School of Music holds contemporary music festival

The School of Music recently held a festival for musicians and composers of all ages and abilities to celebrate contemporary music.

The Contemporary Music for All (CoMA) Festival introduced vocalists and instrumentalists to a range of contemporary music through workshops, rehearsals and informal performances, culminating in concerts given by the acclaimed Fidelio Trio and Cardiff University’s Contemporary Music Group.

The Contemporary Music Group closed the festival with a concert featuring performances of contemporary Welsh choral repertoire, with music by John Metcalf, Lynne Plowman, Rhian Samuel, Hilary Tann, Richard Elfyn Jones, Gareth Churchill and more.

During the day, Dr Robert Fokkens and composer-conductor Nathan Dearden led workshops for attendees on vocal repertoire, including music by Welsh composers Guto Puw and Maxwell Charles Davies, and Robert Ashley’s She was a visitor. Participants performed these pieces in the evening concert alongside the Contemporary Music Group.

Dr Robert Fokkens, Senior Lecturer in Composition at Cardiff University School of Music, said of the festival: “The aim of the CoMA Festival is to welcome musicians of all abilities into the rich, varied and exciting world of contemporary music making, whether as players, composers or audience members.

We hope that those who joined us today have experienced the sense of fun that is present in contemporary music today, and how engaging and enjoyable it can be.”

The CoMA Festival was held by Cardiff University School of Music in collaboration with Ty Cerdd and the Fidelio Trio.