Medal y Cyfansoddwr is a collaboration between Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, Tŷ Cerdd and the Welsh Music Guild. It’s an artist development pathway in which three selected composers will create new work for performance at the National Eisteddfod. One of the composers will be awarded Medal y Cyfansoddwr (Composer’s Medal) at the final ceremony of the event in August.
THEME
The Medal y Cyfansoddwr theme this year is the poetry of Waldo Williams, one of Wales’s most celebrated poets of the 20th Century – and a son of the Garreg Las, the home of the 2026 Eisteddfod.
Medal y Cyfansoddwr – Lleisiau Waldo is a pathway offering three composers a paid opportunity to write two short choral pieces, one for SATB and one for youth/children’s choir (SA), both setting text by Waldo Williams.
The three selected composers will work with composer mentor Nathan James Dearden, choral director Caleb Mock and an SATB choir brought together specially for this pathway. Applications are welcomed from music-creators from across Wales and across genres.
PROCESS
Workshops and one-to-one mentoring will take place in the months leading up to the Garreg Las National Eisteddfod, where their resulting works will be performed at the final day of the National Eisteddfod on Saturday 8 August 2025. One of the three composers will be awarded the Medal y Cyfansoddwr and a £750 prize.
The process for the two pieces will be distinct:
- For the SATB setting, the three composers will workshop with composer mentor Nathan James Dearden, choral director Caleb Mock, and an SATB choir brought together specially for this pathway. The SATB work will set Waldo Williams’s seminal poem ‘Plentyn y Ddaear’.
- For the children’s choir (SA) piece, composers will work independently, with some online mentoring/contact-time from Nathan James Dearden. The poem to set for the children’s choir will be ‘Y Ci Coch’
Each artist will receive £600 for their participation in a combination of in-person workshops and online contact. Travel expenses (within Wales) will be covered for any artists needing to travel to the workshops (Cardiff) and performance (Pembrokeshire).
The judging panel for this year’s Medal y Cyfansoddwr consists of Tim Rhys-Evans, head judge (conductor), Robert Fokkens (composer), and Branwen Haf (artist).
All three artists will also be offered the opportunity for their completed works to be published by Tŷ Cerdd.
Deadline for applications: 10:00 on Wednesday 7 January 2025