Remembering William Mathias

By Rhiannon Mathias
On the 75th anniversary of the birth of Welsh composer William Mathias, his daughter shares his musical achievements

William Mathias founded the North Wales International Music Festival

Recognised as being among the finest musicians of his generation, William Mathias became one of the first Welsh composers to achieve international acclaim.

Born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire, in November 1934, Mathias started playing the piano at the age of three, and to compose when he was five.

He studied music at Aberystwyth University, and won an open scholarship to study composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

His compositions are remarkably wide-ranging and include symphonies, concertos, cantatas, and an opera, The Servants, with a libretto by Iris Murdoch.

His total mastery of the choral medium led to a number of high profile commissions including the anthem Let the People Praise Thee O God, composed for the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981.

Very much the antithesis of the ivory-tower composer, Mathias was a charismatic man of exceptional energy who lived several kinds of musical lives - first and foremost as a composer, but also conductor, pianist, and Professor of Music at Bangor University (1970 - 1988).

One musical life which gave him particular joy was his role as artistic director of the North Wales Music Festival which he founded in 1972.

He considered several different venues as a base for the festival, but once he discovered St Asaph's ancient Cathedral and its extraordinary acoustic, he knew that he had found a great home for music.

Little did those early builders realise that one day this magnificent cathedral would lay claim to being one of the finest concert venues in Europe.

St Asaph Cathedral is the venue for the North Wales International Music Festival

Under his directorship (1972 - 1992), the Festival quickly acquired a reputation for exciting programmes, high performance standards, and for being cosmopolitan as well as national in character.

Each year, in September, St Asaph became a place of musical pilgrimage for internationally famous artists such as Murray Perahia, Sir Simon Rattle, Osian Ellis, John Lill and Nigel Kennedy.

Mathias died on 29 July 1992 at the age of 57 and he's buried at St Asaph Cathedral. He would have been 75 on 1 November 2009.

To mark this anniversary, events have been held throughout the year, including performances of his work in venues such as Galeri, Caernarfon, and Venue Cymru in Llandudno.