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Welcome to the website of Ed Scolding, composer for concert and media.
Scroll down to discover the latest news or use links on the left to explore the site.
Recent Twitter updates
edscolding.co.uk updates
12/10/09
Forthcoming performances of my music:
Not Being Charles Frieth at the Royal Academy of Music Composers' Platform concert, David Josefowitz Recital Hall, 6pm Wednesday 25 November, free entry, www.ram.ac.uk/events/Pages/default.aspx
Melting Continents at Royal Festival Hall as part of the Park Lane Group Young Composers Symposium, 28/29 November.
11/6/09
As you can see above, I've added my Twitter feed to this website to show the short comments, pictures and links that I post regularly.
12/4/09
We're working towards a big release by Ffin Records of John Hardy's Blue Letters from Tanganyika, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The release date is Friday 1 May - hear it at www.ffinrecords.co.uk
15/3/09
I've been getting some great feedback from performers about my aria Not Being Charles Frieth, a five-minute burst of theatre with a libretto by Bethan James, produced by Music Theatre Wales. You can hear an extract at the top of the works page.
1/3/09
I've just finished a piece of work for Music Theatre Wales reducing extracts from Eleanor Alberga's new opera Letters of a Love Betrayed, to be premiered later this year. The reductions are for a smaller ensemble to perform this month at an event introducting the opera. The deadline's been tight but it's worked out well.
18/2/09
I've accepted a place from the Royal Academy of Music to study a Master's in composition. The course will begin in September and last two years. I'm looking forward to study with some of the best composers and performers in the UK.
10/1/09
After a winter of swotting I've received offers from both the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama for their MMus Composition courses. Either course will be starting in September for a couple of years. There are composers I'd like to study with at both places so I've yet to decide which offer to accept...
13/11/08
The performance of my aria by Music Theatre Wales (see below) was fabulous, with masterclass leader Judith Weir giving a lot of positive and encouraging comments. Librettist Bethan James was complimented on the drama, shape and power of her text. We're both sincerely grateful to Music Theatre Wales (MTW) for making this opportunity happen, Michael McCarthy and Michael Rafferty of MTW for their support and direction, Judith Weir for her positive guidance during the final session, to tenor Gareth Lloyd and pianist David Seaman for their insping performance of our aria and to Lynne Hoare of MTW for her support and facilitation of the project.
On the same day (9/11/08) I took part in a discussion panel for SPNM's "Score!" day [View a PDF of the SPNM flyer]. The panel was called "Creative Networks – how to get your music off the page and into people's heads". My fellow panellists, electronic sample-based composer Carl Stone; composer, jazz musician and experimental improviser Paul Jones; Composers of Wales’ Ian Lawson; Arlene Sierra of the University of Cardiff; panel chair Ed McKeon and I gave our views and had more in-depth conversation on effective proactivity and how to work collectively to get our music heard. It was interesting to hear how similar or different other's approaches are, and how the issue is affected by cultural context and etiquette.
31/10/08
My aria 'Not Being Charles Frieth', written with librettist Bethan James, will be performed as part of the final stage of the Music Theatre Wales 'Make an Aria' project. The project will draw to a close with workshops during the day and a public performance at 6pm on Sunday 9 November at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Tickets are free, available from the RWCMD website.
6/10/08
Since graduating I've been working part-time with composer John Hardy at his studio in Cardiff. It's great to be part of a team that's writing and producing commissions in a professional creative environment. A lot of the work I'm doing is in support of all the creative work, promoting the company, editing scores and facilitating projects.
9/7/08
I graduated on Friday from Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama with an Honours First Class BMus degree in Composition. I then took all my library books back.
30/6/08
I've arrived back from the St. Magnus Composers' Course feeling invigorated and inspired! The core aim was to develop a piece for mezzo-soprano singer, oboe, violin, cello and harp, working with the excellent musicians towards the performance in a concert at the end of the festival. Each piece was conducted by a different member of the parallel-running Orkney Conducting Course. Click on works to see more about my piece, Snowfall.
Most of the course was very intense with pressure to produce fresh music for the daily sessions with players. Course leaders Alasdair Nicolson and Sally Beamish and festival director Sir Peter Maxwell Davies gave plenty of support, guidance and much valuable insight into their compositional processes and experience. It's been a really worthwhile couple of weeks.
17/4/08
My new work visions through translucent time will be premiered in a concert of the same name. The piece dramatises words by Margaret Atwood and Mark Strand in a richly coloured sound world. The concert is at 7.30pm on Tuesday 6 May in the Sir Geraint Evans Recital Room, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cathays Park, Cardiff.
16/4/08
Today the Music Theatre Wales project 'make an aria' was launched. Over the next few months I'll be working with writer Bethan James on a short aria for a character drawn from Michael Berkely's new opera For You. The music, together with arias by other teams in the project, will be performed in a workshop in late summer.
11/4/08
I've been accepted for the 2008 St Magnus Festival Composers Course, an intensive course of practical training with composers Alasdair Nicolson, Sally Beamish and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The course will take place during June.