The award-winning Welsh jazz composer, Gareth Roberts has written a brand new suite of big band music as part of a joint commission by Monmouth Big Band and Ty Cerdd (national promoters of music in Wales).   The Monmouthshire Suite – Straeon o’r Ffin (Tales from the Border) explores themes rooted in Monmouthshire’s landscapes and evokes the turbulent and unique local history.  This significant new big band work will be performed in full as part of this Friday’s concert by the big band at the Savoy Theatre, Monmouth. 

‘Being given this opportunity to play music written especially for us has been very exciting for Monmouth Big Band’, says Karen Millar (chairman).  ‘The suite is written in so many different musical styles, yet it feels cohesive, contemporary, melodic, and overwhelmingly stirring’.  The seven movements include up-tempo swing, a moving alto ballad, and intense drama in the mystical Ysgyryd Fawr (Skirrid).

Gareth Roberts is seen as something of a rising star, with his work becoming increasingly recognised to critical acclaim.  He has won composition prizes at the National Eisteddfod in 2016 and 2018, and was particularly pleased to attract support from Ty Cerdd and Monmouth Big Band in this project.  It is exciting to see such a fresh new voice in a genre so often associated with wartime swing.

The concert will begin with a set of big band classics, to be followed after a short interval with the debut performance of Gareth Roberts’ Monmouthshire Suite.

Tickets still available from the Savoy Theatre, Monmouth: www.monmouth-savoy.co.uk.  Friday 18th January, 2019 at 8pm.