Professor Paul Mealor has been busy over lockdown composing a number of works, three of which will get their 'virtual' world premieres in the coming weeks on line.
His introit ‘Lead Me, Lord’ - due for its premiere next week - was commissioned by the Friends of Cathedral Music and will be broadcast by the choral scholars of many English Cathedrals who have come together for this special choral Evensong. His anthem, ‘Te Lucis ante terminum’ - again commissioned by the Friends of Cathedral Music - will be premiered by a massed choir of Lay Clerks from British Cathedrals and be broadcast as part of an online compline service in August.
Also in August, Mealor’s Piano Concerto will be premiered by Aberdeen graduate, Dr John Frederick Hudson, the London Mozart Players and conductor, Michael Bawtree at the JAM on the Marsh Festival in Kent. The recording will be done without an audience and broadcast on 15th August. This new work celebrates the fact that Mealor has just been appointed President of the John Armitage Memorial and the JAM on the Marsh Festival in this, it’s twentieth year. He will be on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune’ programme in August talking about the festival.
Also this summer, Mealor’s new song, written with Grahame Davies and Fiona Kennedy, ‘Stronger for the Storm’ will be released as a charity download for numerous great charities. The song is a reflection upon lockdown and features Fiona Kennedy as singer, Thoren Ferguson on fiddle, Nils Elders on guitar and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.