Paul Mealor
b. 1975
British
Summary
Welsh composer, Paul Mealor has composed music for some of the most important UK state, national and Royal occasions of the last fifteen years including the wedding of The Prince and Princess of Wales (2011); King Charles III’s 65th, 70th and 75th birthdays; two works for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s National Services of Thanksgiving (2022); two works for the Coronation (2023) – including the first ever setting of the Welsh Language at a Coronation sung by Sir Bryn Terfel, and three works for The Honours of Scotland Service (2023) – the so called, ‘Scottish Coronation’.
He has also written music for film and television including the score to the BAFTA-Award winning ‘Wonders of the Celtic Deep’, three operas, four symphonies, concerti, chamber music, much choral music and songs, including the 2011 Christmas No 1, ‘Wherever You Are’ for Gareth Malone and the Military Wives Choir.
Mealor has received many awards and honours for his work including honorary degrees, Brit and Classic Brit Awards, fellowships and prizes, and in January 2024 was appointed to The Royal Victorian Order (LVO) by HM King Charles III for his outstanding contribution to Royal Music. He is the first composer to receive this accolade since Sir Arthur Bliss in 1969 and before him, Sir Arnold Bax and Sir Edward Elgar.
Podcast: Composing Myself - Wise Music Group’s COO Dave Holley and Creative Director Gill Graham chat to Paul Mealor.
Biography
Born in St Asaph, North Wales, in 1975, Mealor studied composition with William Mathias and later with John Pickard, at the University of York (BA 1997, PhD 2002), and in Copenhagen with Hans Abrahamsen. His music has been commissioned and performed at many festivals and by many orchestras and choruses, and broadcast on every major TV and Radio station throughout the world. Since 2003 he has been Professor of Composition at the University of Aberdeen. Mealor was catapulted to international stardom in 2011 when 2.5 billion heard his motet Ubi Caritas, performed at the Royal Wedding Ceremony of His Royal Highness Prince William and Catherine Middleton (now TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge). It since topped the Classical singles charts in the USA, UK, Australia, France and New Zealand.
In July 2011, Mealor signed to Decca Records and signed a publishing deal with Novello & Co. His first album for Decca, A Tender Light - a collection of sacred anthems recorded by Tenebrae and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - spent six weeks at No 1 of the Specialist Classical Charts. He is currently preparing his second album for Decca and has contributed new works to a number of other Decca albums, including his song In My Dreams for X factor star Jonjo Kerr and The Military Wives Choir, which entered the pop charts at number one, knocking Bruce Springsteen off the top spot; De Profundis for the St Petersburg Chamber Choir on the album Tranquillity, and the first ever musical setting of St Francis' prayer, You Are The Holy Lord God for Friar Alessandro's debut album.
Mealor wrote a number of works for HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee and has recently completed his first symphony Passiontide – a large work for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra – which received its premiere at the composer’s fortieth birthday concert in November 2015, and is currently working on a number of pieces for chorus and orchestra. He has just finished filming a programme on the music of Benjamin Britten and appeared in the BBC 2 programme, The Choir, as well as making his Carnegie Hall debut with a sell-out performance of his Stabat Mater with the DCINY chorus and orchestra conducted by James Jordan.
Mealor is the first President of ‘Ty Cerdd’ – Wales’s National Centre for music making and Vice-President of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and the North Wales International Music Festival. He is composer in residence with Canada’s top professional choir, Pro Coro, and is the Curator of the JAM on the marsh festival in Kent. He has received many awards and honours for his music including Honorary Fellowships from Bangor University (2013) and Glyndwr University (2012) in Wrexham, and the Glanville Jones Award, from the Welsh Music Guild, for his outstanding contribution to music in Wales (2013). He was appointed a Free Burgess of The City of Aberdeen in 2012 by The Lord Provost of Aberdeen, and is President and Patron of many Welsh and Scottish organisations.
News
Performances
5th May 2024
- PERFORMERS
- Midwest Chamber Ensemble
- CONDUCTOR
- John Stafford
- LOCATION
- Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Prairie Village, KS, United States of America
9th May 2024
- PERFORMERS
- BBC Singers
- CONDUCTOR
- Andrew Nethsingha
- LOCATION
- Hall for Cornwall, Truro, United Kingdom
1st August 2024
- Ringed with the Azure World World Premiere
- PERFORMERS
- Three Cathedral Choirs
- CONDUCTOR
- Samuel Hudson
- LOCATION
- Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, United Kingdom
Features
- 'Composing Myself' podcast by Wise Music
- Composing Myself is an official Wise Music Group podcast series celebrating Wise Music’s 50th anniversary, presented by CEO Dave Holley and Creative Director Gill Graham. Over the course of this series, they talk to various Wise Music published composers around the world about their lives in and out of music along with excerpts of the composers works included in the podcasts.
- The Best Recordings of 2022 from Wise Music Classical
- Wise Music Classical invites you to enjoy a selection of the best recordings of 2022, featuring composers from across our international family of publishing houses.
- Choral Highlights 2022
- In recent months and for the season ahead the Wise Music choral catalogues are once again burgeoning with new works. There are new pieces and publications from Richard Allain, Peter Bruun, Britta Byström, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Matthew Martin, Paul Mealor, Nico Muhly, Owain Park, Joby Talbot and Judith Weir, plus new repertoire from recent Australian signing Ross Edwards.