Mervyn Burtch
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Mervyn Burtch
Life and career
Burtch was born in
Drawing on his experience as a teacher, he was especially successful in composing for young musicians. In 1984 the WCMD began its Schools' Opera Programme under his direction, and he wrote some dozen short children's operas that were performed by more than 80,000 schoolchildren[citation needed]. Then in 1996, together with the Welsh-Canadian author and educator Mark Morris, he founded the international KidsOp project. This won a prestigious Cable and Wireless Childnet Award in 1998. In 2003 Mervyn Burtch was awarded the MBE for his services to music and education in Wales, and for his work as President of KidsOp.
In collaboration with Mark Morris he wrote six operas combining the resources of young performers and professional musicians, and he developed close ties with Canada. He coached and took part in productions at The
The project's fifth opera, Jason and Hanna, was premiered in Caerphilly in 2003, and in 2008 Manitoba Opera gave its second performance at the CanWest Performing Arts Centre in Winnipeg. Its libretto, inspired by the tragedy of the war in the Balkans during the 1990s, tells a story of young lovers doomed by the enmity of their families. A seventh opera, Twm Siôn Cati (based on the adventures of the 16th century 'Welsh Robin Hood'), was written in 2005 in collaboration with Simon Rees. It was premiered in Wales by the Caerphilly Borough KidsOp group.
The Song Contest of the Birds and the Beasts is a semi-staged work, 40 minutes long, for choir, mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists and orchestra, with libretto by Simon Rees; it concerns a song contest for the birds and beasts. It was commissioned by Welsh National Opera, and was performed in Cardiff (St David's Hall) in July 2010 with a choir of 200 junior school children, two soloists drawn from the chorus of Welsh National Opera and the WNO orchestra.[3]
A significant portion of Burtch's output was choral, and his works in this genre included his popular arrangements of Welsh folk songs which the National Youth Choir of Wales recorded in 1999. He was influenced early in his career by the music of
Burtch once said he regretted not having learned the viola so he could play in a string quartet[citation needed], a medium he loved: he composed string quartets throughout his career, and in particular in the final years of his life. To celebrate his 80th birthday year in 2009, he composed a new Piano Trio that was premiered on 13 June at the Gregynog Festival in mid-Wales.
In 1991 Burtch received the John Edwards Memorial Award, one of Wales's most prestigious music honours,[4] for the promotion of Welsh Music. In 2014 The Mervyn Burtch Trust was set up to preserve his music, and is collaborating with the National Library of Wales to create a digital archive of all his manuscripts.[5]
Burtch died on 12 May 2015 at the age of 85. His wife Rita, whom he married at age 74, survived him.[2]
References
- ^ "Mervyn Burtch, composer – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- ^ a b Karen Price (14 May 2015). "Welsh composer Mervyn Burtch dies at the age of 85". Wales Online. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ Review from Behind the Arras
- ^ "History". Welsh Music Guild. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- ^ "Mervyn Burtch composer". The Mervyn Burtch Trust. Archived from the original on 17 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
Other sources
- Welsh Music/Cerddoriaeth Cymru : Spring/Summer 1989, Vol 8 No.10, pp. 14–28
- Composers of Wales – Mervyn Burtch : Ninnau Vol 36 No. 2, March–April 2011 p. 12
External links
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