The music from the acclaimed historical TV drama Wolf Hall will be performed in a special concert at a top festival in North Wales.
It was composed for the BBC's adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novel by Debbie Wiseman OBE, one of the world’s most renowned composers, whose work will be showcased at the North Wales International Music Festival on Thursday, September 18.
Her other television credits include Father Brown and Tom's Midnight Garden and films such as Wilde, the biographical film about Oscar Wilde, which starred Stephen Fry.
Debbie has also composed music for several Royal occasions and her piece to celebrate the late Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday will be performed at the concert as well as Elizabeth Remembered, a piece commissioned by the BBC.
The NEW Sinfonia orchestra will play the Wolf Hall music and other pieces, and Debbie will talk about her life and work with Classic FM presenter Zeb Soanes for broadcast on Classic FM.
The festival, that’s on from September 11 – 20, is being made possible thanks to the backing of the Arts Council of Wales, the Pendine Arts and Community Trust, Arts & Business Cymru and Tŷ Cerdd.
London-born Debbie has not visited St Asaph before and is "thrilled and excited" and looking forward to the concert.
Describing her work with Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky, Debbie said the aim was not to write a Greensleeves kind of score.
"I was involved from very early on in Wolf Hall with Peter and some of the themes were composed before filming began.”
“I didn't have to study a great deal of Tudor music and although I do make use of a few period instruments – harp, recorder, mandolin and cor anglais – the music is meant to reflect the immediacy of Hilary Mantel’s prose.”
“It's not a historical documentary but a very dramatic portrayal of the novel," she said.
"The piece celebrating the late Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday was composed and recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra in great secrecy five years before the death of the Queen and was subsequently released as a single with all proceeds going to the Queens Commonwealth Trust.”
"It was a privilege to compose the music for the BBC TV live broadcasts covering the Queen’s funeral and hearing it played during the broadcasts is something I'll never forget. I was very honoured to be asked," she said.
Robert Guy, the Co-Artistic Director of NEW Sinfonia, said he will conduct the NEW Sinfonia orchestra for all but one piece when Debbie herself will take the baton.
He said: "I always feel slightly nervous when a composer is present at one of our concerts because I feel a bit of extra responsibility, but Debbie Wiseman has written so many memorable pieces for TV and film to have her in the audience will be an added bonus.”
"We have been encouraged by the organisers of the North Wales International Music Festival over many years and it has become a home from home for NEW Sinfonia.”
"This will be a really exciting concert. It's the sort of concert you'd find in one of the big cities and it's great that the festival organisers have been able to bring it to St Asaph. It will give us an opportunity to present NEW Sinfonia to a much wider audience around the world."
Composer Paul Mealor, in his second year as the festival's Artistic Director, said: "The importance of music and the arts in supporting and promoting good mental health is well known and well documented by scientists and psychologists world-wide.”
“This year’s festival theme is Perceptions and through a series of concerts, workshops, masterclasses and discussions, we attempt to examine the positive aspects of music for our mental wellbeing.”
The festival's opening concert on Thursday, September 11, stars Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja who Paul Mealor believes is "the world’s finest lyric tenor".
Headliners this year also include the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, world class choral group Apollo5 and the renowned Black Dyke Band.
Another highlight this year will be the second Pendine Young Musician of Wales competition that was launched last year.
The final concert will feature the North Wales Choral Union and Orchestra under the baton of conductor Trystan Lewis.
Also returning will be the festival fringe which Paul Mealor introduced as a new element last year to create closer links with the local community in St Asaph.
The fringe events will include a cabaret and American song night, stand-up comedy, and a poetry night led by one of Wales’s greatest poets, Mererid Hopwood, the current Archdruid of Wales.
Tickets and further details about the festival programme are available online at https://nwimf.com. Tickets are also available from Cathedral Frames, St Asaph - 07471 318723 (Weds - Fri, 10 - 4) and Theatr Clwyd by phone - 01352 344101 (Mon - Sun, 10 - 8).