Wales
Member since:
2005
Website
Director
Address
Wales Millennium Centre,
CardiffCF10 5AL, Wales
Services
Introduction
About
We work with composers, performers and organisations across the Welsh music sector, taking full advantage of our in-house recording studio, record label, publishing imprint, hire library and archive, from our base at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre.
We also fund a range of work in communities across Wales through Lottery funds that we distribute for the Arts Council of Wales – including a new tranche of funding towards developing Traditional music.
Talent development has become central to our work since the inception of the composer development initiative CoDI in 2018 (codi in Welsh means ‘to raise’). Under our slogan “If you’re making music in Wales, it’s Welsh Music”, we work with an increasing diversity of music-creators, cross-genre, to develop their artistic practice, professional networks, career paths and business skills.
Artist and composer Gwen Siôn performing on her handmade instruments in Bute Park, Cardiff as part of Tŷ Cerdd’s BŴM development pathway in making new outdoor music, photo: Tŷ Cerdd / Matthew Thistlewood
Services
Ty Cerdd offers the following services
- Professional development for music creators and composers
Tŷ Cerdd runs a series of development pathways which are aimed at people in Wales making music of any genre, and at various stages of their careers. - Welsh Music Collection
A reference library of over 10,000 items, including scores and recordings of music in Wales, spanning centuries, as well as books, journal and ephemera from musical life in Wales. - Tŷ Cerdd Publications
Our publishing operation showcases and distributes music from Wales globally through our online shop – comprising of new music, some of which derives from our label and development pathways, as well as out-of-print, and never-before-published works from our own archive, and those held around Wales. - Funding distribution
Tŷ Cerdd distributes Lottery funding on behalf of the Arts Council of Wales to support music activity across Wales. - Two record labels
Tŷ Cerdd Records is our flagship label, showcasing music from Wales in a world-class context since 2014. Sionci is our artist-led label established in 2023, giving theartists involved in their creation, more control, and broadening the boundaries of genres in which we work. - Support for traditional music in Wales
We distribute a significant new fund for the support of traditional musical activities around Wales, and hold discussions, workshops and events to support the vital strands of traditional culture in our nation. - Recording studio
Tŷ Cerdd’s studio, with our in-house producer, helps to support all aspects of our work, from our development pathways, to our label, and our other partnerships, working from our main base in Cardiff Bay as well as out on location. - Advice
The expertise within our small team is available to be shared, whether it’s a question about funding, or about finding a particular piece of music, a potential collaboration, or larger issues of music in Wales. - Composer database
Biographies, information, and links on Welsh composers. - Choral hire library for community music groups
Thousands of scores are available for affordable hire by music groups wishing to perform classic works of choral music in Wales.
Have a look at the Ty Cerdd website to view all information they have to offer about Welsh music life.
Visit the website
Recent Publications
This is a selection of recent publications
- Welsh Airs – Franz Joseph Haydn, arr. Andrew Powell (voice & piano / voice & piano trio)
Welsh songs which were originally arranged by Haydn for English lyrics, now re-set to
traditional Welsh-language text by the Swansea-based composer Andrew Powell.
Swansea-based composer Andrew Powell’s arrangements of five traditional Welsh Airs
(based closely on those by Haydn from 1803-4) re-introduce familiar Welsh texts to these
19th-Century arrangements, which – unusually – were originally set to contemporary English
words, commissioned by the publisher George Thomson. This first collection contains the
five pieces listed below, along with an introduction by Andrew Powell. - The song ‘Atamanaa‘ from the Arabic-Welsh fusion band Panedeni’s debut album, arranged
by the original songwriter, Yasmine Latkowski, for four voices.
Arabic music is not traditionally written in harmony, therefore there is freedom to choose
which voices are assigned to which parts, not a traditional SATB format.
This score comes with a selection of audio resources to download to help singing groups
learn the Arabic pronunciation – especially aimed at the natural voice movement. - The portrait album All the Hours We Saw and other works brings together vocal and
instrumental works written across the composer Gareth Glyn’s career to mark his 75 th
birthday year.
The album takes in five significant works from Gareth Glyn’s output, two of which set texts by
prominent Welsh poet and novelist T Glynne Davies, Glyn’s own father – the centenary of
whose birth is also marked in 2026. - Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy is the third and final instalment of trumpeter and composer
Tomos Williams’s ground-breaking jazz project dealing with Welsh culture and history. The
hand-picked band consists of two giants of the international jazz scene; Melvin Gibbs from
Brooklyn on electric bass and the French/Vietnamese electric guitarist Nguyên Lê, alongside
two stellar Welsh vocalist Eadyth Crawford and Mared Williams, and two of Tomos’s long-
term collaborators, Mark O’Connor (drums) and Simon Proffitt (live visuals).
Insights into our work
Ethan Davies, Tŷ Cerdd’s Publishing and Research Manager, in the Welsh Music Collection, housed at their office in Cardiff Bay, photo: Tŷ Cerdd / James Clarke
James Clarke, Tŷ Cerdd’s Head of Recording & Production, in their studio – recording the final workshop of their Tuag Opera pathway, for composers and writers to develop skills in writing opera, photo: Tŷ Cerdd / Matthew Thistlewood
Music creator Adjua Mensah works with musicians from BBC National Orchestra of Wales on our pathway for the early stages of writing for orchestral instruments for those who haven’t received post-school music education, alongside Tŷ Cerdd’s Artist Development Manager, Freya Dooley, photo: Tŷ Cerdd / Matthew Thistlewood
Rhodri Davies (harpist and composer) performs semi-improvised works by artists on Tŷ Cerdd’s pathway for experimental artists, photo: Tŷ Cerdd / Matthew Thistlewood
A selection of score publications from Tŷ Cerdd’s catalogue, photo: Tŷ Cerdd / Ethan Davies
A selection of album covers from Tŷ Cerdd’s two labels: Tŷ Cerdd Records; and their artist-led label, Sionci
Interview
Deborah Keyser
For readers outside Wales: How is musical life organised and structured?
Wales is a small nation, of just three million people, but we’ve always been known for our music. Indeed we’re often called The Land of Song, and the choral tradition is prominent, including male voice choirs up and down the country, and the Welsh language (alongside English) is key to our culture. The influence of Eisteddfodau (festivals of music, Welsh language and culture) has had a significant influence on Welsh music for centuries, engendering strong thread of community music-making, art-song and instrumental music.
Key professional musical institutions in Wales include BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera, alongside our msin education bodies, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and music departments at Cardiff and Bangor universities.
Wales also has a significant independent music sector, including world-renowned experimental and electronic artists, and a compelling, rapidly developing underground scene.
Where does Tŷ Cerdd | Music Wales fit into this structure?
Tŷ Cerdd is funded primarily by the Arts Council of Wales, and we behave as a hub for the development and support of Welsh music.
We work with organisations, communities and artists, cross-genre, to develop capacity and skills, and serve variously as information hub, funder, and partner. And we endeavour to provide a way-in and a platform for independent and un-supported artists.
We deliver Lottery funding in small pots to music-makers and communities across Wales, and have a significant new strand of Traditional music funding, aimed at developing the work of Tradition-bearers within their communities.
Why is Tŷ Cerdd | Music Wales relevant for national and international target groups?
We have a broad remit, and work across a wide range of genres and contexts in Welsh musical life.
Composers and music-creators are central to our work, and much of our activity is dedicated to supporting their artistic- and career-development, through creative pathways, mentoring and direct funding.
We also support community music-making around Wales, delivering funding, information and targeted programmes.
#WelshMusicAbroad is the tagline for our work around connecting artists and industry professionals with international markets – a partnership approach with FOCUS Wales (and support from Wales Arts International), which provides international connectivity cross-genre.
