2025 has been a big year for my music and its reach.
The world keeps throwing curveballs, but I’m heading into 2026 feeling stronger for it. More than anything, 2025 has been a year of recognizing the amazing people around me - friends and colleagues who are my constant source of support and sanity. I’ve been continually bowled over by the generosity and jaw-dropping talent of my collaborators this year, and I’m still pinching myself at the incredible opportunities coming my way.
I saw this year as a time to focus on the ‘repeat performance’. A rare beast for composers. It often feels as much of a privilege as a premiere (if not more). Why? It means the work is no longer just a hopeful debutante but has become a traveller, finding new homes, new ears, and new meanings. Working with longstanding collaborators and making new music friends along the way. As December invites us to look back, that’s been the golden thread of my 2025: listening to the music return, slightly changed and all the more beautiful for it.
My music has reached further than ever before and that's all thanks to you, performed by friends old and new.
THANK YOU
A big thank you to all of you for making 2025 a special music-making year for me 🫶 It has personally been a year of change, but grateful every day for the lovely musicians and friends who fill my life with joy.
Here are some highlights…
1️⃣ Second trip to Classical:NEXT in Berlin with my friends at Tŷ Cerdd - Music Centre Wales;
2️⃣ Getting myself a Manager and joining forces with Naomi Belshaw Consultancy;
3️⃣ Launched the recording process and campaign for my debut album, to be released on Signum Records in 2026;
4️⃣ Kickstarting a national porfessional development programme in Wales as Lead Mentor for composers working with music for community choirs;
5️⃣ Returned to the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru to premiere an opera concept project, in collaboration with Siwan Llynor and Music Theatre Wales;
6️⃣ My first collaboration with BBC Singers for the BBC Sounds Music & Meditation Podcast;
7️⃣ Being made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a prestigious recognition of a dedication to innovative and inclusive teaching in higher education at Royal Holloway, University of London;
8️⃣ Thank you to all my lovely listeners on Spotify this past year;
9️⃣ More international premieres and performances including in Ireland and Latvia, new experiences at Brecon Choir Festival, and several tours including a mammoth one with National Youth Choir of Wales.
1️⃣0️⃣ Me and my music featured in a Routledge book on ‘Welsh Vocal Music’.
Here’s to a successful 2025, filled with love, laughter and music-making!
Much love, Nx
looking forward to 2026
Join the Choir of Royal Holloway as they perform this short concert to mark the launch of Nathan James Dearden’s debut album. This concert will feature works written especially for the choir, and music that has inspired Dearden over the past ten years of working with the Choir of Royal Holloway.
Join Nathan and featured artists from this special debut album release in the place where the recording process all began - the historic St. Bartholomew-the-Great.
The Cardiff Ardwyn Singers has a long track record of commissioning new music for choir. The choir's mission of championing contemporary music in concert at home as well as abroad has brought new Welsh music to a wider audience. Cantorion Ardwyn Caerdydd would now like to undertake a new project with the ambitious aim of commissioning five new pieces to be premiered in Cardiff and then to be shared through workshops collaboratively with choirs across Wales.
Join composer Nathan James Dearden for a special Welsh launch of his debut album, beginning with an opening reception with friends at Tŷ Cerdd and their CoDI network.
Join us in the historic St Mary the Virgin Church, nestled within Waterperry Gardens, for a beautiful afternoon of carols and sacred music. With special guest reader, Petroc Trelawny (BBC Proms and Radio 3), and the voices of vocal ensemble Hemiola filling the church, this is a moment of quiet magic to mark the start of Christmas.
Royal Holloway warmly welcome back Fidelio Trio for an evening of music which explores the relationships between sound, space, light, and the physical world around us, including a performance of Nathan James Dearden’s o dan y ddaear.

