Sensory • Vibrant • Bespoke
Music [Short Film] (November 2022)
DIR: Ben Roberts // It’s My Shout, BBC Wales
“Having recently moved to the village of Ynysybwl, 12-year-old Ricky Runner is tested by the territorial Bwl Boys gang. Ricky is pushed outside of his comfort zone into unfamiliar places by the gang's leader, Billy, and his courage is put to the test. Can Ricky prove himself a worthy gang member and find a place in the posse that has ruled for generations?”
WINNER: Best Composer - The It’s My Shout Awards 2023
Watch on iPlayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001g073/its-my-shout-short-films-from-wales-2022-7-bwl-boy
Music [Short Film] (January 2022)
Dir: DympnA Jardine // Our Daughter Productions
“The score is also extremely well crafted and adds greatly to Jardine’s storytelling. We are met with a jolly opening tune, as a woman knits, the shift to a more dreary, unsettling piece, as the husband enters the frame, brings an instant feeling of unease. The sound of what appears to be the clacking of knitting needles is scattered throughout the score, it is not only reflective of the woman’s hobby but builds tension wonderfully, highlighting the frustration the woman is beginning to feel as she is met with further demands from her husband. Wool is a masterful piece of silent storytelling, proving that dialogue is not necessary to tell an engaging and meaningful story.”
Wool is currently touring film festivals, so at the moment I’m able to share it via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGK88O7kemc
Songs, Music and Sound [Theatre] (December 2019)
Hijinx Theatre // Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
“Music was also an integral part of the play and, I’d say, the icing on the cake. The original, catchy songs had me singing long after the end of the show.” Quench
Join Odyssey, Hijinx’s community group, as they bring you a dazzling reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s famous tale, written by Hefin Robinson. It’s Wonderland, but not as you know it! The Curious Muchness of Stuff and Nonsense features a large cast of disabled and non-disabled performers from Odyssey and Woodlands High School.
More about my involvement on the Hijinx blog.
Operating view of The Curious Muchness of Stuff & Nonsense
Musical Director and Arranger [Concert and Screen] (May 2018)
John Hardy Music // Atmospheres Festival // Dora Stoutzker Hall, Cardiff
A unique realisation of music from two popular welsh dramas. Launching Atmospheres 2018, John Hardy Music presents an evening of re-imagined music from Hinterland/Y Gwyll (2013-16) and Hidden/Craith (2018), performed by the original creative team. The night will explore the series’ impact on Wales, the local area, and audiences, and will feature a Q&A with Hinterland co-creator Ed Thomas and Hinterland / Hidden co-creator Ed Talfan.
More on the John Hardy Music website.
The cast of Hinterland (Y Gwyll).
Music [Theatre] (November 2015)
RWCMD Richard Burton Theatre Company // Chapter // Cardiff
Co-composer: Sion Parke.
It will have blood; say, blood will have blood.
Returning from a grueling war, Macbeth is yet to face his biggest battle. Confronted with fame and adulation, strange premonitions and the deep longing of his wife, he continues his merciless pursuits. This reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, asks what does war do to men and women and how it is made manifest inside the head and the home.
The soundtrack required environmental, emotional and dramatic content to support the action on stage, whilst aiming to convey the director’s interest in raw, tactile and manipulated industrial sound to support the encompassing dystopia. Elements used for transitioning and choreographed sequences are included in the recording snippet, which also focuses on suspense and texture - building sustain along with diverting rhythmically orientated pulsing sound.
Kirsten McTernan’s Macbeth photo archive.
Music & Sound Design [Public Attraction] (2022)
THE AIMES / TBC
An educational immersive journey into the workshop, the process, the mind and the legacy of one of history’s greatest painters
Music & Sound Design [Public Attraction] (March 2021)
THE AIMES // Riyadh, KSA and Online
EVOLUTION: Meet the Dinosaurs brings beautiful immersive stage settings together with life-size animatronic dinosaurs to produce a unique experience that tells an important story. Curated by palaeontologist Enrico Squazzini, the journey takes visitors through the underwater and jungle worlds of 66 million years ago and explores big ideas like the environment, time, change and of course, evolution.
Music Assistant [Theatre] (November 2019)
John Hardy Music // National THeatre Wales // Sherman Theatre, Cardiff & Royal Court Theatre, London
“(The) score uses mysterious Welsh language throat-singing to call back a tribal, folkloric past.” Buzz Mag
“One of Wales’ most celebrated writers, Ed Thomas (co-creator of Hinterland) makes a momentous return to the stage with this semi-autobiographical story about the places we leave behind, the indelible marks they make on us, and the unreliable memories we hold onto.” NTW
John Hardy Music created the music for the National Theatre Wales and Royal Court Theatre co-production of Ed Thomas’ new play On Bear Ridge starring Rakie Ayola, Rhys Ifans, Jason Hughes & Sion Daniel Young.
Music and Sound [Theatre] (December 2017)
Hijinx Theatre // Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Hijinx’s community theatre group, Odyssey, restore hope to Neverland in a sparkling new production written by Llinos Mai. The Second Star to the Right features a vibrant cast of disabled and non-disabled performers from Odyssey, pupils from Woodlands High School and haunting original music.
“See what stands Hijinx apart from other types of Christmas shows is that Hijinx always manage to leave a lasting impression to really make you think and stay with you; The Second Star to the Right was again no exception.” Arts Scene in Wales
Music & Violinist [Puppetry] (June 2015)
RWCMD // Prague Quadrennial Festival // Prague & Cardiff
Co-composer & Music Director: Lucy Rivers
Experience the mysteries of the deep and the thrill of the seven seas this summer, as RWCMD puppeteers take you through a fantastical journey through oceans of time and imagination. This family show combines music, puppetry and storytelling, as the audience follow the performers through the buildings and grounds of the College. Look out for some glorious sea creatures and an appearance by Queen Victoria in her bathing suit – and prepare to get wet!
The production featured with its full cast and selected puppets at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial Festival in the Czech Republic on streets across the city.
Kirsten McTernan’s Just Add Water photo archive.
Music [Music Video] (October 2021)
Cardiff School of Art and Design // (Max 8 and Cubase 6)
In a repeat collaboration with Cardiff School of Art and Design, Tymhorau (Seasons) was conceived as a composition that could provide an inspiring palette of sound for abstract visual interpretation. The diverse sensory timbres heard throughout are the product of composing with a mixture of acoustic, natural and electronic sources from the outset. Evocative memories from each season guided the composition and its eclectic soundworld into a gapless quartered form. But for the visual artists, it would be left up to them as to how the sound could be depicted in their personal segment of animated imagery.
Tymhorau was selected to feature in the Focus Wales Film Festival in May 2022, receiving an award for best music.
Music [Short Films] (November 2020)
Youth Theatre North (Hijinx) // No Fit State Circus // Online, Wales
Read more about the Silent Films Project on the Hijinx website.
Music [Trailer] (September 2019)
Yeah Yeah // Chapter, Cardiff
Yeah Yeah presents a gig theatre comedy "Rock vs Musical." Take your greatest musical theatre hits and your guilty rock pleasures. Rub them against each other with a large dose of adult comedy and tongue-in-cheek. It's our second "farewell" tour, let us entertain you.
Music [Animation] (April 2016)
RWCMD & Cardiff School of Art And Design // Cardiff
This fixed work was written with experimental sampling software created by the composer. Using loop-point based controls, as well as pitch alteration and a rhythmic sequencer, the programme provided the ability to generate eccentric manipulations of recorded sound to great contrast, under a glitch aesthetic. Outputted material was then analysed and sculpted into composition, based on highlighting timbral differences produced by the programme’s effects on sound sources. Socialite is a narrative piece written in a rounded format. It revolves around manmade noise and oscillation, whilst playing with the idea of recycling one’s music with satirical references to media bombardment.
Soon after its completion in spring 2016, artist-lecturers Chris Glynn and Tom Edgar from Cardiff School of Art and Design adopted the composition to form the basis of an animation project. Daniel collaborated on the abstract film production at CSAD, which went on to receive an Honorable Mention Award from the Experimental Forum Film Festival in Los Angeles, “for your vision and unique contribution to cinema.” Socialite also featured at the International Society of Contemporary Music’s World Music Days 2019 festival in Tallinn, Estonia, following its selection to represent the Welsh section on the international stage.
Music [Game] (May 2014)
Atrium - University of South Wales // Cardiff
Collaborations on a local student game and film project led by animators, bringing together artists, developers and engineers from University of South Wales. Involving VR and greenscreen technologies.