School plan to celebrate Hoddinott

Mar 20 2008 by Claire Rees, Rhymney Valley Express

RESPECTED Rhymney Valley composer Alun Hoddinott will be remembered by generations at his former primary school.

The 78-year-old, who was born in Bargoed, died last week, hours after the world premiere of his last string quartet at London’s Wigmore Hall.

It was announced last year that he is to be immortalised when the new home of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales opens in his name next year.

And now staff at Gilfach Fargoed Primary School plan to commemorate him in a celebration of 100 years of the school.

Tributes have been sent from all over the world to the man whose work was commissioned by leading orchestras.

Mr Hoddinott, who had a keen following in the Valleys, was also responsible for a fanfare performed at the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles, and was commemorated by the Queen during the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in 2004.

The father-of-two’s fan base stretched across the musical divide, and saw him composing Tower – The Opera, based on Tyrone O’Sullivan’s famed 1994 quote: “We were ordinary men, we wanted jobs, we bought a colliery.”

Ceri Sherlock, commissioning executive (arts) for BBC Wales, said Hoddinott Hall at the WMC would be “a lasting tribute to this most lyrical and cultured of European composers”.

He said: “Alun Hoddinott was a hugely distinguished and admired Welsh composer and it is sad that he died just before [it] opened.”

Mr Hoddinott received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of Wales in 1999.

Coun Harry Andrews, leader of Caerphilly Council and a governor at Gilfach Fargoed Primary, said: “The remarkable contribution Alan made to the world of music will resonate forever.

“The people of the county borough of Caerphilly are justifiably proud of his links to their town, and his reputation in Wales and the wider world is as a master of his craft, both as a composer and a performer.

“He was a unique and influential character who represented his nation, and will be sadly missed.”