Music written to celebrate King Charles’s 75th birthday will be performed publicly in Wales for the first time at a festival in North Wales.
A selection of seven songs written by one of the king’s ancestors, Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, have been orchestrated and arranged by royal composer Paul Mealor, the artistic director of the North Wales International Music Festival.
They will be given their Welsh premiere at a concert at St Asaph Cathedral featuring the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and renowned tenor Gwilym Bowen at 7pm on Friday, September 19. The performance will be recorded live for both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Cymru.
The festival, that’s on from September 11 – 20, is being made possible thanks to the backing of the Arts Council of Wales, the Pendine Arts and Community Trust, Arts & Business Cymru and Tŷ Cerdd.
Prof Mealor has composed music for some of the most important state and royal occasions of the last decade, including the Kyrie which was the first time that the Welsh language featured at a Coronation and was sung so beautifully by Sir Bryn Terfel at The King’s coronation in 2023.
Mealor said that Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were accomplished pianists and singers, and the acclaimed composer, Felix Mendelssohn, was their musical hero. Mendelssohn was a frequent visitor to Buckingham Palace and played the piano for the royal couple and even persuaded them to sing with him.
"During his visits to Britain Mendelssohn would visit Scotland and he introduced the monarch to Scotland and it was due to him that the Balmoral estate was purchased by Prince Albert in 1852. He tutored Prince Albert in the art of composition. He spent most of his time at a piano composing and wrote more than 150 songs in all. I was commissioned by King Charles III to arrange some of these songs to celebrate his 75th birthday in 2023.”
"I chose seven of Prince Albert’s sings for the Liederkreis, or song cycle, for this suite. They are written in German, the language they spoke to each other, and are beautiful little songs for voice and piano which speak of Prince Albert’s love for the Queen. My orchestral arrangements were first performed at Windsor Castle and the performance at St Asaph will be their Welsh premiere".
In addition to the Liederkreis, the BBC National Orchestra will also play Grace Williams' very first orchestral score, Hen Walia, Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
Tickets and further details about the festival programme are available online at https://nwimf.com. Tickets are also available from Cathedral Frames, St Asaph - 07471 318723 (Weds - Fri, 10 - 4) and Theatr Clwyd by phone - 01352 344101 (Mon - Sun, 10 - 8).