John Metcalf was born in Swansea, Wales in 1946. A joint UK/Canadian citizen, he is one of the foremost composers working in Wales today. Starting in the late 1960s his successful composing career has already embraced a large variety of work. Major works have marked his development including five operas, two to commission from Welsh National Opera. His most recent opera Kafka's Chimp was premiered to great acclaim in August 1996 in Canada, received its European premiere in Sweden in 1999 and is scheduled for its German premiere in a new production in 2001.

Recent works that display a distinctive style and growing maturity include the lively Marimba Concerto written for Evelyn Glennie and a series of important instrumental pieces among which are Paradise Haunts, Rest in Reason, Move in Passion, and Not the Stillness. Museum of the Air, a work for large orchestra and mezzo soprano was first performed by Della Jones and BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 1998 and Dances from Forgotten Places for String Orchestra by the European Chamber Orchestra in February 1999. The latter has since received some twenty performances by orchestras around the world. A new song cycle Caneuon y Gerddi premiered at St. David's Hall, Cardiff in May 1999 was subsequently performed in Minneapolis and New York. In December 1999 a collaboration with artist Catrin Webster on Transports was previewed at the Galeria Communale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome before its premiere in Cardiff the following September. October of 2000 saw three premieres in one week including the orchestral work Passus by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and in November 2000 John shared a concert/discussion with Peter Sculthorpe at the National Library Canberra, Australia.

John was both an Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director of the Banff Centre, Canada for a period of nearly ten years and is presently Artistic Director of the award-winning Vale of Glamorgan Festival and also of the Swansea Festival. He has led creative music projects in more than one hundred schools throughout Wales, reflecting his belief in an active, participatory role for the composer in society.

He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Lampeter. In September 1995 he received the John Edwards Memorial Award awarded by the Guild for the Promotion of Welsh Music for his services to music in Wales and in 1999 was invited to compose the music played during the signing, by Her Majesty the Queen, of the Act bringing into being Wales' first elected Assembly for 500 years.

John Metcalf's compositions are frequently performed and broadcast in many countries. In 2001 there are many performances of his works in the UK as well as in Ireland, Canada, Venezuala, Columbia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Belarus, USA, Malta and Australia. His music is recorded on the Lorelt, Sain and Cyfoes labels. Future commissions include a concerto for cellist Raphael Wallfisch.

web site: www.metcalf.demon.co.uk