Concert organised by Wrexham orchestra to showcase for musical stars of future

Four aspiring conductors and an up-and-coming opera singer will showcase their talent at a major orchestral concert in North Wales.

The Classical Masterpieces concert at St Asaph Cathedral at 7.30pm on Friday, June 10, is being organised by the ground-breaking Wrexham-based NEW Sinfonia orchestra.

The performance is being put on in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester as part of the orchestra’s commitment to developing the next generation of star musicians and conductors.

The professional orchestra, led by Robert Guy, will be joined on stage by Leon Frantzen, Ann Miller, Philip Trudgeon and Xinjie Yang, four of the Manchester College’s promising Master’s Student Conductors in a concert that features music by the classical heavyweights of Mozart, Schubert, Debussy and Mahler. .

The soloist will be mezzo soprano Morgana Warren-Jones who hails from Bangor, Gwynedd, and will sing Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder.

NEW Sinfonia was founded a decade ago by brothers Robert and Jonathan Guy who hail from Wrexham and are both former students at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Robert said: “They have been really supportive of the orchestra and our links have expanded significantly. They need orchestral opportunities for their current students so this concert will give their student conductors an opportunity to work with a professional orchestra and we get the opportunity to do that in North Wales.

“The conducting programme at the Royal Northern is amazing, it’s really world renowned and it’s great we get to link-up with their students. And with Morgana as soloist there is a stronger link with North Wales.”.

Morgana Warren-Jones will be performing Gustav Mahler’s brooding Rückert-Lieder.

She is currently studying for a Master of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Hilary Summers. She previously read Music at the University of Leeds and spent a year studying voice at the Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg.

Last year Morgana performed the title role in Menotti’s The Medium at the RNCM and was a finalist in the Morriston Orpheus Choir Supporters’ Association (MOCSA) Young Welsh Singer of the Year competition.

She finishes her course this summer and already has a full diary for the next few months.

Morgana added: “I have worked with Welsh National Opera running their youth and community events before I started my master’s course at the Royal Northern and I hope to be an opera singer and concert singer.”

Mark Heron. Professor and Head of Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, said the concert is an opportunity for the students, who are all Master’s students on the conducting course, to conduct NEW Sinfonia,

“It’s a great opportunity for the students to work with an orchestra made up of young professional musicians.”

Mark said the conducting course is a two year programme and is “very competitive”.

“There are about 60 applications every year to get on the course and there are four places available so it is very competitive. They spend the two years just becoming better conductors.

“We’re playing some very well-known pieces which are usually played with a slightly larger orchestra so these are versions for a more intimate ensemble,” he added.

The concert takes place at St Asaph Cathedral on June 10. It starts at 7:30pm and tickets available online or on the door or alternatively please ring Robert Guy on 07725 050510.