 Birthday Honours list, became the first Welsh born composer to receive a knighthood for services to composing and crossing musical genres.
William Mathias
Prelude, Aria & Finale
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Prelude, Aria and Finale for string orchestra was written in 1964 for the Caerphilly Festival. The single-movement work was conceived as a compression of a multi-movement archetype and has three unified sections (rather than three movements). The work can be thought of as an imagined musical triptych, the outer two sections contrasting to the expressive central Aria. Although strikingly individual in character, the Prelude and the Finale are, in general terms, marked by their urgency of tone and juxtaposed rhythmic fragments; the Finale in particular captures the rhythmic quality associated with the spirit of dance. In contrast, the central Aria is a rich palette of melody, where divisi string-writing is utilised to enhance the expansive nature of the musical material.
© William Mathias Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press
Prelude, Aria & Finale is published and available for hire from Oxford University Press
© William Mathias Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press
Prelude, Aria & Finale is published and available for hire from Oxford University Press
About William Mathias
William Mathias was born in Whitland, Dyfed in 1934 and died in 1992. He began to compose at an early age, studying first at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, taking his BMus with first-class honours, and subsequently on an Open Scholarship in composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1965, and gained the DMus of the University of Wales in 1966. In 1968 he was awarded the Bax Society Prize under the Harriet Cohen International Music Awards, and in 1981 the John Edwards Memorial Award. From 1970-1988 he was Professor and Head of the Music Department at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. He was known as a conductor and pianist, and gave or directed many premières of his own works. In 1972 he founded the North Wales Music Festival at St Asaph Cathedral and remained its artistic director until his death.
A house composer with Oxford University Press since 1961, his compositions cover an extraordinarily wide range. Early success include the Clarinet Sonatina at the 1957 Cheltenham Festival (followed within a year by broadcasts in France and Poland), and the Divertimento for String Orchestra which, following its London première, was quickly taken up as far afield as Prague and California. He has made a highly significant contribution to twentieth-century organ music, and his church music and carols are still regularly performed worldwide. Works such as the Symphonies, Clarinet Concerto, Harp Concerto, Improvisations for harp, Laudi, Piano Concerto No.3, Ave Rex, Riddles and This Worlde's Joie have entered the repertory; the Organ Concerto scored a great success in the 1984 BBC Proms, and Lux Aeterna has been hailed as one of the finest British choral/orchestral works this century.
Mathias' full-scale opera The Servants (with a libretto by Iris Murdoch) was premièred by Welsh National Opera in 1980. Works composed to celebrate Royal occasions include the Investiture Anniversary Fanfare (for the tenth anniversary of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales), Vivat Regina and A Royal Garland (for the Queen's Silver Jubilee), Let all the World in every corner sing (for the Diamond Jubilee of the Royal School of Church Music), As truly as God is our Father (for the Friends of St Paul's Cathedral and their Patron, The Queen Mother), and Let the people praise Thee, O God - the anthem especially composed for the wedding of The Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981. His last important compositions included Symphony No.3 (1991) and the Violin Concerto for Gyorgy Pauk (1992).
Mathias' musical language embraced both instrumental and vocal forms with equal success, and he addressed a large and varied audience both in Britain and abroad. He was awarded an Honorary DMus by Westminster Choir College, Princeton in 1987 and he was made CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours. In 1992, the year of his death, Nimbus Records embarked upon a series of recordings of his major works.
William Mathias was born in Whitland, Dyfed in 1934 and died in 1992. He began to compose at an early age, studying first at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, taking his BMus with first-class honours, and subsequently on an Open Scholarship in composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1965, and gained the DMus of the University of Wales in 1966. In 1968 he was awarded the Bax Society Prize under the Harriet Cohen International Music Awards, and in 1981 the John Edwards Memorial Award. From 1970-1988 he was Professor and Head of the Music Department at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. He was known as a conductor and pianist, and gave or directed many premières of his own works. In 1972 he founded the North Wales Music Festival at St Asaph Cathedral and remained its artistic director until his death.
A house composer with Oxford University Press since 1961, his compositions cover an extraordinarily wide range. Early success include the Clarinet Sonatina at the 1957 Cheltenham Festival (followed within a year by broadcasts in France and Poland), and the Divertimento for String Orchestra which, following its London première, was quickly taken up as far afield as Prague and California. He has made a highly significant contribution to twentieth-century organ music, and his church music and carols are still regularly performed worldwide. Works such as the Symphonies, Clarinet Concerto, Harp Concerto, Improvisations for harp, Laudi, Piano Concerto No.3, Ave Rex, Riddles and This Worlde's Joie have entered the repertory; the Organ Concerto scored a great success in the 1984 BBC Proms, and Lux Aeterna has been hailed as one of the finest British choral/orchestral works this century.
Mathias' full-scale opera The Servants (with a libretto by Iris Murdoch) was premièred by Welsh National Opera in 1980. Works composed to celebrate Royal occasions include the Investiture Anniversary Fanfare (for the tenth anniversary of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales), Vivat Regina and A Royal Garland (for the Queen's Silver Jubilee), Let all the World in every corner sing (for the Diamond Jubilee of the Royal School of Church Music), As truly as God is our Father (for the Friends of St Paul's Cathedral and their Patron, The Queen Mother), and Let the people praise Thee, O God - the anthem especially composed for the wedding of The Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981. His last important compositions included Symphony No.3 (1991) and the Violin Concerto for Gyorgy Pauk (1992).
Mathias' musical language embraced both instrumental and vocal forms with equal success, and he addressed a large and varied audience both in Britain and abroad. He was awarded an Honorary DMus by Westminster Choir College, Princeton in 1987 and he was made CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours. In 1992, the year of his death, Nimbus Records embarked upon a series of recordings of his major works.
Paul Mealor
A Welsh Prayer
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
A Welsh Prayer was commissioned by Holywell Music and the North Wales International Music Festival, as a gift to celebrate the 65th birthday of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. The beautiful words, written especially for this anthem by Dr Grahame Davies - one of Wales's most outstanding poets - reflect the long life of service and dedication to the nation that the Prince has tirelessly undertaken throughout his life. The work, originally scored for SATB chorus and two harps, was premiered by the Aberdeen University Chamber Choir with harpists Hannah Stone and Catrin Finch, conducted by the composer on 22 September 2013 at St Asaph’s Cathedral, as part of the North Wales International Music Festival.
This orchestration was written especially for the Penblwyddi l Anniversaries project by Paul Mealor, at the request of Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. The orchestral version was premiered at the Halliwell Theatre, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen, on Sunday 2 November 2014 by Camerata Wales l Cymru, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes CBE, with the support of the Arts Council of Wales.
A Welsh Prayer is published and available from Novello & Co Ltd
This orchestration was written especially for the Penblwyddi l Anniversaries project by Paul Mealor, at the request of Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. The orchestral version was premiered at the Halliwell Theatre, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen, on Sunday 2 November 2014 by Camerata Wales l Cymru, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes CBE, with the support of the Arts Council of Wales.
A Welsh Prayer is published and available from Novello & Co Ltd
About Paul Mealor
Described in the New York Times as, ‘one of the most important composers to have emerged in Welsh choral music since William Mathias… A real and original talent’, Paul Mealor’s music has rapidly entered the repertoire of choirs and singers around the world. His music has been described as having, ‘serene beauty, fastidious craftsmanship and architectural assuredness… Music of deep spiritual searching that always asks questions, offers answers and fills the listener with hope…’ His sacred motets, songs and cycles have been performed, broadcast and recorded by artists in the UK, USA and much further afield.
Mealor was catapulted to international attention when 2.5 billion people (the largest audience in broadcasting history) heard his Motet, Ubi caritas performed by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, conducted by James O’Donnell at the Royal Wedding Ceremony of His Royal Highness Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge) at Westminster Abbey, 29th April 2011.
Born in St Asaph, North Wales, UK in 1975 Paul Mealor studied composition privately from an early age with John Pickard, at the University of York with Nicola LeFanu (1994-2002) and in Copenhagen with Hans Abrahamsen (1998-99). Since 2003 he has taught at the University of Aberdeen, where he is currently Reader in Composition, and has held visiting professorships in composition at institutions in Scandinavia and the United States. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and his music is published by Novello & Co Ltd.
Described in the New York Times as, ‘one of the most important composers to have emerged in Welsh choral music since William Mathias… A real and original talent’, Paul Mealor’s music has rapidly entered the repertoire of choirs and singers around the world. His music has been described as having, ‘serene beauty, fastidious craftsmanship and architectural assuredness… Music of deep spiritual searching that always asks questions, offers answers and fills the listener with hope…’ His sacred motets, songs and cycles have been performed, broadcast and recorded by artists in the UK, USA and much further afield.
Mealor was catapulted to international attention when 2.5 billion people (the largest audience in broadcasting history) heard his Motet, Ubi caritas performed by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, conducted by James O’Donnell at the Royal Wedding Ceremony of His Royal Highness Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge) at Westminster Abbey, 29th April 2011.
Born in St Asaph, North Wales, UK in 1975 Paul Mealor studied composition privately from an early age with John Pickard, at the University of York with Nicola LeFanu (1994-2002) and in Copenhagen with Hans Abrahamsen (1998-99). Since 2003 he has taught at the University of Aberdeen, where he is currently Reader in Composition, and has held visiting professorships in composition at institutions in Scandinavia and the United States. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and his music is published by Novello & Co Ltd.
Gareth Wood
Under Milk Wood Suite: Rum & Laverbread
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Camerata Wales l Cymru
Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes CBE
Gareth Wood's "Under Milk Wood Suite: Rum & Laverbread" was written by the composer for Camerata Wales l Cymru for the Penblwyddi l Anniversaries project, at the request of Artistic Director Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. The work is written in memory of iconic Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and was first performed at a Gala Concert commemorating the DT 100 centenary, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London on Sunday 26 October 2014, the eve of the great Welsh bard's 100th birthday. The work is divided into four movements I) Bible Black II) Willy Nilly III) The Prayer IV) The Sailor's Arms
About Gareth Wood
Gareth Wood was born in Cilfynydd, Wales in 1950. He studied composition and the double bass at The Royal Academy of Music, joining the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1972. Since then Gareth has toured extensively with the orchestra, appearing at all the world's major music festivals. He has also played for many of the world's greatest conductors, such as Stokowski, Kempe, Karl Bohm, Haitink, Solti and has performed the "Ring" cycle at English National Opera with Reginald Goodall.
He became Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic in 1991, a post he held for three years. As a composer, he first came to the attention of the public in 1975 when his overture Tombstone, Arizona was performed at the Royal Albert Hall during the National Brass Band Festival. Many works for band followed and included test-pieces for the 1977 Butlins Youth Band Contest, the 1980 New Zealand Brass Band Championships and the 1992 European Championships. His musical resume is staggering. His compositions have been played all over the world.
In 1981 his overture Suffolk Punch, a commission by the Royal Philharmonic was premiered in Ipswich where the work was encored. 1982 was the centenary of the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Gareth re-arranged his overture Tombstone for the University of Arizona Symphonic Wind Band and was played actually in the O.K. Corral the very day of the anniversary!
The National Youth Orchestra of Wales has also kept him busy, commissioning three sinfoniettas and two fanfares. In fact, fanfares have been a major part of Gareth's output and have been written for such occasions as the 150th anniversary of Cunard (performed on the QE II), the opening of the Kravis Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida and the commencement of the Royal Philharmonic's residency in Nottingham.
A fanfare overture was commissioned for the launch of the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation and was recorded for EMI by the Welsh Opera Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Other works include Three Mexican Pictures for wind band, a concerto for double bass which incidentally was performed by the brilliant young bassist Timothy Gibbs and the Wiltshire Youth Orchestra earlier this year (1995), two piano sonatas, a concerto for 'cello and brass quintet, sonatas for clarinet and viola and his Fantasy on Welsh Songs which is performed every year at the Last Night of the Welsh Proms in Cardiff.
A song cycle Poems within a Prayer was written for the tenor Robert Tear who also chose the poems set in the work. Toduri, a work based on fifteenth century Korean court music, was performed in Seoul as part of its 600th anniversary celebrations and was so successful that it was included in a time capsule which will be opened in 400 years!
He has also conducted the Royal Philharmonic at the San Juan Music Festival in 1995 and is closely involved with the R.P.O.'s education programme. The latest project involved members of the orchestra sitting with members of a youth orchestra and performing a new work commissioned by the Halifax Building Society, The Moors and the Mills.
He has written a fanfare for the 80th birthday of Yehudi Menuhin and has also written a violin concerto as a gift for Menuhin. Also two more bass concertos for Tim Gibbs, a trombone concerto for the NYBBW and a trumpet concerto for the Carmarthen Youth Band. Gareth's "Fanfare For Owain" has been adopted as the signature work of Camerata Wales and is dedicated to the Artistic Director.
Gareth Wood was born in Cilfynydd, Wales in 1950. He studied composition and the double bass at The Royal Academy of Music, joining the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1972. Since then Gareth has toured extensively with the orchestra, appearing at all the world's major music festivals. He has also played for many of the world's greatest conductors, such as Stokowski, Kempe, Karl Bohm, Haitink, Solti and has performed the "Ring" cycle at English National Opera with Reginald Goodall.
He became Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic in 1991, a post he held for three years. As a composer, he first came to the attention of the public in 1975 when his overture Tombstone, Arizona was performed at the Royal Albert Hall during the National Brass Band Festival. Many works for band followed and included test-pieces for the 1977 Butlins Youth Band Contest, the 1980 New Zealand Brass Band Championships and the 1992 European Championships. His musical resume is staggering. His compositions have been played all over the world.
In 1981 his overture Suffolk Punch, a commission by the Royal Philharmonic was premiered in Ipswich where the work was encored. 1982 was the centenary of the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Gareth re-arranged his overture Tombstone for the University of Arizona Symphonic Wind Band and was played actually in the O.K. Corral the very day of the anniversary!
The National Youth Orchestra of Wales has also kept him busy, commissioning three sinfoniettas and two fanfares. In fact, fanfares have been a major part of Gareth's output and have been written for such occasions as the 150th anniversary of Cunard (performed on the QE II), the opening of the Kravis Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida and the commencement of the Royal Philharmonic's residency in Nottingham.
A fanfare overture was commissioned for the launch of the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation and was recorded for EMI by the Welsh Opera Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Other works include Three Mexican Pictures for wind band, a concerto for double bass which incidentally was performed by the brilliant young bassist Timothy Gibbs and the Wiltshire Youth Orchestra earlier this year (1995), two piano sonatas, a concerto for 'cello and brass quintet, sonatas for clarinet and viola and his Fantasy on Welsh Songs which is performed every year at the Last Night of the Welsh Proms in Cardiff.
A song cycle Poems within a Prayer was written for the tenor Robert Tear who also chose the poems set in the work. Toduri, a work based on fifteenth century Korean court music, was performed in Seoul as part of its 600th anniversary celebrations and was so successful that it was included in a time capsule which will be opened in 400 years!
He has also conducted the Royal Philharmonic at the San Juan Music Festival in 1995 and is closely involved with the R.P.O.'s education programme. The latest project involved members of the orchestra sitting with members of a youth orchestra and performing a new work commissioned by the Halifax Building Society, The Moors and the Mills.
He has written a fanfare for the 80th birthday of Yehudi Menuhin and has also written a violin concerto as a gift for Menuhin. Also two more bass concertos for Tim Gibbs, a trombone concerto for the NYBBW and a trumpet concerto for the Carmarthen Youth Band. Gareth's "Fanfare For Owain" has been adopted as the signature work of Camerata Wales and is dedicated to the Artistic Director.
Recording Partners
The above musical excerpts were all recorded at Ty Cory, Cwmparc, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in partnership with Ty Cerdd. All recordings were produced and recorded by James Clarke and Jim Unwin. These recordings were produced for educational and archival purposes only and are not available for download, nor commercially available at this time. These recordings can be freely accessed at any time via this website, with the performance materials available for hire and performance from the composer's individual publishers, via the individual links above.