Cover of recordings of Hoddinott's second, third and fifth symphonies.

Alun Hoddinott (born August 11, 1929, Bargoed, Glamorganshire, Wales) is a Welsh composer of classical music. Image File history File linksMetadata Hoddinott. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Hoddinott. ... August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Bargoed (Welsh: Bargod) is a town in the Rhymney Valley, one of the South Wales Valleys. ... Glamorgan or Morgannwg is a maritime traditional county of Wales, UK, and was previously a medieval kingdom or principality. ... This article is about the country. ...

Life and works

Hoddinott was educated at University College, Cardiff, and later studied privately with Arthur Benjamin. His first major composition, the Clarinet Concerto, was performed at the Cheltenham Festival of 1954 by Gervase de Peyer with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir John Barbirolli. This brought Hoddinott a national profile which was followed by a string of commissions by leading orchestras and soloists. These commissions have continued to the present day and he has been championed by some of the most distinguished singers and instrumentalists of the 20th century. These include singers including Dame Margaret Price, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Sir Thomas Allen, Jill Gomez, Sir Geraint Evans and more recently Jeremy Huw Williams. Instrumentalists have included Ruggiero Ricci, Mstislav Rostropovich, Dennis Brain, Osian Ellis, Nia Harries, John Ogdon to name a few, and more recently euphonium player David Childs and song pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen. The main building of Cardiff University Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cardiff University Cardiff University (Welsh: Prifysgol Caerdydd) is a leading university located in the civic centre of Cardiff, Wales. ... Arthur Leslie Benjamin (September 18, 1893, Sydney - April 10, 1960, London) was an Australian composer. ... The Cheltenham Festival is the most prestigious meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom and has race prize money second only to the Grand National. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Hallé Orchestra is one of Britains longest established orchestras, and is based in Manchester. ... Sir John (Giovanni Battista) Barbirolli (December 2, 1899 - July 29, 1970), was a British conductor and cellist who led the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. ... Dame Margaret Price DBE (born April 13, 1941) is a Welsh soprano. ... Dame Gwyneth Jones (born November 7, 1936 in Pontnewynydd), is a Welsh soprano opera singer. ... The list below includes the aldermen of Chicago in order by ward. ... Jill Gomez (born September 21, 1942) is a British soprano. ... The Welsh baritone Geraint Llewellyn Evans (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992) was a well-known opera singer, noted for such roles as Papageno in The Magic Flute, Falstaff, and title-role of Wozzeck, among others. ... Jeremy Huw Williams (born 3rd April 1969 in Cardiff) is a Welsh baritone opera singer who studied at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, St Johns College, Cambridge, at the National Opera Studio, and with April Cantelo. ... Ruggiero Ricci (born July 24, 1918 San Bruno, California) is an Italian-American violin virtuoso. ... Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (Russian: Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич, Mstislav Leopoldovič Rostropovič, born March 27, 1927), affectionately known as Slava, is a Russian and American cellist and conductor, considered by some to be one of the greatest cellists ever. ... // Dennis Brain (1921 – 1957) was a very distinguished British horn player and was largely responsible for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the public. ... Osian Ellis is a Welsh harpist. ... John Andrew Howard Ogdon (January 27, 1937–August 1, 1989) was an English pianist and composer. ... The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. ... Proposed Freedom Tower 383 Madison at night David M. Childs (born 1941 Princeton, New Jersey) is the Consulting Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill who has projects all over the world and now is designing the Freedom Tower in New York. ... Andrew Matthews-Owen is a Welsh pianist, song accompanist. ...

Hoddinott has been vastly prolific, writing symphonies, sonatas, and concertos: his style has evolved over a long and distinguished career, from the neo-classicism of the Clarinet Concerto to a brand of serialism which allowed a tonal framework to the structure, combining a penchant for dark textures and brooding harmonies similar to that of another British composer, Alan Rawsthorne, with Bartokian arch-forms and palindromes. However, his move into opera from 1970 helped to broaden his stylistic range and lighten his palette. His music often displays a brooding, darkly lyrical inensity, manifested in his nocturnal slow movements. One of the best examples is his rhapsodic Poem for violin and orchestra, inspired by a line from James Joyce, The Heaventree of Stars. While he often stresses a programmatic element to his music, it can equally be listened to on its own merits - though he is perhaps not a great melodist, his works have a great atmospheric presence and his use of orchestral colour is rich and appealing. He combines a tough, disciplined writing with a sense of the mysterious and unknown, and can perhaps best be described as a 'modernist romantic.' Alan Rawsthorne (May 2, 1905 – July 24, 1971) was a British composer. ... B la Bart k (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ... Look up Palindrome in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

He has been awarded honorary doctorates from numerous leading musical institutions including the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, as well as the Walford Davies Award and the CBE. The Royal Academy of Music (sometimes abbreviated to RAM) is a music school in London, England and is one of the leading music institutions in the world. ... Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music or RNCM is a conservatoire in Manchester, England. ... The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is a conservatoire located in Cardiff. ... Sir Henry Walford Davies (September 6, 1869 - March 11, 1944) was a British composer, who held the title Master of the Kings Music from 1934 until 1941. ...

In 2005, Hoddinott produced a fanfare to be performed at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Camilla Parker Bowles, having previously written works to celebrate Prince Charles' 16th birthday and his investiture. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor; born Windsor, 14 November 1948), is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... Camilla Parker Bowles (born July 17 1947) was mistress, now girlfriend, of Charles, Prince of Wales. ...

In 1997 Alun Hoddinott received the Glyndwr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales during the Machynlleth Festival. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of Wales in 1999, Fellowship of the Welsh Music Guild and the presentation of a medal to him by Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of the official opening of the Wales Millennium Centre. 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Glyndwr Award is made for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales. ... The Machynlleth Festival takes place in the Auditorium of The Tabernacle in late August every year. ... Elizabeth II in an official portrait as Queen of Canada (on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002, wearing the Sovereigns badges of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (born 21 April 1926), styled HM The... The Wales Millennium Centre The Millennium Centre on its opening night The Wales Millennium Centre (Welsh: Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru) is a £106 million performing arts complex located on the Cardiff Bay waterfront. ...

Other notable works

• Concerto for Piano, Winds and Percussion, op. 19 (1961)
• Concerto No. 2, op. 21 (1960)
• Concerto No. 3, op. 44 (1966)
• The Beach of Falesa (opera)
• Star Children (1989)
• Symphony for Soprano and Orchestra (No. 9): A Vision of Eternity

1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

• Michael Kennedy (musicologist) (Editor): The Oxford Dictionary of Music (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994) ISBN 0-19-869162-9
• Chambers Biographical Dictionary (Chambers, Edinburgh, 2002) ISBN 0-550-10051-2