Violinist Mary Hofman and pianist Richard Ormrod will be performing works by five British female composers in Bangor University’s Powis Hall on Monday, 5 September.
This live concert is part of the Department of Music’s Rethinking Women’s Work in Music Workshop (5-6 September), and marks the launch of Ty Cerdd Records CD Unbroken Threads, which will feature all the pieces that will be performed by the duo in their recital.
The three newest works – by Welsh composers Rhian Samuel, Hilary Tann and Sarah Lianne Lewis – were commissioned by Rhyl Music Club for the Beethoven-250 anniversary, to respond directly to Beethoven sonatas, and were performed by the duo in music clubs around Wales, alongside the complete Beethoven sonatas. These new works are brought together with the mesmeric Dreamtides by Welsh composer Steph Power, and Eleanor Alberga’s tour de force The Wild Blue Yonder, to complete an enthralling collection.
Recording of the album began at Tŷ Cerdd Studios in early 2020, just before the pandemic hit, and had to wait until spring 2021 for its final session.
Mary Hofman said, “As a recording made either side of a global pandemic, the concept of unbroken threads, the continuity through all the harshness of the two-year period, seems particularly apt. The title of the album was inspired by words Beethoven uses in his Heiligenstadt Testament – and they link the new works back to their Beethoven-inspired commissions.”
The concert will take place in the Bangor University’s Powis Hall on Monday, 5 September at 19:30. Ahead of the concert, Dr Rhiannon Mathias of Bangor University’s Music Department will be joined for a pre-concert talk at 18:30 by Deborah Keyser, Director of Ty Cerdd, and composers Rhian Samuel, Hilary Tann, Sarah Lianne Lewis and Steph Power.
Dr Mathias said, “The Workshop aims to discuss and celebrate the achievements of women in music, both historical and contemporary, and this concert features composers that are leading the field. I am very much looking forward to talking to them about their pieces, and it will be fascinating to get their views about working in the classical music industry today.”
Tickets for the pre-concert talk (18:30) and concert (19:30) are available from Pontio Box Office:.
The CD Unbroken Threads is available to pre-order now and will be available to purchase on the Tŷ Cerdd website and to stream on all major platforms from 9 September.
