A world-renowned violinist is returning to North Wales to help bring the music of an “unjustly neglected” Welsh composer back to life.
Madeleine Mitchell, who has performed in more than 50 countries, will take centre stage with Wrexham Symphony Orchestra at 2.30pm on Sunday, November 9, in a powerful Remembrance Concert at the William Aston Hall.
The London-based musician will join conductor Bedwyn Lloyd Phillips to celebrate the legacy of Grace Williams – widely regarded as Wales’s most significant female composer but whose music has been long overlooked.
The concert will shine a spotlight on Williams’s haunting and lyrical works, including her rarely heard Violin Concerto.
Madeleine says she is thrilled to return to Wrexham – a city she remembers fondly from earlier tours as soloist in Mozart with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra.
“I’ve performed all over the world, but there’s something truly special about coming back to Wales,” she said.“ A lot has changed in Wrexham since my last visit, and I can’t wait to see it again.”
According to Madeleine, she’s passionate about Welsh music, particularly the work of Grace Williams who was born into a musical family in Barry, near Cardiff, where her father ran the local choir, and she often acted as the choir’s accompanist.
After winning a scholarship to study at Cardiff University in 1923, she was accepted to study at the Royal College of Music in London three years later.
A gifted violinist and pianist, she studied under Ralph Vaughan Williams and was a close friend of Benjamin Britten.
At the time of her death in 1977 few of her pieces had been published or recorded.
Madeleine said: “Having worked a lot with the BBC Radio 3 producer Gwyn L Williams, after he retired from the BBC I went to see him in his last post as Director of Ty Cerdd, partly to look at scores of music by Welsh composers for violin.
“What caught my eye was a copy of the manuscript of the Grace Williams Violin Sonata.
“On the cover she’d written “second movement worth performing, first and third not good enough” but I thought it did all look worth performing so I got a copy.
“I performed it at the first international conference of Women’s Work in Music in Bangor, organised by Rhiannon Mathias. It was a great success and everybody thought I should record it.
“I then researched what other music there was. A lot of Grace Williams’s chamber music which I discovered through the National Library of Wales, was unpublished and unrecorded.
“With my London Chamber Ensemble I produced an album of Grace Williams Chamber Music for Naxos in association with the British Music Society which was a fantastic success, and rose to number two in the Classical Charts.
“I was on Radio Four Woman’s Hour and the then Director of the BBC National of Wales Meurig Bowen heard me play live and invited me to perform the Grace Williams Violin Concerto with BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
I’m delighted to be bringing this concerto to North Wales.”
Madeleine was later honoured to receive the Stuart Burrows Award from the Welsh Guild of Music in 2024 for her ‘significant contribution to Welsh music’.
Bedwyn, a conductor who is quickly gaining a reputation for fresh, energised, passionate, and enjoyable performances, first discovered the works of Grace Williams whilst studying at university.
He chose to pair her Suite for Nine Instruments with Stravinsky’s Octet after hearing Madeleine’s recording of this work.
From here, his love and commitment to her music grew, and he tries to programme her music whenever possible.
He is currently the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Welsh Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Shropshire Chamber Orchestra, and now a regular face at the William Aston Hall as a regular Guest Conductor of Wrexham Symphony Orchestra.
Bedwyn said:: “Bringing the music of Grace Williams to the people of Wales is an important mission for me, particularly in having Welsh orchestras own the music written by one of the finest composers of the 20th Century, who comes from this nation which is so full of music.
“In pairing the works of Grace Williams alongside what is generally regarded as the finest symphony to have been composed by a British composer, the First Symphony of Sir Edward Elgar, I am looking forward to audiences hearing that the music of an unjustly neglected composer stands its ground with one of the great symphonies by one of the most famous composers.
“I am so excited to work with Madeleine and WSO to bring this concerto to the William Aston Hall.”
Wrexham Symphony Orchestra is a leading non‑professional community orchestra based in Wrexham with a core membership of around 60–70 players.
Matthew Ellis, Chair, said: “We are truly honoured to be able to work with a musician with Madeleine’s standing and especially with such an important work for Welsh music. It really shows how far WSO has come to be able to work with Madeleine and showcase our talented musicians, and we look forward to this exciting first concert in what promises to be our greatest season yet.”
The concert’s first half will be dedicated to the music of Grace Williams, spotlighting two of her resonant works: Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes, which holds an important historic role in encouraging Welsh resilience during the darkest days of the Second World War, and her Violin Concerto. This is followed by Elgar Symphony No. 1.
