Mark David Boden: Collard Fellowship Renewed

The young British composer Mark David Boden has been awarded The Musicians’ Company’s John Clementi Collard Fellowship for a second consecutive year.

The Fellowship will enable Mark to write a newly-commissioned Clarinet Concerto for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), to be performed at Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall on 28 March 2018 and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. The work will be performed by the orchestra’s Principal Clarinet, Robert Plane. Alongside working with Robert, Mark will collaborate with Swedish conductor and composer B Tommy Andersson on the concerto. Jac van Steen will conduct the work’s premiere.

Mark Boden graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) in 2008 with a First Class Honours degree in Composition and Contemporary Studies. Today, he is a RWCMD lecturer, and his commissions have been performed by a range of ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hebrides Ensemble, Bath Abbey Choir, Sinfonia Cymru and Sinfonia Newydd. Several of his works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, including Six Degrees, Siegfried Stanzas and Fuochi Distanti.

Mark’s first John Clementi Fellowship enabled him to compose his orchestral work Viral, performed by the RWCMD Symphony Orchestra in 2016. It also enabled him to learn and invest in new technologies that enable users to create, write and process sounds electronically, and facilitate the processing of live music in real time. In addition, the Fellowship enabled Mark to make substantial revisions to his orchestral work Ghyll (a northern term for waterfall). The symphony was premiered by BBC NOW at Cardiff’s Hoddinott Hall in May 2016, and is dedicated to The Musicians’ Company.