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Mervyn Burtch is one of Wales' most distinguished composers, a fellow of the Welsh College of Music, and the recipient of the 1990 John Edwards Memorial Award for his contribution to music in Wales. His output covers all genres from orchestral music to an ongoing series of twelve string quartets. He has a particular interest in music for the voice, and his choral works have been heard all over the world. He has written nine operas, seen in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Germany, South Africa, and Mexico, and in addition he has written a series of 12 short operas for the Welsh Schools Opera Project, and incidental music for many plays, from Shakespeare to Brecht. In 2003 he was awarded the MBE for his services to Welsh Music. His music has been published by Chappell, Novello, Curiad, The Welsh Music Centre, and Grittiths. Recordings of his works have been issued by Marco Polo, Herald, Black Mountain Records, and most recently, Naxos. His music has been broadcast in Wales, England, Australia, Canada, The Czech Republic, Eire, Hungary, New Zealand, and Portugal. Throughout his career, Mervyn Burtch has included in his compositional activities projects that reach out to new and extended audiences, from a choral series for young children to a commission from the famous Penderys Male Voice Choir as the centrepiece of their 1995 tour of the U.S.A. This has culminated in the series of operas written for KidsOp, using child and professional adult forces, that have achieved international success, and he was the first Welsh composer to have an opera performed at the celebrated Wexford Festival Opera in Eire. His involvement in the KidsOp project has led to close ties with Canada, and he has taken part in productions, and coached, at The Banff Centre and other venues in Alberta, as well as assisting in the exchange of both child and adult musicians and singers between Canada and Wales. |
