Paul Mealor

Paul Mealor

Paul Mealor
Born (1975-11-25) 25 November 1975
St Asaph, Denbighshire, North Wales
Residence Aberdeen, Scotland
Nationality Welsh
Education University of York, Royal Danish Academy of Music
Occupation Composer and teacher
Website paulmealor.com

Paul Mealor FRSA (born 25 November 1975) is a Welsh composer. A large proportion of his output is for chorus, both a cappella and accompanied. He came to wider notice when his motet Ubi Caritas et Amor was performed at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011. He later composed the song Wherever You Are, which became the 2011 Christmas number one in the UK Singles Chart.

Biography

Born in St Asaph, Denbighshire, North Wales, Mealor studied composition privately with William Mathias and John Pickard and then read music at the University of York (1994–2002). He studied composition at York with Nicola LeFanu, and in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Hans Abrahamsen (1998–99).[1]

Since 2003, he has been teaching at the University of Aberdeen, where he is currently Professor of Composition, and has held visiting professorships in composition at institutions in Scandinavia and the United States.[2] He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and since 2011 has been published by Novello. Also in 2011, he signed to Decca Records.[1] His first album for Decca, A Tender Light – a collection of sacred choral anthems – spent six weeks at No 1 in the Classical charts.

Mealor's motet, a setting of Ubi Caritas et Amor, was commissioned by Prince William for his marriage to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011, when it was sung by the Choirs of Westminster Abbey and Her Majesty's Chapel Royal conducted by James O'Donnell.[3][4][5][6] Later that year, Mealor was commissioned to write the music for Wherever You Are, a song setting a text compiled from letters written to British Army military personnel deployed on active service in the Afghanistan War by their wives or partners, as part of the BBC Two television series The Choir: Military Wives.[7] The single, released on 19 December 2011, became the 2011 Christmas number one in the UK Singles Chart and raised money for military charities.[8] In the 2012 Classic FM Hall of Fame, he was voted the 'nation's favourite living composer' and succeeded in achieving the highest placing of any new entry in the history of the Hall of Fame with Wherever You Are charting at No 5.[9]

In 2013 Mealor composed the song "With a friend like you" for the final of the second season of the BBC 2 series "The Choir: Sing while you work". All three choirs of the final presented the song at Ely Cathedral. The P&O choir was declared winner.

In April 2014, Mealor's follow up album to "A Tender Light" was released titled "I Saw Eternity". "I Saw Eternity" is currently number twenty-eight in the Classical charts and has been there for five weeks.

Selected works

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 "Paul Mealor". Chester Music & Novello & Co. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  2. "Dr Paul Mealor, Reader in Composition". University of Aberdeen. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  3. "Composer's delight at inclusion of his music service". The Herald (Scotland). 29 April 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  4. "Ubi Caritas". 2011 Royal Wedding. The Royal Channel (official YouTube Channel for the British Monarchy ). Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  5. Melissa Lesnie (29 April 2011). "New British compositions a gift for the Royal Wedding". Limelight Magazine. Australian Broadcasting Company / Haymarket Media. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  6. "Ubi Caritas et Amor". Univ. of York Music Press. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  7. "The Choir III: Military Wives". Gareth Malone official website. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  8. "Military Wives Choir captures Christmas number one". BBC. 25 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  9. "Wherever You Are". Classic fm. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  10. "BBC Singers at St David's Cathedral Festival". BBC, London. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  11. "New Mealor Premiere by Polyphony and Stephen Layton". University of Aberdeen. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  12. "Irene Drummond, Alasdair Beatson". 'Sound' Festival. Retrieved 31 May 2013.

External links

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