\nAnglesey composer Paul Mealor\u2019s sensational success with his composition for the Royal Wedding has catapulted him to international stardom.
\nBut the St Asaph-born musician returns to his roots this Autumn when he appears as one of the star attractions at the North Wales International Music Festival between September 24 and October 1.
\nDescribed by the New York Times as \u201cone of the most important composers to have emerged in Welsh choral music since William Mathias\u201d, the similarities between the two \u2018Royal\u2019 composers are startling.
\nProfessor William Mathias started the NWIMF at St Asaph Cathedral in 1972. He taught for a short while in a Scottish university, Edinburgh, and was commissioned to write the anthem for the wedding of Charles and Diana in July 1981. He also was a frequent visitor to the United States and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Westminster College Choir of Princeton in 1988.
\nDr Mealor, who grew up in Connah\u2019s Quay and on Anglesey, is currently reader in composition at a Scottish university, Aberdeen, is due to take up a residency in Princeton University, and his composition of Ubi Caritas for Prince William and Catherine Middleton\u2019s wedding, has put him in the classical music charts. He also launched a music festival \u2013 Northop \u2013 about 11 years ago.
\n\u201cMy first experience of the North Wales International Music Festival was turning pages for Williams Mathias when I was 10 years old \u2013 and I got it wrong!\u201d admits Paul.
\nHis retired parents, Alfred and Patricia still live on Anglesey and Paul makes the seven hour drive home as often as he can and has a composing studio at Pentraeth.
\nPaul studied composition privately from an early age with John Pickard, and attended the University of York where he studied with Nicola LeFanu.
\n\u201cI then went to the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen and studied with the distinguished composer, Hans Abrahamsen (1998-99),\u201d he said.
\nAfter gaining his doctorate from York he moved to Scotland to teach at the University of Aberdeen, where he is currently Reader in Composition, and has held visiting professorships in composition at institutions in Scandinavia and the United States. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
\nAccording to Ann Atkinson, the Festival\u2019s Artistic Director, the coincidences involving the two royal composers were uncanny.
\nShe said: \u201cThe parallels between the careers of Paul Mealor and William Mathias are absolutely amazing.
\n\u201cIt just serves to underline the fact that Wales is blessed with fantastic musical talent and we are thrilled that will be providing a showcase for Paul Mealor\u2019s brilliant compositions.\u201d
\nPaul Mealor\u2019s links with Wales are very strong, his great uncle George Williams was Mayor of St Asaph and he also has family in Cardiff and Barry.
\nFrom his time in Connah\u2019s Quay he developed strong ties with the Northop Silver Band, in which he played euphonium and trombone and conducted the youth band.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been back many times to the St Asaph festival. It\u2019s fantastic that North Wales has all these great musical experiences on its doorstep, it\u2019s just brilliant, some of the best choirs and orchestras so near.\u201d
\nNext year he has plans to visit America where he will be working with choirs during his residency at Princeton and he is also trying to complete a CD for Decca for this October.
\nAt the NWIMF in St Asaph he will be involved with talks, concerts and performances, and festival musical director Ann Atkinson and the festival\u2019s resident ensemble, Ensemble Cymru, will be performing his works and works that inspired and influenced him including the superb ‘Lark Ascending’ by Vaughan Williams
\nOf course, visitors can also hear THAT work \u2013 Ubi Caritas \u2013 the Royal Wedding music sensation, which will be performed by the 25 members of the Aberdeen University Chamber Choir inside one of the best acoustic chambers in North Wales, St Asaph Cathedral.
\nThat work, which has sold thousands of copies in the two weeks after the wedding, has already catapulted Paul to fame. \u201cI was at the Classical Brits Awards the other evening and met Shirley Bassey and Katherine Jenkins, which was wonderful.
\n\u201cThe trip to Princeton (where he will work with the Westminster Choir)was already planned but since the wedding it has now been extended to include New York,\u201d said Paul. There he will he will work with the Antioch Chamber Ensemble, widely regarded as the finest professional choral music ensembles in America.
\nBut how did he come to compose the Royal Wedding \u201chit\u201d because contrary to popular belief it was not commissioned.
\n\u201cI think Prince William and Catherine heard a piece of mine called Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal (which will be performed at St Asaph). Catherine in particular loved the piece and wanted it for the wedding.
\n\u201cBut in conversation with people at the Abbey I said I felt the words were not right for a wedding and I decided to re-set it. I took Ubi Caritas and a re-worked it, re-set the structure and changed the key.
\n\u201cI previewed it last October in St Andrew where it was performed by three university choirs and I don\u2019t know whether they heard it or whether their friends heard it.\u201d
\nIs he afraid he will be remembered for just the once piece of music \u2013 despite the fact he already has a formidable body of work to his name?
\n\u201cWilliam Walton was asked if he thought he would be remembered for his most famous work Fa\u00e7ade and he said something like: \u2018If I am remembered for anything I will be pleased.\u2019
\n\u201cI\u2019m very grateful for the exposure it has given me and hopefully people will be encouraged to look at the other work. I don\u2019t know whether I\u2019m going to be remembered, you can\u2019t worry about history.\u201d
\nAnn Atkinson added: \u201cApart from Paul Mealor, we have a superb line-up this year and more details will be released about the other artistes in the coming weeks.\u201d
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