Three Composers in BBC Now’s Composition Wales 2020

'My piece takes on this idea of your different thought processes throughout a day. It represents how things sporadically come up and interrupt your routine.

Then, all thoughts and consciousness come together and build up to one dense texture, where every thought fights against each other before cascading over.'

How does it feel to have your composition played by BBC NOW?

Tell us about your experience with Composition

'My biggest challenge so far has been balancing the work involved with my College work, for example, having to re-write parts to make them more practical to play.

My one-to-one tutors have been especially supportive. I had writer’s block over the summer so I found it critical to have my tutors in support at that point.'

What’s next for you?

'I’m working at Wales Millennium Centre’s Hijinx Theatre, a theatre company which specialises in training actors with learning disabilities.

I also give workshops in Carmarthen every week to help actors with additional learning needs to compose music to choreograph and do a showcase.'

You can hear some of Tayla’s work on SoundCloud:

'When writing this piece I became interested in Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer. In a lot of his music, he’d speak about the term ‘night music’, or a ‘nocturne’.

That’s where I started. I thought, If I were to write a piece about the night, how would it sound?

The whole piece is based on a melody that comes in through the cor anglais, and the harmony is then based off the same cord. The ending is kind of a reverse of the opening where notes slowly start getting pulled away to thin the melody out.'

What have you learned from the competition this time around?

'I’ve had lots of support with this from my one-to-one tutor, Joe Davies. Joe really helped by suggesting what I could change to make my work cleaner and clearer, but also told me to not be so hard on myself, which gave me confidence.'

What else have you been working on and what’s on the horizon?

'I’ve been commissioned to write a fanfare for Girton College in Cambridge, the first all-female college in the UK.

I’ve also been working on a piece for over a year, the Rothko Project, inspired by his pieces at the Tate Modern.'

Jasper’s Soundcloud:

'It’s a seven-and-a-half-minute tone poem detailing a small skirmish in Gallipoli in the first World War.

Turkish field general Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ordered the charge on the British and Anzacs troops so the piece tells the tension of that battle, which structured the music.'

What does it mean for you to have your composition played by BBC NOW?

What are your next steps?

'I’ve had an offer from the Royal College of Music for the Artist Diploma course (in composition), and I’m going to keep writing music to evolve my style.'

Luciano’s Soundcloud: