i breathe Choral music of Nathan James Dearden by The Choir of Royal Holloway

Nathan James Dearden

The Choir of Royal Holloway

i breathe Choral music of Nathan James Dearden

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212101728
Catnr: SIGCD 1017
Release date: 16 October 2026
Preorder

1 CD	€ 19.95	Preorder

Label
Signum Classics

UPC
0635212101728

Catalogue number
SIGCD 1017

Release date
16 October 2026

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

i breathe is a new album of choral music by Welsh composer Nathan James Dearden, released on Signum Records, bringing together works written over the past decade. Performed by the Choir of Royal Holloway, Kantos Chamber Choir and National Youth Choir of Wales under conductors Rupert Gough, Ellie Slorach and Tim Rhys-Evans respectively, the collection spans pieces written for the ensembles that shaped Dearden's own musical development, from his teenage years in the National Youth Choir of Wales to his role as Composer-in-Residence with the Choir of Royal Holloway. Highlights include Three Motets, written for choir and cello, and the title track i breathe, a meditation on landscape and stillness setting poems by Ken Jones, Paul Chambers and Arwyn Evans.

Artist(s)

The Choir of Royal Holloway

Rupert Gough (conductor)

Rupert Gough has been director of Choral Music and College Organist at Royal Holloway, University of London since 2005. He is also Organist and Director of Music at London’s oldest surviving church, Saint Bartholomew the Great, which maintains a professional choir. At Royal Holloway Rupert has developed the choral programme to include weekly choral recitals, choral conducting courses for undergraduates, frequent new choral commissions and transformed the Chapel Choir into an elite group of 24 choral scholars. The Choir has particularly come to prominence through their series of recordings for Hyperion Records. Their latest recording of the music of Ola Gjeilo with Decca Classics was top of the US and UK classical charts. The choir is now in demand for recording work from a variety of record labels, composers and orchestras and travels widely for concert performances. Rupert was a chorister at the Chapels Royal, St. James' Palace, and won a scholarship to the Purcell School. He received (with distinction) a Masters degree in English Church Music from the University of East Anglia whilst Organ Scholar at Norwich Cathedral. For 11 years he was Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral during which time he made around 30 CD recordings as accompanist and director. Rupert has worked with a variety of professional ensembles including the BBC Singers, King’s Singers, Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. As an organist he has performed widely as an organ soloist and as a part of a violin and organ duo. Highlights include the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and recitals in Moscow and across the USA.

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Composer(s)

Nathan James Dearden

Described as “a champion of his generation” and whose music is “hauntingly beautiful” (Media Wales), Nathan James Dearden is an award-winning Welsh composer of concert music and mixed media, conductor, and educator.
Nathan's music has been commissioned, performed, featured and workshopped by the BBC Singers, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Berkeley Ensemble, Welsh National Opera, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, The Tippett Quartet, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, National Youth Choir of Wales, The Heath Quartet, Grand Band, the Fidelio Trio, Hebrides Ensemble, CHROMA ensemble, and flautist Carla Rees. His music regularly features in concerts across the UK and overseas, including at the ISCM World Music Days, Cheltenham Music Festival, Dartington International Summer School and Festival, International Young Composers' Meeting, CROSSROADS International New Music Festival and Vale of Glamorgan Festival of Music. Nathan began his professional composing life as an inaugural Young Composer-in-Residence with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and Music Creator for Sinfonia Newydd in 2013. Since then his music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, Resonance FM, RTÉ lyric FM, S4C and Soho Radio, whilst also released on NMC Recordings and Delphian.
Recent notable performances and projects include: Mamiaith, with Music Theatre Wales and Eisteddfod Genedlaethol; messages, commissioned by Three Choirs Festival; a Welsh tour of The day following with UPROAR New Music Ensemble; and silent stones, commissioned by BBS Sounds for the BBC Singers.
Upcoming projects include a Passion setting combining choir, chamber ensemble, and immersive digital storytelling in partnership with the Choir of Royal Holloway; a national project titled ‘Storïau’r Cymry’, which is a digital cantata comprising eight individual life stories reflecting the diversity of local histories around Wales; plus several new works for choir. 2026 will see the release of Nathan’s debut disc with Signum Records.
Nathan has recently won the prestigious Tlws y Cyfansoddwr [Composer’s Medal] at the 2024 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol for his work, (ail-) atgofion. He has also received the following accolades: ‘Best Music Creator’ in the 2022 Making Music UK Awards for a legacy commission with National Youth Training Choirs of Great Britain - i breathe; selected to represent Wales at the 2023 International Society for Contemporary music World Music Days in South Africa; awarded an Early Career Public Engagement Grant from the Institute of Musical Research in support of Spotlight Series: Finnissy at 70; selected as a London Philharmonic Orchestra Leverhulme Arts Scholar for their 2016/2017 season; received the inaugural Paul Mealor Award for Outstanding Young Composers in May 2017, and in summer 2021 he received the inaugural Acapela Composer Award for an outstanding Welsh Composer by the Welsh Music Guild.

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