Legacy JW [WORKING TITLE]
Background
James Watson was a pioneer in the world of brass. Head of Brass at the Royal Academy of Music and former Principal Trumpet at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, James was a highly accomplished brass player, whose work also extended into the realms of television & film, featuring on the movie soundtracks of the original Star Wars trilogy, Gladiator, Harry Potter & more.
James' roots were firmly in the world of brass bands. Originally hailing from Leicester, James spent his formative years in brass bands, and was Principal Cornet of the Desford Colliery Band at just 9 years of age. James would later return to brass bands, directing Desford to a hat trick of National Championship titles, and leading the famous Black Dyke Band as Artistic Director through arguably the most artistically innovative periods in the band's 150 plus year history.
James was a great champion of new music, and his tenure at Black Dyke saw the band break new musical ground, realising large scale performance projects of transcriptions of Holst's Planets suite, Walton's music for Henry V and the Wartime Sketchbook. He also commissioned groundbreaking original works by composers such as Philip Wilby, Gareth Wood and a wealth of music from Nigel Clarke.
Nigel's brief particularly, as the first Composer In Residence at Black Dyke, was to compose "music for the next century". Written in the mid 1990's the music, composed under James' guidance, 25 years on has indeed stood that test of time, with bands' technical capacity and musical outlook now rising to match that of the music the partnership produced a quarter of a century ago.
In addition to breaking new musical ground, James was also a firm supporter of developing youth, both in his role at the Royal Academy and his work with the National Youth Brass Band of Wales and National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain.
James passed away suddenly in 2011 at just 59 years of age.
This project seeks to mark the decade since his passing, and to encapsulate in new music some of the tremendous impact he had on the world of brass
James' roots were firmly in the world of brass bands. Originally hailing from Leicester, James spent his formative years in brass bands, and was Principal Cornet of the Desford Colliery Band at just 9 years of age. James would later return to brass bands, directing Desford to a hat trick of National Championship titles, and leading the famous Black Dyke Band as Artistic Director through arguably the most artistically innovative periods in the band's 150 plus year history.
James was a great champion of new music, and his tenure at Black Dyke saw the band break new musical ground, realising large scale performance projects of transcriptions of Holst's Planets suite, Walton's music for Henry V and the Wartime Sketchbook. He also commissioned groundbreaking original works by composers such as Philip Wilby, Gareth Wood and a wealth of music from Nigel Clarke.
Nigel's brief particularly, as the first Composer In Residence at Black Dyke, was to compose "music for the next century". Written in the mid 1990's the music, composed under James' guidance, 25 years on has indeed stood that test of time, with bands' technical capacity and musical outlook now rising to match that of the music the partnership produced a quarter of a century ago.
In addition to breaking new musical ground, James was also a firm supporter of developing youth, both in his role at the Royal Academy and his work with the National Youth Brass Band of Wales and National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain.
James passed away suddenly in 2011 at just 59 years of age.
This project seeks to mark the decade since his passing, and to encapsulate in new music some of the tremendous impact he had on the world of brass
The Project
Three figures James had worked closely with over the years were composer Andrew Powell, RAM recording engineer and electronic music pioneer Kirsten Powell, and conductor Craig Roberts. The trio worked closely with James on several musical projects, including "Electric Brass", a large scale performance project which took place in several venues across Wales and at the Royal Academy of Music, London in 2006/07.
James' impact on the world of brass was so considerable, that the partnership feel it would be fitting and appropriate to create a new work, an homage to James, which will then form the centrepiece of new concerts in London and Wales in 2021, partnering with much of the material from that final collaboration the partnership worked on at the Royal Academy of Music
James' impact on the world of brass was so considerable, that the partnership feel it would be fitting and appropriate to create a new work, an homage to James, which will then form the centrepiece of new concerts in London and Wales in 2021, partnering with much of the material from that final collaboration the partnership worked on at the Royal Academy of Music
The Work
The 2006/07 Electric Brass series featured a series of cutting edge works for brass, including Tim Souster's "Echoes", the sole complete work for brass band and electronics, plus the second movement of Norwegian composer Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen's "Riifs & Interludes" - "Songs from a Singing Mountain, and a work by Philip Wilby in tribute to Herbert Howells entitled "Dance Before The Lord".
"Echoes" was written in 1990, and - other than the partial use of electronics in the additional two works above - remains the sole work for brass band and live electronics, which is quite paradoxical given the tremendous advances in technology in the intervening years.
The proposal is for Andrew Powell to write a new work for brass band, involving the use of electronics, and working with Kerstin Powell to develop an electronic aspect which can be realised in performance using technology readily available to bands (smart phones, laptops, etc) removing the "barrier" of the requirement to secure and engage overly specialist equipment and operators for future performance.
It is a requirement of the work also that, in additional to exploring non-conventional current sounds, that the work not be "technically prohibitive" and accessible only to the "elite" brass bands, but indeed that the work - as with Souster's "Echoes" - should be realisable and approachable by First, Second Section and advanced Youth brass bands, rather than just Championship level.
"Echoes" was written in 1990, and - other than the partial use of electronics in the additional two works above - remains the sole work for brass band and live electronics, which is quite paradoxical given the tremendous advances in technology in the intervening years.
The proposal is for Andrew Powell to write a new work for brass band, involving the use of electronics, and working with Kerstin Powell to develop an electronic aspect which can be realised in performance using technology readily available to bands (smart phones, laptops, etc) removing the "barrier" of the requirement to secure and engage overly specialist equipment and operators for future performance.
It is a requirement of the work also that, in additional to exploring non-conventional current sounds, that the work not be "technically prohibitive" and accessible only to the "elite" brass bands, but indeed that the work - as with Souster's "Echoes" - should be realisable and approachable by First, Second Section and advanced Youth brass bands, rather than just Championship level.
Performance
"Legacy JW" [WORKING TITLE] is intended as a partner work to Souster's "Echoes" which, previously only available for exclusive hire, is now thankfully readily available for purchase and performance.
In terms of the Wilby: "Dance Before The Lord", this work was commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in 1994, and was not performed again until the Electric Brass project in 2006. Wilby had composed the work in collaboration with a student of his at Leeds University and, with that contact lost and technology having progressed considerably since the date of composition, the electronic aspect of the work had to be re-envisaged by Kirsten Powell. As part of this new project, we propose to liaise with Philip to create and document a definitive vision for the electronics in future performances of the work, before the composer's original intentions are lost
Legacy JW, in addition to being the title of the new work, will also be the title of the concert project which will feature the first performance of the new work as part of the 2021 Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT) in South Wales in June / July next year. The work will be performed by the Lewis Merthyr Band, an ensemble with an established reputation for commissioning and performing new work for brass. The performance will be conducted by Craig Roberts and will also feature Andrew's composition and Kirstenand Andrew performing the electronic aspects.
It is aspired that a second JW Legacy performance will be held at the Royal Academy of Music, London in autumn 2021, in tribute to the decade since James' passing and the Electric Brass performance held there in 2006/07.
*Note, should the ongoing Covid-19 situation mean that live performance remains unfeasible next summer, it has been agreed with the performers and the RAFT Festival that the work will be recorded by the band to digital realisations, in a "virtual choir" format, and will then be released by the Festival as part of their virtual "Plan B" in June / July next year.
Following the premiere performances, the work will be made available for sale by Just Notes and promoted for consumption and performance by brass bands across the UK and wider
In terms of the Wilby: "Dance Before The Lord", this work was commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in 1994, and was not performed again until the Electric Brass project in 2006. Wilby had composed the work in collaboration with a student of his at Leeds University and, with that contact lost and technology having progressed considerably since the date of composition, the electronic aspect of the work had to be re-envisaged by Kirsten Powell. As part of this new project, we propose to liaise with Philip to create and document a definitive vision for the electronics in future performances of the work, before the composer's original intentions are lost
Legacy JW, in addition to being the title of the new work, will also be the title of the concert project which will feature the first performance of the new work as part of the 2021 Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT) in South Wales in June / July next year. The work will be performed by the Lewis Merthyr Band, an ensemble with an established reputation for commissioning and performing new work for brass. The performance will be conducted by Craig Roberts and will also feature Andrew's composition and Kirstenand Andrew performing the electronic aspects.
It is aspired that a second JW Legacy performance will be held at the Royal Academy of Music, London in autumn 2021, in tribute to the decade since James' passing and the Electric Brass performance held there in 2006/07.
*Note, should the ongoing Covid-19 situation mean that live performance remains unfeasible next summer, it has been agreed with the performers and the RAFT Festival that the work will be recorded by the band to digital realisations, in a "virtual choir" format, and will then be released by the Festival as part of their virtual "Plan B" in June / July next year.
Following the premiere performances, the work will be made available for sale by Just Notes and promoted for consumption and performance by brass bands across the UK and wider
Andrew Powell
Andrew was born in Surrey of Welsh parents and educated at King’s College School, Wimbledon and King’s College, Cambridge, where he received a Master’s degree in Music.
Whilst still at school he studied piano with Dr. Malcolm Troup, viola with Noel Long, percussion with James Blades and composition with Cornelius Cardew.
Prior to going to Cambridge he attended composition classes with Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti at Darmstadt. Whilst at Cambridge he was a founder member, together with Roger Smalley and Tim Souster, of the live electronics group “Intermodulation,” which gave first performances of several works by Stockhausen, as well as performing works by all of its members. He also founded, together with Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson, the progressive rock group “Henry Cow, ” and performed with Nick Drake.
His first professional engagement after leaving Cambridge was as a soloist at the “Proms” at the Royal Albert Hall, London, playing Terry Riley's “Keyboard Studies”. He subsequently worked with several orchestras, including Covent Garden, LSO, LPO, BBC Welsh and, mainly, the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez. He also worked as a session player, as well as founding the group “Come to the Edge” with Robin Thompson and Morris Pert, which performed regularly with the Japanese percussion virtuoso Stomu Yamash’ta.
One of his first commissions as an arranger/conductor was the debut album of Cockney Rebel, including the songs Sebastian and Death Trip: he arranged their next two albums, and also albums for Leo Sayer (One Man Band,) Donovan, John Miles (Music, Rebel,) Cliff Richard (Miss You Nights,) Pilot (Magic, January,) Al Stewart (Modern Times, The Year of the Cat, Time Passages, Russians & Americans, Between The Wars,) Ambrosia, Mick Fleetwood, David Gilmour, Chris Rea, Nick Heyward, Vitamin Z, Peter Hoffman, Münchener Freiheit, The Hollies, Sammy Hagar, Classic Rock, Wouter van Belle, Laïs, Il Divo, Eva Jacobs, Racoon….
His career as a record producer took off when he was asked by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (whose office had discovered her) to produce Kate Bush’s first album The Kick Inside. The first single Wuthering Heights went straight to No. 1 in the U.K., and achieved platinum status all around Europe, South America and Australasia, as did the album. He produced her follow-up album Lionheart, which was also successful. He went on to produce records for artists as diverse as Chris de Burgh and Kansas, Elaine Paige and Judy Collins, Tim Rice and André Heller, John Miles and Berdien Stenberg & The Philharmonia Orchestra...
He worked on Tales of Mystery and Imagination, the first album by "The Alan Parsons Project" as arranger, conductor and co-composer: and on the band's subsequent records, including all of the albums released in the 1990s under the name "Alan Parsons". This group were to become one of the most important forces in Progressive Rock in the 1970s and 80s, with worldwide album sales in excess of 50 million coming from a string of platinum albums. His highly contemporary large orchestral and choral sound combined with the rock rhythm section (the London Times commented: “At last a rock arranger who knows that music has developed since Tchaikovsky”) was a “fingerprint” of the group.
He wrote the scores for Ladyhawke (Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, dir. Richard Donner ) which won an honours nomination for best score from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Rocket Gibraltar (Burt Lancaster, Macauley Culkin, dir. Dan Petrie,) Closed Circuit (Film 4,) and has contributed music to other films, such as Janice (Joseph Strick,) The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss, dir. Ted Kotcheff,) Caravan to Vaccares, Ice Dance, as well as to many T.V. programmes and series both in the U.K. and in Germany, France, Scandinavia and America.
He has toured with his old group "Come to the Edge" (Paris Biennale, Royan Festival, many U.K. universities), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez. He also toured as musical director with Jimmy Helms and with Elaine Paige (all round the Middle East and U.K.) and with a group called "Tim Rice and Friends" (which included Elaine Paige and either Tommy Körberg or Colm Wilkinson and Tim Rice) playing in London, Hong Kong, Palm Springs, and two tours of Australia and New Zealand - the last of which had INXS as the rhythm section for some of the show). He also toured with Alan Parsons - taking part on the first ever live performances in Antwerp in 1990, and then extensively all around Europe, America and South America in 1994/5. He has also toured with Al Stewart.
He has co-written songs with Al Stewart, Alan Parsons, David Pack, Stuart Elliott, Menna Elfyn and Tim Rice.
His catalogue of concert music includes several works written for “Intermodulation”, such as Plasmogeny, The Old Pavilion and Terilament. His Suite for Brass Quintet with Piano was commissioned, and first performed, by Equale Brass with the composer at the piano in 1986 at the University of Wales, Cardiff. His work Falstaff for brass band, commissioned by Peter Bassano, was premièred at the Cité de la Musique in Paris in July 1998 by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band conducted by Bassano, and has since received many performances in the U.K. Plasmogeny II for trumpet, live electronics and tape, was written for John Wallace and first performed by him and the composer at the University of Richmond, Virginia for the International Trumpeter’s Guild in May 1999, and has since been recorded by Wallace and Powell for the "Deux-Elles" label. Within Those Radiances... was written for the Wallace Collection and first performed by them in London in December 2000.
Other commissions include Concerto Melyn Coch, commissioned by James Watson and the Parc & Dare Band, and first performed by them in June 2001, Fish Throw Stones, written for the LCO, Pied Beauty for a cappella mixed choir, Tair Cerdd Sanctaidd, settings of poems by William Williams, Gwenallt, & Dafydd ap Gwilym, for baritone, harp, male voice choir & brass band, was commissioned by the Parc & Dare Band and first performed by them in June 2006 with Gareth Rhys-Davies, Catrin Finch and “Only Men Aloud”. His Variations Towards a Theme for two trumpets & live electronics was premièred in London in September 2006 by "Bella Tromba". His work Living Stones for choir, brass & organ received its first performance in St. David’s Cathedral in October 2007. Glasiad y Dydd Dros Ben Dinas, for cello and harp, was premiered at the City of London Festival in March 2008 by Nia Harries and Claire Jones. Preiddiau’r Cymry (text – Menna Elfyn) for soprano flute and clarinet, was premiered in April 2008 in Cardiff, Living Stones Fanfare in July 2008 at St. David’s Hall Cardiff. Caban Coed was premiered on S4C in May 2009, and the cantata Y Dyn Unig, co-written with the Welsh poet Menna Elfyn, about the “Red Lady of Paviland” was premiered in April 2010 in Carmarthen. Will Etienne and Isabeau never meet? was premiered in November 2010 at the KKL Konzertsall, Lucerne, by the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra/Ludwig Wicki. Points upon a Canvas, for large orchestra, was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the Millennium Centre, Cardiff in February 2011. He is currently writing a children's opera, and a piece for contra-bassoon and live electronics.
He has conducted orchestras and ensembles all over the world, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the LPO, the LCO, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Wellington Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, the Münchener Kammeroper, and the Black Dyke Mills and Grimethorpe Colliery Bands.
Whilst still at school he studied piano with Dr. Malcolm Troup, viola with Noel Long, percussion with James Blades and composition with Cornelius Cardew.
Prior to going to Cambridge he attended composition classes with Karlheinz Stockhausen and György Ligeti at Darmstadt. Whilst at Cambridge he was a founder member, together with Roger Smalley and Tim Souster, of the live electronics group “Intermodulation,” which gave first performances of several works by Stockhausen, as well as performing works by all of its members. He also founded, together with Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson, the progressive rock group “Henry Cow, ” and performed with Nick Drake.
His first professional engagement after leaving Cambridge was as a soloist at the “Proms” at the Royal Albert Hall, London, playing Terry Riley's “Keyboard Studies”. He subsequently worked with several orchestras, including Covent Garden, LSO, LPO, BBC Welsh and, mainly, the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez. He also worked as a session player, as well as founding the group “Come to the Edge” with Robin Thompson and Morris Pert, which performed regularly with the Japanese percussion virtuoso Stomu Yamash’ta.
One of his first commissions as an arranger/conductor was the debut album of Cockney Rebel, including the songs Sebastian and Death Trip: he arranged their next two albums, and also albums for Leo Sayer (One Man Band,) Donovan, John Miles (Music, Rebel,) Cliff Richard (Miss You Nights,) Pilot (Magic, January,) Al Stewart (Modern Times, The Year of the Cat, Time Passages, Russians & Americans, Between The Wars,) Ambrosia, Mick Fleetwood, David Gilmour, Chris Rea, Nick Heyward, Vitamin Z, Peter Hoffman, Münchener Freiheit, The Hollies, Sammy Hagar, Classic Rock, Wouter van Belle, Laïs, Il Divo, Eva Jacobs, Racoon….
His career as a record producer took off when he was asked by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (whose office had discovered her) to produce Kate Bush’s first album The Kick Inside. The first single Wuthering Heights went straight to No. 1 in the U.K., and achieved platinum status all around Europe, South America and Australasia, as did the album. He produced her follow-up album Lionheart, which was also successful. He went on to produce records for artists as diverse as Chris de Burgh and Kansas, Elaine Paige and Judy Collins, Tim Rice and André Heller, John Miles and Berdien Stenberg & The Philharmonia Orchestra...
He worked on Tales of Mystery and Imagination, the first album by "The Alan Parsons Project" as arranger, conductor and co-composer: and on the band's subsequent records, including all of the albums released in the 1990s under the name "Alan Parsons". This group were to become one of the most important forces in Progressive Rock in the 1970s and 80s, with worldwide album sales in excess of 50 million coming from a string of platinum albums. His highly contemporary large orchestral and choral sound combined with the rock rhythm section (the London Times commented: “At last a rock arranger who knows that music has developed since Tchaikovsky”) was a “fingerprint” of the group.
He wrote the scores for Ladyhawke (Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, dir. Richard Donner ) which won an honours nomination for best score from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Rocket Gibraltar (Burt Lancaster, Macauley Culkin, dir. Dan Petrie,) Closed Circuit (Film 4,) and has contributed music to other films, such as Janice (Joseph Strick,) The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss, dir. Ted Kotcheff,) Caravan to Vaccares, Ice Dance, as well as to many T.V. programmes and series both in the U.K. and in Germany, France, Scandinavia and America.
He has toured with his old group "Come to the Edge" (Paris Biennale, Royan Festival, many U.K. universities), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez. He also toured as musical director with Jimmy Helms and with Elaine Paige (all round the Middle East and U.K.) and with a group called "Tim Rice and Friends" (which included Elaine Paige and either Tommy Körberg or Colm Wilkinson and Tim Rice) playing in London, Hong Kong, Palm Springs, and two tours of Australia and New Zealand - the last of which had INXS as the rhythm section for some of the show). He also toured with Alan Parsons - taking part on the first ever live performances in Antwerp in 1990, and then extensively all around Europe, America and South America in 1994/5. He has also toured with Al Stewart.
He has co-written songs with Al Stewart, Alan Parsons, David Pack, Stuart Elliott, Menna Elfyn and Tim Rice.
His catalogue of concert music includes several works written for “Intermodulation”, such as Plasmogeny, The Old Pavilion and Terilament. His Suite for Brass Quintet with Piano was commissioned, and first performed, by Equale Brass with the composer at the piano in 1986 at the University of Wales, Cardiff. His work Falstaff for brass band, commissioned by Peter Bassano, was premièred at the Cité de la Musique in Paris in July 1998 by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band conducted by Bassano, and has since received many performances in the U.K. Plasmogeny II for trumpet, live electronics and tape, was written for John Wallace and first performed by him and the composer at the University of Richmond, Virginia for the International Trumpeter’s Guild in May 1999, and has since been recorded by Wallace and Powell for the "Deux-Elles" label. Within Those Radiances... was written for the Wallace Collection and first performed by them in London in December 2000.
Other commissions include Concerto Melyn Coch, commissioned by James Watson and the Parc & Dare Band, and first performed by them in June 2001, Fish Throw Stones, written for the LCO, Pied Beauty for a cappella mixed choir, Tair Cerdd Sanctaidd, settings of poems by William Williams, Gwenallt, & Dafydd ap Gwilym, for baritone, harp, male voice choir & brass band, was commissioned by the Parc & Dare Band and first performed by them in June 2006 with Gareth Rhys-Davies, Catrin Finch and “Only Men Aloud”. His Variations Towards a Theme for two trumpets & live electronics was premièred in London in September 2006 by "Bella Tromba". His work Living Stones for choir, brass & organ received its first performance in St. David’s Cathedral in October 2007. Glasiad y Dydd Dros Ben Dinas, for cello and harp, was premiered at the City of London Festival in March 2008 by Nia Harries and Claire Jones. Preiddiau’r Cymry (text – Menna Elfyn) for soprano flute and clarinet, was premiered in April 2008 in Cardiff, Living Stones Fanfare in July 2008 at St. David’s Hall Cardiff. Caban Coed was premiered on S4C in May 2009, and the cantata Y Dyn Unig, co-written with the Welsh poet Menna Elfyn, about the “Red Lady of Paviland” was premiered in April 2010 in Carmarthen. Will Etienne and Isabeau never meet? was premiered in November 2010 at the KKL Konzertsall, Lucerne, by the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra/Ludwig Wicki. Points upon a Canvas, for large orchestra, was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the Millennium Centre, Cardiff in February 2011. He is currently writing a children's opera, and a piece for contra-bassoon and live electronics.
He has conducted orchestras and ensembles all over the world, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the LPO, the LCO, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Wellington Symphony Orchestra, the Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, the Münchener Kammeroper, and the Black Dyke Mills and Grimethorpe Colliery Bands.
Kerstin Powell, live electronics
Kerstin was the recording engineer at the Royal Academy of Music, London for over 20 years, also working at the Angel Studios, Islington and with live bands across Sydney in her original homeland of Australia prior to that.
She has worked with a wide variety of artists at the RAM through the years, and has a particular passion for working with live musicians on new music. Kerstin has a wealth of experience working with live electronics in concerts, outdoor venues and studio locations, with both large orchestral forces, smaller ensembles and soloists.
Her recordings to date range from classical operas conducted by Sir Colin Davis and Sir Charles Mackerras, to contemporary operas written by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Judith Weir, orchestral music by Frank Zappa and jazz duos including Evan Parker & John Stevens and Gwillam Simcock & Kit Downes.
A selection of albums and projects Kerstin has worked on to date are listed at http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kirsten-cowie-mn0001754347 under her maiden name, Kerstin Cowie
Electronic music has always been a special interest of Kerstin's and she has worked with a wealth of leading composers in this field, including Tim Souster, Patrick Nunn and Jonathan Harvey. Kerstin continues to expand her knowledge and break new ground in the field of electronic music, recently attending the IRCAM in Paris on MAX msp sessions, and has already written and utilised a Max patch for the performance of Roger Smalley's "Echo III" at Kings College Chapel
She has worked with a wide variety of artists at the RAM through the years, and has a particular passion for working with live musicians on new music. Kerstin has a wealth of experience working with live electronics in concerts, outdoor venues and studio locations, with both large orchestral forces, smaller ensembles and soloists.
Her recordings to date range from classical operas conducted by Sir Colin Davis and Sir Charles Mackerras, to contemporary operas written by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Judith Weir, orchestral music by Frank Zappa and jazz duos including Evan Parker & John Stevens and Gwillam Simcock & Kit Downes.
A selection of albums and projects Kerstin has worked on to date are listed at http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kirsten-cowie-mn0001754347 under her maiden name, Kerstin Cowie
Electronic music has always been a special interest of Kerstin's and she has worked with a wealth of leading composers in this field, including Tim Souster, Patrick Nunn and Jonathan Harvey. Kerstin continues to expand her knowledge and break new ground in the field of electronic music, recently attending the IRCAM in Paris on MAX msp sessions, and has already written and utilised a Max patch for the performance of Roger Smalley's "Echo III" at Kings College Chapel
Powell: "Falstaff"
"Falstaff"
Premiere performance: July 19th, 1998 - Cité de la Musique, Paris
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Conductor: Peter Bassano
Recorded live at the Royal College of Music, London
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Conductor: Andrew Powell
©1998 Just Notes Ltd. (PRS)
Premiere performance: July 19th, 1998 - Cité de la Musique, Paris
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Conductor: Peter Bassano
Recorded live at the Royal College of Music, London
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Conductor: Andrew Powell
©1998 Just Notes Ltd. (PRS)
Powell: Hwiangerdd
"Hwiangerdd"
from Y Dyn Unig (The Lonely Man)
Cantata for Tenor, Harp, Mixed Choir, Children's Chorus and Brass Band
Originally commissioned for The Red Lady of Paviland, an Arts Council of Wales / PRSF "Steps to New Music" project
Premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen
Claire Jones, harp; Robyn Lyn, tenor; Band Pres Porth Tywyn; Cor Seingar; Cor Ysgolion Gymraeg Sir Gar
Conductor: Craig Roberts
Music by Andrew Powell
Libretto by Menna Elfyn
Orchestral transcription recorded by
Elin Manahan Thomas, Soprano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor: Andrew Powell
©2009 Just Notes Ltd. (PRS)
from Y Dyn Unig (The Lonely Man)
Cantata for Tenor, Harp, Mixed Choir, Children's Chorus and Brass Band
Originally commissioned for The Red Lady of Paviland, an Arts Council of Wales / PRSF "Steps to New Music" project
Premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen
Claire Jones, harp; Robyn Lyn, tenor; Band Pres Porth Tywyn; Cor Seingar; Cor Ysgolion Gymraeg Sir Gar
Conductor: Craig Roberts
Music by Andrew Powell
Libretto by Menna Elfyn
Orchestral transcription recorded by
Elin Manahan Thomas, Soprano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor: Andrew Powell
©2009 Just Notes Ltd. (PRS)
Powell: "Plasmogeny II" for trumpet, live electronics and tape
"Plasmogeny II"
For John Wallace
Premiere Performance: John Wallace & Andrew Powell
University of Richmond, Virginia
May 1999
Recorded by
John Wallace and Andrew Powell
Deux-Elles: Michael’s Farewell (2002)
©1999 Just Notes Ltd. (PRS)
For John Wallace
Premiere Performance: John Wallace & Andrew Powell
University of Richmond, Virginia
May 1999
Recorded by
John Wallace and Andrew Powell
Deux-Elles: Michael’s Farewell (2002)
©1999 Just Notes Ltd. (PRS)
Streamed Performance
Filmed during lockdown, May 2020
Bede Williams, trumpet; Andrew Powell & Kerstin Powell, live electronics
In association with St Andrew's University and the Wallace Collection
*Performance available from 19:45 onwards
Filmed during lockdown, May 2020
Bede Williams, trumpet; Andrew Powell & Kerstin Powell, live electronics
In association with St Andrew's University and the Wallace Collection
*Performance available from 19:45 onwards
Powell: Ladyhawke
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Carl Davis
Prague Proms 2017
Conductor: Carl Davis
Prague Proms 2017
Craig Roberts, conductor
Craig studied at the United Kingdom's University of Salford, then Europe's leading centre for specialist musical education in band musicianship. He gained first his BA (Hons) then Masters degree there, studying with Dr Roy Newsome, Dr Peter Graham and Prof David King. Whilst at the university, Craig was awarded the Roy Newsome conducting prize as the outstanding undergraduate conductor of the academic year 2000.
Within the UK, Craig has performed in most of the country’s finest concert halls including the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Academy of Music, London; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; Brangwyn Hall, Swansea; Wales Millennium Centre, St David’s Hall, RWCMD Dora Stouzker Hall, BBC Hoddinott Hall, and Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Craig has also frequently worked overseas, touring to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Libya, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States of America.
Craig has worked on a wide variety of large scale and innovative concert projects both at home and abroad, ranging from the closing event of the London 2012 Olympic Park through a wide variety of major international performances and festivals. He has worked with some of the world's leading orchestras, bands, soloists, composers and more, including the Stadtorchester, Kreisverband & Jugendblasorchester Ravensburg, Stadtkapelle Nurtingen and Musikkapelle Thanheim of Germany; the Don Cossack, Russian Cossack & Nalmes State Dance Companies and Russian State Ballet Company; Errollyn Wallen and the Welsh National Opera Company, Joji Hirota & the Japanese Taiko Drummers; Tim A. Duncan and the Russian Imperial Ice Stars. With the Welsh Proms, Craig has also worked on events featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera Orchestra. He also worked on the 2014 Dylan Thomas centenary concert with Camerata Wales at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank.
Soloists Craig has worked with include Sir Bryn Terfel, Shan Cothi, Rebecca Evans, Catrin Finch, Lesley Garrett, David Childs, Kerry Ellis, Claire Jones, John Owen-Jones, Peter Karrie, and James Watson. He has also commissioned a wealth of music by leading composers including Paul Mealor, Sir Karl Jenkins, Philip Wilby and many more.
Craig has directed numerous leading bands and choirs in performance, including Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Cory and Leyland brass bands, a wealth of international military bands, including the Band of Her Majesty’s Grenadier Guards, and choirs ranging from Only Men Aloud to the Yurlov Russian State Academic Chorus. Within Wales, Craig has conducted the majority of the top brass bands, including world number one brass band, the Cory Band, who he guest conducted for the Golden Jubilee procession through London of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Craig has been successful in musical competition at the highest level, winning the overall Welsh League Championship on three occasions (2006, 2009 and 2011) with three different bands, and has won every contest in the Welsh Brass Band League at Championship level. Craig was named Conductor of the Year by the SEWBBA and WWBBA in 2004. In 2017, he led both Lewis-Merthyr Band to the Welsh League First Section Championship title for the first time in 21 years, and Seindorf Arian Crwbin to the National Eisteddfod of Wales Second Section Championship.
For a number of years Craig was Director of Music of the Woods Mfg Co Brass Band based in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada. He directed the band at several of the world’s largest military shows including the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in Halifax, Canada; the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk, USA; the Netherlands Nationale Taptoe in Breda, Holland and the Polizei Show in Hamburg, Germany. Craig later became Assistant Director of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, the world’s largest annual indoor show, and worked with the Tattoo for a period of 20 years until resigning his position in 2018.
Craig has also worked as Production Consultant to a wide range of additional large scale military events, including the Canadian Beating Retreat “Fortissimo”, held annually on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (2007-10) and the Kremlin Zoria Festival, the first Tattoo to be held in Moscow's Red Square, Russia (2007). Craig was also Director of Music and Production Consultant for the World Military Music Festival held in Green Square, Tripoli, Libya in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Arab Jamahereya and 10th anniversary of the African Union (2009). The performance featured 1000 performers from 18 different nations and was attended by 200 international heads of state. Craig was also Director of Music and Production Consultant for the first Crete International Tattoo and Mediterranean International Festival of Arts in Crete, Greece (2010 & 2011) and in 2013 visited Kharkiv, Ukraine to undertake a major parade and performances in the presence of the then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city and region in 1943.
In 2015, Craig featured in and tour-managed Grimethorpe Colliery Band's 10 date nationwide concert tour of Australia. In both 2017 and 2019 he then returned to Russia to work on the famous May 9th Immortal Regiment Parade in Red Square, Moscow. This parade consisted of over a million people in Moscow alone, and over 2 million people nationwide. In addition to Moscow, Craig has also travelled to Krasnodar and the Crimean Peninsula, and in 2020 will again return to the Russian Federation as Director of Music to a major festival to be held across Moscow, Crimea and Kazan. In September 2020, he will also take up the position of Principal Director of Music to the Estes Park Tattoo in Colorado, USA.
Craig has been the recipient of a number of awards and honours including the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf's Good Citizen Award for Artistic Achievement, which he was presented for services to music, the arts, education and charitable causes in May 2018. In August 2018, he was then awarded the Talent & Vocation Medal as a Worldwide Charitable Alliance Peacemaker by the International Coordination Council for the Development and Promotion of the Ideas of Peace in a ceremony at the iconic Vorontsov Palace in Alupka. In May 2019, Craig accepted a second award from the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf for the pioneering work of the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT).
Having formerly held positions as Artistic Director of the Welsh Brass Arts Festival, Wales Development Manager to Making Music, the national support body for UK voluntary music, and Executive Officer of the UK National School Band Association (NSBA), in November 2018, Craig took up the post of Director with the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT) which has seen him work with artists such as Sir Tony Robinson, Kerry Ellis, Omid Djalili and many more. He is also a leading freelance arts management consultant, who has worked with organisations such as Wales' national classical music festival, the Welsh Proms Cymru, the chamber orchestra Camerata Wales and more.
Craig has been a member of the Executive Council of Music Centre Wales, Ty Cerdd, of the Board of Directors at Community Music Wales, and a Trustee of the famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Sound Affairs, Musical Director of both Lewis Merthyr Band and Symphonic Brass Wales, and Vice Chair of Rhondda Cynon Taf International Twinning.
Further information on Craig can be found at www.croberts100.com
Within the UK, Craig has performed in most of the country’s finest concert halls including the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Academy of Music, London; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; Brangwyn Hall, Swansea; Wales Millennium Centre, St David’s Hall, RWCMD Dora Stouzker Hall, BBC Hoddinott Hall, and Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Craig has also frequently worked overseas, touring to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Libya, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States of America.
Craig has worked on a wide variety of large scale and innovative concert projects both at home and abroad, ranging from the closing event of the London 2012 Olympic Park through a wide variety of major international performances and festivals. He has worked with some of the world's leading orchestras, bands, soloists, composers and more, including the Stadtorchester, Kreisverband & Jugendblasorchester Ravensburg, Stadtkapelle Nurtingen and Musikkapelle Thanheim of Germany; the Don Cossack, Russian Cossack & Nalmes State Dance Companies and Russian State Ballet Company; Errollyn Wallen and the Welsh National Opera Company, Joji Hirota & the Japanese Taiko Drummers; Tim A. Duncan and the Russian Imperial Ice Stars. With the Welsh Proms, Craig has also worked on events featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera Orchestra. He also worked on the 2014 Dylan Thomas centenary concert with Camerata Wales at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank.
Soloists Craig has worked with include Sir Bryn Terfel, Shan Cothi, Rebecca Evans, Catrin Finch, Lesley Garrett, David Childs, Kerry Ellis, Claire Jones, John Owen-Jones, Peter Karrie, and James Watson. He has also commissioned a wealth of music by leading composers including Paul Mealor, Sir Karl Jenkins, Philip Wilby and many more.
Craig has directed numerous leading bands and choirs in performance, including Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Cory and Leyland brass bands, a wealth of international military bands, including the Band of Her Majesty’s Grenadier Guards, and choirs ranging from Only Men Aloud to the Yurlov Russian State Academic Chorus. Within Wales, Craig has conducted the majority of the top brass bands, including world number one brass band, the Cory Band, who he guest conducted for the Golden Jubilee procession through London of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Craig has been successful in musical competition at the highest level, winning the overall Welsh League Championship on three occasions (2006, 2009 and 2011) with three different bands, and has won every contest in the Welsh Brass Band League at Championship level. Craig was named Conductor of the Year by the SEWBBA and WWBBA in 2004. In 2017, he led both Lewis-Merthyr Band to the Welsh League First Section Championship title for the first time in 21 years, and Seindorf Arian Crwbin to the National Eisteddfod of Wales Second Section Championship.
For a number of years Craig was Director of Music of the Woods Mfg Co Brass Band based in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada. He directed the band at several of the world’s largest military shows including the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in Halifax, Canada; the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk, USA; the Netherlands Nationale Taptoe in Breda, Holland and the Polizei Show in Hamburg, Germany. Craig later became Assistant Director of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, the world’s largest annual indoor show, and worked with the Tattoo for a period of 20 years until resigning his position in 2018.
Craig has also worked as Production Consultant to a wide range of additional large scale military events, including the Canadian Beating Retreat “Fortissimo”, held annually on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (2007-10) and the Kremlin Zoria Festival, the first Tattoo to be held in Moscow's Red Square, Russia (2007). Craig was also Director of Music and Production Consultant for the World Military Music Festival held in Green Square, Tripoli, Libya in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Arab Jamahereya and 10th anniversary of the African Union (2009). The performance featured 1000 performers from 18 different nations and was attended by 200 international heads of state. Craig was also Director of Music and Production Consultant for the first Crete International Tattoo and Mediterranean International Festival of Arts in Crete, Greece (2010 & 2011) and in 2013 visited Kharkiv, Ukraine to undertake a major parade and performances in the presence of the then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city and region in 1943.
In 2015, Craig featured in and tour-managed Grimethorpe Colliery Band's 10 date nationwide concert tour of Australia. In both 2017 and 2019 he then returned to Russia to work on the famous May 9th Immortal Regiment Parade in Red Square, Moscow. This parade consisted of over a million people in Moscow alone, and over 2 million people nationwide. In addition to Moscow, Craig has also travelled to Krasnodar and the Crimean Peninsula, and in 2020 will again return to the Russian Federation as Director of Music to a major festival to be held across Moscow, Crimea and Kazan. In September 2020, he will also take up the position of Principal Director of Music to the Estes Park Tattoo in Colorado, USA.
Craig has been the recipient of a number of awards and honours including the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf's Good Citizen Award for Artistic Achievement, which he was presented for services to music, the arts, education and charitable causes in May 2018. In August 2018, he was then awarded the Talent & Vocation Medal as a Worldwide Charitable Alliance Peacemaker by the International Coordination Council for the Development and Promotion of the Ideas of Peace in a ceremony at the iconic Vorontsov Palace in Alupka. In May 2019, Craig accepted a second award from the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf for the pioneering work of the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT).
Having formerly held positions as Artistic Director of the Welsh Brass Arts Festival, Wales Development Manager to Making Music, the national support body for UK voluntary music, and Executive Officer of the UK National School Band Association (NSBA), in November 2018, Craig took up the post of Director with the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT) which has seen him work with artists such as Sir Tony Robinson, Kerry Ellis, Omid Djalili and many more. He is also a leading freelance arts management consultant, who has worked with organisations such as Wales' national classical music festival, the Welsh Proms Cymru, the chamber orchestra Camerata Wales and more.
Craig has been a member of the Executive Council of Music Centre Wales, Ty Cerdd, of the Board of Directors at Community Music Wales, and a Trustee of the famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Sound Affairs, Musical Director of both Lewis Merthyr Band and Symphonic Brass Wales, and Vice Chair of Rhondda Cynon Taf International Twinning.
Further information on Craig can be found at www.croberts100.com
Lewis Merthyr Band
"A damn fine band" - HRH Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII)
Founded in or before 1855, Lewis-Merthyr Band is the oldest brass band in South Wales' Rhondda Valleys. Originally known as the Cymmer Military and Cymmer (Porth) Colliery Band, Lewis Merthyr adopted its present title in 1949.
The band has been highly successful in competition throughout its history, becoming Champion Band of Wales, Welsh League Champions, Miner's Welfare Entertainments (CISWO) Champions and more.
Lewis Merthyr has represented Wales in the Championship section on eight occasions at the Royal Albert Hall, London, and at the European Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. The band has also won the Second and Third Section UK titles at the National Championships of Great Britain. Lewis Merthyr is currently ranked in the First Section and were the 2015 Runner-Up WWBBA Champions; 2016 Runner-Up SEWBBA Champions & overall Runner-Up Welsh League Champions in both 2015 & 2016. 2017 was a particularly successful year for the band and saw Lewis Merthyr become the WWBBA and - for the first time in 21 years - overall Welsh League First Section Champions.
The band has been equally successful on the concert stage, performing at a wide variety of locations across Wales and beyond, including the Royal Albert Hall, London; Llangollen Pavilion; St David's Hall, Cardiff & the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. Lewis Merthyr has performed for Royalty on a number of occasions, parading through the streets for the visit of His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary to Rhondda in 1912, and the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, in 1932. Throughout its history, the band has performed with numerous leading artists, including "Signor Foli" (Allan James Foley) in the late 1800's, and with Sir Geraint Evans, Glyn Houston and Sir Bryn Terfel. In the past few years, the band also recently featured in a series of concerts under the baton of the renowned Welsh orchestral conductor Dr. Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. These include a St David's Day Gala Concert at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea with Pendyrus and Morriston Orpheus Choirs; a concert in the Speech Room at Harrow School, London; and two performances at Wales' national classical music festival, the Welsh Proms, held in July 2018 & 2019 at the national concert hall of Wales, St David's Hall, Cardiff.
Lewis Merthyr has featured in a wide range of radio & television broadcasts, dating back to a recently rediscovered BBC Radio broadcast from 1927, and Pathé newsreel footage of the band marching before King Edward VIII in 1932. Most recently the band was featured in the BBC television programme "The Taff: The River That Made Wales" which has been repeatedly screened on BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Wales. In Autumn 2017, Lewis Merthyr also recorded a special television feature with the renowned international baritone soloist Sir Bryn Terfel, which was screened nationwide on Christmas Day 2017, Christmas Eve 2018 and on the opening night of the 2018 National Eisteddfod of Wales. The band featured again on nationwide television, performing live in the National Eisteddfod, on stage at the Donald Gordon Theatre in the iconic Wales Millennium Centre the following day.
Lewis Merthyr Band has featured in a wide range of major events, performing on numerous occasions at the Principality Stadium, playing to 52 981 people plus international television audience for the Wales vs Italy warm up match for the 2015 Rugby World Cup; to record Pro14 crowds of 68,262 and 62,338 for Judgement Day 2016 & 2018; and for the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 World Golden Oldies International Rugby Festival, which featured 120 participating teams representing 25 different nations from across the globe.
Lewis Merthyr was also the core of Wales' first all-female band for each of Wales' 2017 Women's Rugby Six Nations Championship home matches, and again for the 2018 Women's Suffrage Centennial "Processions" event at Cardiff Castle in July 2018. Lewis Merthyr Band also performed for the Women's Rugby Six Nations matches at Cardiff Arms Park in 2019 and 2020.
Lewis Merthyr also featured in National Theatre Wales' 2016 “City of the Unexpected” Roald Dahl 100 celebrations, performing across Cardiff city centre to tens of thousands of people, and which was again the focus of national television broadcasts. In April 2018, the band also supported the 11.2 metre "Man Engine" events at Cyfartha Castle and Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, and in October 2019 travelled to Ostend, Belgium to perform to over 6000 people alongside groups from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and South Korea at the Internationale Taptoe Belgie.
Lewis Merthyr Band has a long history of performing and broadcasting new work, and has held a close association with numerous major composers including Mervyn Burtch and John Golland. The band gave the premiere broadcasts of Dr. Peter Graham's "Dimensions" and Goff Richards' "Oceans" on BBC Radio in the 1980s, and in 2018 the band gave the premiere performances of Helen Wood's "Man Engine Anthem" and Dr. Christopher Wood's "Aberfan", also undertaking the premiere recording of the latter on the band's most recent commercial recording "Brass & Voices of Wales" with the massed choirs of Bridgend & Pendyrus, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
Lewis-Merthyr remain thoroughly committed to supporting our local community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, through the presentation of concert performances across the county borough and wider, supporting local events & functions, and providing tuition for local young brass & percussion musicians through our Youth Band programme. The band looks forward to continuing to represent Rhondda Cynon Taf and Wales at the highest level throughout their performances across the nation and beyond.
Registered Charity No. 1000499
www.lewismerthyrband.com
Founded in or before 1855, Lewis-Merthyr Band is the oldest brass band in South Wales' Rhondda Valleys. Originally known as the Cymmer Military and Cymmer (Porth) Colliery Band, Lewis Merthyr adopted its present title in 1949.
The band has been highly successful in competition throughout its history, becoming Champion Band of Wales, Welsh League Champions, Miner's Welfare Entertainments (CISWO) Champions and more.
Lewis Merthyr has represented Wales in the Championship section on eight occasions at the Royal Albert Hall, London, and at the European Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. The band has also won the Second and Third Section UK titles at the National Championships of Great Britain. Lewis Merthyr is currently ranked in the First Section and were the 2015 Runner-Up WWBBA Champions; 2016 Runner-Up SEWBBA Champions & overall Runner-Up Welsh League Champions in both 2015 & 2016. 2017 was a particularly successful year for the band and saw Lewis Merthyr become the WWBBA and - for the first time in 21 years - overall Welsh League First Section Champions.
The band has been equally successful on the concert stage, performing at a wide variety of locations across Wales and beyond, including the Royal Albert Hall, London; Llangollen Pavilion; St David's Hall, Cardiff & the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. Lewis Merthyr has performed for Royalty on a number of occasions, parading through the streets for the visit of His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary to Rhondda in 1912, and the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, in 1932. Throughout its history, the band has performed with numerous leading artists, including "Signor Foli" (Allan James Foley) in the late 1800's, and with Sir Geraint Evans, Glyn Houston and Sir Bryn Terfel. In the past few years, the band also recently featured in a series of concerts under the baton of the renowned Welsh orchestral conductor Dr. Owain Arwel Hughes CBE. These include a St David's Day Gala Concert at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea with Pendyrus and Morriston Orpheus Choirs; a concert in the Speech Room at Harrow School, London; and two performances at Wales' national classical music festival, the Welsh Proms, held in July 2018 & 2019 at the national concert hall of Wales, St David's Hall, Cardiff.
Lewis Merthyr has featured in a wide range of radio & television broadcasts, dating back to a recently rediscovered BBC Radio broadcast from 1927, and Pathé newsreel footage of the band marching before King Edward VIII in 1932. Most recently the band was featured in the BBC television programme "The Taff: The River That Made Wales" which has been repeatedly screened on BBC Two, BBC Four and BBC Wales. In Autumn 2017, Lewis Merthyr also recorded a special television feature with the renowned international baritone soloist Sir Bryn Terfel, which was screened nationwide on Christmas Day 2017, Christmas Eve 2018 and on the opening night of the 2018 National Eisteddfod of Wales. The band featured again on nationwide television, performing live in the National Eisteddfod, on stage at the Donald Gordon Theatre in the iconic Wales Millennium Centre the following day.
Lewis Merthyr Band has featured in a wide range of major events, performing on numerous occasions at the Principality Stadium, playing to 52 981 people plus international television audience for the Wales vs Italy warm up match for the 2015 Rugby World Cup; to record Pro14 crowds of 68,262 and 62,338 for Judgement Day 2016 & 2018; and for the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 World Golden Oldies International Rugby Festival, which featured 120 participating teams representing 25 different nations from across the globe.
Lewis Merthyr was also the core of Wales' first all-female band for each of Wales' 2017 Women's Rugby Six Nations Championship home matches, and again for the 2018 Women's Suffrage Centennial "Processions" event at Cardiff Castle in July 2018. Lewis Merthyr Band also performed for the Women's Rugby Six Nations matches at Cardiff Arms Park in 2019 and 2020.
Lewis Merthyr also featured in National Theatre Wales' 2016 “City of the Unexpected” Roald Dahl 100 celebrations, performing across Cardiff city centre to tens of thousands of people, and which was again the focus of national television broadcasts. In April 2018, the band also supported the 11.2 metre "Man Engine" events at Cyfartha Castle and Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, and in October 2019 travelled to Ostend, Belgium to perform to over 6000 people alongside groups from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and South Korea at the Internationale Taptoe Belgie.
Lewis Merthyr Band has a long history of performing and broadcasting new work, and has held a close association with numerous major composers including Mervyn Burtch and John Golland. The band gave the premiere broadcasts of Dr. Peter Graham's "Dimensions" and Goff Richards' "Oceans" on BBC Radio in the 1980s, and in 2018 the band gave the premiere performances of Helen Wood's "Man Engine Anthem" and Dr. Christopher Wood's "Aberfan", also undertaking the premiere recording of the latter on the band's most recent commercial recording "Brass & Voices of Wales" with the massed choirs of Bridgend & Pendyrus, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
Lewis-Merthyr remain thoroughly committed to supporting our local community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, through the presentation of concert performances across the county borough and wider, supporting local events & functions, and providing tuition for local young brass & percussion musicians through our Youth Band programme. The band looks forward to continuing to represent Rhondda Cynon Taf and Wales at the highest level throughout their performances across the nation and beyond.
Registered Charity No. 1000499
www.lewismerthyrband.com
