William Mival |
William Mival is a composer, broadcaster, writer and teacher. From 2004 until 2022 he was Head of Composition at the Royal College of Music in London where he grew a diverse, energetic and world-leading faculty which attracted and nurtured an exceptional array of today’s most gifted emerging composers.
Born in Rhyl, in North Wales, William Mival was a student of Anthony Milner, Robert Saxton and, in Cologne, of York Höller. He has written works for, amongst others, Ensemble Gemini, the Belcea String Quartet, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Welsh Chamber Orchestra, the virginalist Sophie Yates, the pianist Andrew Ball, the baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and the Choirs of Salisbury Cathedral. He has taught world-wide and has given lectures and classes in, amongst others, Berlin, Jerusalem, Shanghai and Singapore.
William Mival’s writings include a survey of the performance history of Stockhausen’s Gruppen for the Cambridge History of Musical Performance (published in 2012). As a broadcaster he has been a regularly heard on BBC Radio, in particular on Radio Three’s Record Review and is a frequent contributor to the ‘Building a Library’ segment of the programme where his meticulous exploration of some of the most frequently performed and recorded works in the catalogue, from Beethoven to Mahler and from Rachmaninov to Strauss have won praise from listeners and continue to be available on podcast. He has also made appearances on television introducing performances from the BBC Proms and also discussing the concept of musical ‘resonance’ on BBC Television’s The Culture Show with sculptor Conrad Shawcross.
Mival’s On the Ringstreet was written for the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Land Rover sponsored Sound Discovery Programme in 1996 and first performed by the orchestra conducted by Pascal Rophé. His Quartet RBG, was premiered at City Recital Hall, Sydney, by the Belcea String Quartet as part of the Michael Berkeley curated chamber music series at the Sydney Festival in January 2002 and repeated the following week at the Wigmore Hall in London during a BBC Lunchtime concert.
His orchestral work Tristan-still which was commissioned by Radio Three and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, was first performed at the Barbican Concert Hall in February 2003 conducted by Donald Runnicles and broadcast live. Tristan-still was also that same year shortlisted in the orchestral category of the inaugural British Composers Awards. ‘And Singing Say and Saying Sing’ – The Private Devotions for the Hours of Prayer of John Cosin received its first performances in Salisbury and London in 2012 by the Choirs of Salisbury Cathedral led by their Director of Music, David Halls.
Mival’s Correntandemente (Runningly – ish) for large ensemble which was written for the RCM New Perspectives Ensemble and a concert celebrating the work of RCM composers led by London Sinfonietta clarinettist Timothy Lines, was also selected for performance at the Beijing Modern Music Festival as part of the ISCM World Music Days, having been nominated by the Wales section of the ISCM. It was performed in Beijing in May 2018 as part of the Beijing New Music Festival: The Tianjin Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Li Yang.
His orchestral work Pluen (feather) was written to a commission by the Laurence Modiano Charitable Trust The world premiere was given in January 2019 by the RCM Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The Chinese premiere followed in November 2019 with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zhang Liang and the UK professional premiere in May 2022 by the Philharmonia Orchestra. A substantial new work for the Philharmonia Orchestra, Vale - a pastoral symphony was completed in August 2023 and was supported both by the Laurence Modiano Charitable Trust and the Composers Fund of the Performing Rights Society Foundation.
