Profiles
Music by Ed Scolding has been described by critics and performers and as ‘explosive and powerful,’ ‘a beautiful long strand of colour,’ 'succinct and witty' and even 'the perfect pudding to the menu.' It has been performed by Exaudi, Music Theatre Wales, London Sinfonietta and in workshops by BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with extracts broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio Wales.
Ed is a keen collaborator and works with artists in film, dance, writing, image and other fields, as well as amateur performers and young people. Ed's wide musical interests include jazz performance, music production and education.
In 2011 Ed completed MMus Composition studies with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Philip Cashian and supported by a Prince of Wales Advanced Music Award from Arts Council Wales, the Ismena Holland Award and Harvey Lohr Award through RAM and a bursary from the Seary Charitable Trust. Additional teachers have included Lynne Plowman, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan, David Sawer and Pete Judge.
Living in London, Ed retains close links to Wales through his work for quadruple BAFTA Cymru award-winning composition company John Hardy Music and for MTW. In 2008 Ed graduated with First Class Honours from Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, where he produced the first joint concert of music by composers from RWCMD and Cardiff University.
Ed’s music has been performed at Nonclassical, the Southbank Centre, Cardiff Music Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Wales Millennium Centre Tesco Stage, National Museum Cardiff, Duke’s Hall at RAM, Bath Fringe Festival, St. Magnus Festival and Ashton Court Festival and in the Vox Novus 60x60 project.
Ed's recent film work includes additional music composition, orchestration and conducting with the Mavron Quartet for drama feature Elfie Hopkins, directed by Ryan Andrews and starring Jaime Winstone; original music and sound design described by Richard Paine (Media Music Director, Faber) as ‘highly sophisticated and imaginative… extraordinarily effective' for a scene from Phantom of the Opera directed by Rupert Julian; BOP (Birds of Paradise) directed by Jack Palmer and Me and Jetson directed by Andreas Niklas.
Ed’s vocal music has twice won the Barry Choral Society Composition Prize. Vocal works include Lost Love: Three Songs, commissioned by Julian Forbes and first performed at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Snowfall, written at St. Magnus Composers’ Course and Not Being Charles Frieth, created with librettist Bethan James in the Music Theatre Wales ‘Make an Aria’ project.
Education work includes Composer Residencies in 2008-9 and 2010-11 for Wellcome Trust funded multi-arts projects 'A Matter of Life and Death and Life' and 'Stem Cells - Reaching for the Sky' at Saint Gregory’s Catholic College in Bath, with dance and music performances at The Forum and Kingswood Theatre in Bath.
Recent projects include Hazes, commissioned for performance by Anne Denholm by Cardiff Music Festival with support from the PRS for Music Foundation; music for Third Stage Dance performed at the Bath Fringe Festival; The Sickness of Angels performed by Exaudi; filming of opera scene 'Not Being Charles Frieth' written with librettist Bethan James and directed by Matthew Eberhardt; a flashmob arrangement from Mozart's opera Cosi fan Tutte for Welsh National Opera WNO MAX.
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