A dozen brand-new pieces of music will receive their world premieres at a major North Wales festival.
Founded in 2000, Bangor Music Festival has grown into one of Wales’ leading showcases for both emerging and established composers.
The festival, that’s being staged at the city’s Pontio Arts Centre on Saturday. February 14, and Sunday, February 15, has already commissioned more than 175 new works and premiered a further 50 compositions since it started.
Launching this year’s programme, Artistic Director Guto Pryderi Puw said the general theme is Perthnasau (Relationships), with six new works specially commissioned for the event.
One of them is by up-and-coming contemporary composer Bethan Morgan-Williams, who hails from Montgomery in Mid-Wales.
Her composition will feature in a concert on February 15 by flautist Richard Craig and who will join Electroacoustic Wales to explore the relationship between the musical creator and performer which fits naturally with the theme of this year’s festival.
Described by critics as “marvellously oblique and obscure” while being “rooted in something ancient and folky”, Bethan writes quirky, rhythmically intricate music.
She said: “The piece forms part of a wider research project exploring how musical material develops through collaborative, performer-centred processes, and specifically through methods designed to resist fluency and encourage exploratory instability.
“It’s the culmination of a year-long collaboration between Richard Craig and myself, during which material has been generated and transformed through iterative experimental sessions.”
Bethan started out playing folk music on the violin, accompanying local dance groups and that early sense of music as something lively, shared, and rooted in community still shapes what she does today.
“My music is mostly instrumental, sometimes with electronics, and I like to think of it as “interest music” – pieces that aim to surprise and engage, balancing expectation with the unexpected.
“I’m especially drawn to working closely with performers, not just writing for them but involving them directly in shaping the music. This collaborative spirit is at the heart of my current research, which explores how musical ideas can evolve through rehearsal, dialogue, and interpretation.
“I’m motivated by the challenge of writing music that feels fresh and original, and also by a sense of humour and play. Many of my pieces contain hidden quotes or musical jokes.
“I take the craft of composing seriously. Each piece is part of a bigger legacy. I want it to mean something, both for the players and for the audience,” she said.
Bethan has been commissioned and performed by internationally acclaimed soloists and by orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The concert, which starts at 3pm in Pontio’s Studio, will also feature a new commission by PhD student Alice Priggen and two commissions by Welsh composer Tristan Rhys Williams.
Guto added two of the festival commissions by Lowri Mair Jones and Nicholas Olsen, will be performed by Ensemble CGWM (Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias) amongst pieces by renowned Welsh composers William Mathias and Rhian Samuel at a concert at the Pontio Studio at 1pm on February 14.
“A further six pieces, composed by Bangor University students, will also be performed for the first time during the weekend,” he said.
Among the main highlights will be a concert starring the internationally acclaimed pianist Llŷr Williams.
He will perform four new pieces by Brian Hughes, Rhian Samuel, Geraint Lewis and Richard Elfyn Jones premiered at last year’s National Eisteddfod in Wrexham will be performed for only the second time.
Guto said: “For a composer, sometimes it can be more difficult to receive that second performance than it is to receive a premiere. Through the festival’s collaboration with the National Eisteddod, these new pieces will have another outing and be presented to a wider audience, so that more people can appreciate the diverse nature of contemporary music that we as a nation have from our talented living composers.”
The second half of the concert will feature performances of works by Benjamin Britten and Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, two towering figure that had a close mutual bond.
In addition to Llŷr Williams’ concert and the premiere of Bethan-Morgan Williams’ new work, the festival also features lectures, workshops and informal performances at various locations in the Pontio centre.
Live performances at the festival will open with new festival commissions by Lowri Mair Jones and Nicholas Olsen, amongst other pieces in Pontio’s Studio at 1pm. This will be followed by a post-concert talk with both of the composers, chaired by Festival Artistic Director, Guto Pryderi Puw.
Young musicians from Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias (CGWM) will perform a variety of music at Pontio’s from 3pm and the Bangor New Music Ensemble will present works by university composition students at Pontio’s public spaces from 4pm.
At 6pm on Saturday, Rhiannon Mathias, the daughter of William Mathias, will chair a pre-concert talk with featured composers from the Llŷr Williams concert, where audience members have the opportunity to learn more about each of the new compositions from the creators.
Earlier in the day Marie-Claire Howarth will hold Camau Cerdd (Steps in Music) workshops introducing music to children aged from six months to three years old and older youngsters aged between four and seven years old. The 45-minute sessions will be held at various times during the morning.
At 11am on Saturday, February 14 at Bangor University’s Mathias Hall there will be a flute workshop with Richard Craig and student performers from Bangor University and CGWM.
