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New Notes: RCT Young Music-Creators Programme

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MTW and Sinfonia Cymru are working together to offer an exciting creative opportunity for young people aged 14 to 18, living or attending school in RCT, to create their own original music and hear it performed live.

  • Are you agd 14 to 18, living in, or attending school in, RCT?
  • Do you like creating music of any type?
  • Would you like to hear your work performed LIVE by professional musicians?

Then read on to get to know MTW and Sinfonia Cymru, and hear all about what this programme can offer.

6 young music-creators will the given the opportunity to take part in a tailored development programme working with a mentor – Welsh composer Luke Lewis (Lecturer in Music at New College, University of Oxford) – to create an original short piece. Along the way, music-creators will workshop their ideas with musicians, explore orchestral instruments, meet industry professionals and build their networks and wider skills.

The culmination of the programme will be the performance of the new works by Sinfonia Cymru at Parc & Dare. We are providing 4 musicians; violin, viola, cello and clarinet/bass clarinet. Works should be for at least 3 of these instruments, lasting a maximum of 5 minutes.

The programme has been devised with syllabus requirements and coursework deadlines in mind and a high quality recording of each music-creator’s work will also be provided for submissions and portfolios. This opportunity isn’t just open to GSCE and A-Level music students though – we’re interested in working with any young person who demonstrates a real flair and passion for music making.

This is completely free opportunity and there is no cost for taking part in any step of this programme.

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

Friday 29 November – Submission deadline

Anyone interested in applying for the programme should submit:

  • Some basic information about yourself, your musical interests and any music making experience to date
  • A short proposal for the work you would like to create for 3 or 4 of the players. You are welcome to submit any of your existing music and/or an outline for the piece you would like to create and its themes, but you are not expected to have written the piece at this stage. If chosen to be part of the programme, the creation will take place over a period of a few months with mentoring from Luke Lewis.

December 2024 – April 2025

  • Selected music-creators will be offered online and in-person sessions with Luke Lewis to support the development of their works. This will be in collaboration with course leaders / teachers / creative providers.

Thursday 8 May 2025 – Playthrough and recording – Stwdio 1, Parc & Dare Theatre

  • The pieces that the music-creators have been working on with Luke are workshopped and rehearsed by Sinfonia Cymru. A recording of each work will also be made and these are given to the music-creators for this own use (including GCSE and A-Level submissions if required). This session will take place within school hours to encourage school groups to attend.

Thursday 11 September 2025 – Public performance – Main auditorium, Parc & Dare Theatre

  • The music-creators works will be performed by Sinfonia Cymru as part of a larger MTW event.

Who can apply?

This opportunity is open to all young people interested in creating new music, regardless of their experience, as long as they meet the following criteria:

  • Aged 14 to 18
  • Living in, or attending school in, Rhondda Cynon Taf 

Music notation skills are not essential – for more information on this, visit our padlet where you can see a slideshow of the taster workshop Luke recently presented.

We want to support the most exciting musical imaginations in whatever style of music you want to create. We want to hear from anyone interested in creating new music and we encourage applicants from the broadest range of backgrounds, with different skills and experiences.

Next Steps

Visit our padlet linked here to read more abut the programme. This includes:

Programme Information: The full project details pack in both English and Welsh, along with a schedule/timeline for the project

Resource materials: This section includes the slides from Luke’s workshop last week, a video version of the workshop and some blank score pages if anyone wanted to have a go at sketching out some ideas

Who’s who: Some more information on Lukes, Sinfonia Cymru and us here at MTW as well as links to our websites.

Submit your proposal, either in writing or via video, to kathryn@musictheatre.wales by 5pm on Friday 29 November.

To discuss this programme in more detail, or to chat through any additional access or inclusion requirements, please contact Kathryn as above.

PROGRAMME PARTNERS

The programme is run in collaboration with RCT CBC Music and Arts Services and is generously funded by the Colwinston Charitable Trust and Arts Council Wales.

MUSIC.
THEATRE.
WALES.		 Music Theatre Wales (MTW) is re-imagining opera. We want to breathe new life into opera as storytelling in music and present it as a universally accessible and expressive activity. We nurture artists who will create the opera of the future and present opera in imaginative ways that will help change the preconceptions of what opera is and can be. We are asking: What is Opera? Who is making it? and Who is it for?
SINFONIA CYMRU Sinfonia Cymru. We’re not your average orchestra. We put young, exceptional, professional musicians on the stage that they deserve. Many of our players take the helm and lead our projects, dancing between classical and modern styles, exploring their creativity and challenging norms.

The best bit? We bring this new generation of live music to you. Remarkable musical experiences, designed and delivered by the best young musicians, for audiences in Wales and beyond.

Luke Lewis is a Welsh composer, arranger and conductor and Lecturer in Music at New College, University of Oxford. Mainly instrumental, sometimes electronic, and occasionally both, his music has been performed and commissioned internationally by ensembles such as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Sinfonietta, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, Esbjerg Ensemble and Orkest de Ereprijs. As an arranger and orchestrator in the pop world he’s worked with artists such as Gaz Coombes, Katie Melua, and Clean Bandit in collaboration with everything from bespoke chamber ensembles to the BBC Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras.

For a downloadable PDF with full details of this opportunity, please click here