Composer Alun Hoddinott has died at the age of 78. The Welsh-born musician, who lived in Swansea, died at the city's Morriston Hospital, where it's understood he's been since undergoing major heart surgery last year.
Hoddinott had a long and successful career. Awarded the Walford Davies prize for composition at the age of 24, his 'Clarinet Concerto' was given a first public performance at the Cheltenham Festival the following year. Over the years, he received commissions from leading orchestras and soloists until, in 1951, he was appointed lecturer in music at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, later becoming a professor at Cardiff University, his old college.
During the course of his career, he won many awards, including the John Edwards Memorial Award, the Arnold Bax Medal for composers, the CBE, and the
Machynlleth Festival's Glyndwr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts. An honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music, and a fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, he was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of Wales in 1999, Fellowship of the Welsh Music Guild, and received a medal from the Queen when she officially opened the Wales Millennium Centre. Hoddinot also composed music for Prince Charles, both for his sixteenth birthday, and for his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles.
The composer also enjoyed a long partnership with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and BBC Wales controller, Menna Richards, has confirmed that the orchestra's new home in Cardiff Bay is to be named after him, telling reporters: "All of Alun Hoddinott's friends at BBC Wales are very sad at the news of his death. He was one of Wales' most distinguished and influential composers with an international reputation. Alun Hoddinott's partnership with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales spanned seven decades. His work has been so significant and prolific that, in 2004, the orchestra undertook a year-long season of Alun's work to celebrate his 75th birthday. Later this year the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will move into its new home Hoddinott Hall [in the Wales Millennium Centre], named in honour of such a fine composer and distinguished Welshman".
Orchestra director David Murray said: "It is very sad he won't see the building, but we will make sure his spirit and his music lives on in that building".