Nathan James Dearden is announced as the inaugural recipient of the Paul Mealor Award for Young Composers.

Awarded by Wales' forefront organisation for the promotion of music-making, the Welsh Music Guild, Nathan has been invited to the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bodedern (Anglesey) on 5 August 2017 where he will be presented the award. The Paul Mealor Award was established by the Patron of the Welsh Music Guild, internationally-renowned composer Professor Paul Mealor to identify, encourage and support young Welsh composers. Award recipients will be given a commission to write a work for a world-leading performer and/or ensemble to be performed at a major festival in the UK.

The inaugural award in 2017 will be an opportunity to write a song cycle for renowned baritone, Jeremy Huw Williams.

What is the Welsh Music Guild?

Founded by John Edwards in 1955, the Welsh Music Guild (formerly the Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music) ultimately grew out of the Welsh Recorded Music Society which was founded by him in 1948.The Welsh Music Guild is established for the purpose of advancing the education of the public by encouraging the understanding and appreciation of the music of composers of Welsh origin and the composers of any nationality resident in Wales. The Guild will also encourage a high level of performance practice and foster awareness and observation of professional issues within Wales and to this end will encourage performers and musicologists to take an active role in workings of the Guild.