Consultant - Craig Roberts
Leading arts management consultant Craig Roberts was recruited to assist Llwydcoed with our development activities in mid-2020. Craig has a wealth of experience in the development of cultural organisations, specialising in classical music and particularly the field of brass.
Craig studied at the United Kingdom's University of Salford, gaining first his BA (Hons) then Masters degree there, studying with Dr Roy Newsome, Dr Peter Graham and Prof David King. Whilst at the university, Craig was awarded the Roy Newsome conducting prize as the outstanding undergraduate conductor of the academic year 2000.
Within the UK, Craig has performed in most of the country’s finest concert halls including the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Academy of Music, London; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; Brangwyn Hall, Swansea; Wales Millennium Centre, St David’s Hall, RWCMD Dora Stouzker Hall, BBC Hoddinott Hall, and Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Craig has also frequently worked overseas, touring to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Libya, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States of America.
Craig has worked on a wide variety of large scale and innovative concert projects both at home and abroad, ranging from the closing event of the London 2012 Olympic Park through a wide variety of major international performances and festivals. He has worked with some of the world's leading performers, including the Stadtorchester, Kreisverband & Jugendblasorchester Ravensburg, Stadtkapelle Nurtingen and Musikkapelle Thanheim of Germany; the Don Cossack, Russian Cossack, Nalmes and Russian State Ballet Companies; Errollyn Wallen and the Welsh National Opera Company; Joji Hirota & the Japanese Taiko Drummers; Tim A. Duncan & the Russian Imperial Ice Stars; and more.
Through his recent work with the Welsh Proms, Craig also worked on events featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera Orchestra. In 2014, he also worked on production of the Dylan Thomas Centenary Gala held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, which featured Griff Rhys Jones, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander, Sian Phillips, Jonathan Pryce, Owen Teale, Owain Arwel Hughes and Camerata Wales.
Soloists Craig has worked with to date include Sir Bryn Terfel, Shan Cothi, Kerry Ellis, Rebecca Evans, Wynne Evans, Catrin Finch, Lesley Garrett, Claire Jones, John Owen-Jones, Peter Karrie, John Lill CBE and James Watson. Craig has also commissioned and premiered music from a wealth of leading composers including Sir Karl Jenkins, Paul Mealor, Edward Gregson, Andrew Powell and many more.
Throughout his career, Craig has directed a wide variety of leading bands and choirs in performance, including the Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick and Leyland brass bands; a wealth of international military bands, including the Band of Her Majesty’s Grenadier Guards; and numerous choirs ranging from Only Men Aloud to the Yurlov Russian State Academic Chorus.
Within Wales, Craig has conducted the majority of the top brass bands, including the world number one brass band, Cory, who Craig guest conducted for the Golden Jubilee procession through London of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He has also been successful in musical competition at the highest level, winning the Welsh League Championship on three occasions (2006, 2009 and 2011) with three different bands, and has won every contest in the Welsh League at championship level. In 2004, Craig was named Conductor of the Year by the SEWBBA and WWBBA.
For a number of years, Craig was Director of Music of the Woods Mfg Co Brass Band based in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada, and directed the band at several of the world’s largest military festivals, including the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in Halifax, Canada; the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk, USA; the Netherlands Nationale Taptoe in Breda, Holland, and the Polizei Show of Hamburg, Germany. Craig later became Assistant Director of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, working with the world’s largest annual indoor show for a period of 20 years, until resigning his position in June 2018.
Craig has worked as Production Consultant to a wide range of large scale international events, including the Canadian Beating Retreat “Fortissimo”, held annually on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (2007-10), and the Kremlin Zoria Festival, the first Tattoo to be held in Moscow's Red Square, Russia (2007). He was also Director of Music and Production Consultant for the World Military Music Festival held in Green Square, Tripoli, Libya in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Arab Jamahereya and 10th anniversary of the African Union (2009). The show featured over 1000 performers from 18 different nations, was televised internationally, and attended by over 200 international heads of state.
Craig also acted as Director of Music and Production Consultant for the Mediterranean International Festival of Arts and International Tattoo held in Crete, Greece (2010 & 2011), and in 2013 visited Kharkiv, Ukraine to undertake a major parade and performances in the presence of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the region from occupation in 1943.
In 2015, Craig tour-managed and featured as narrator in the Grimethorpe Colliery Band's 10 date nationwide concert tour of Australia. In 2017 and 2019, he then returned to Russia to work on the famous May 9th Immortal Regiment Parade in Red Square, Moscow. The parade consisted of over a million people in Moscow alone, with over 2 million people participating nationwide.
In addition to Moscow, Craig has also travelled to Krasnodar and the Crimean Peninsula in 2018/19, and will return to Russia again in 2021. In September 2020, Craig took up the post of Principal Director of Music to the Estes Park Tattoo in Colorado, USA, and will make his debut at the newly branded Estes Park International Tattoo in 2021.
Craig has been the recipient of a number of awards and honours including the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf's Good Citizen Award for Artistic Achievement, which he was presented with for services to music, the arts, education and charitable causes in May 2018. In August 2018, he was then awarded the Talent & Vocation Medal as a Worldwide Charitable Alliance Peacemaker by the International Coordination Council for the Development and Promotion of the Ideas of Peace in a ceremony at the iconic Vorontsov Palace in Alupka. In May 2019, Craig accepted a second award from the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf, in his capacity as Director, for the pioneering work of the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT).
Having formerly held positions as Artistic Director of the Welsh Brass Arts Festival, Wales Development Manager to Making Music (the national support body for UK voluntary music) and Executive Officer of the UK National School Band Association (NSBA), in November 2018 Craig took up the post of Director with the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT), working with artists such as Sir Tony Robinson, Omid Djalili, Kerry Ellis and more. Craig remains a leading freelance arts management and funding consultant, recently working with Wales' national classical music festival, the Welsh Proms Cymru, and the chamber orchestra Camerata Wales | Cymru
A longstanding member of the Executive Council of Music Centre Wales, Ty Cerdd, the Board of Directors at Community Music Wales, and a Trustee of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Craig is currently Vice Chair of Rhondda Cynon Taf International Twinning, a member of the Board of Directors of Sound Affairs, South Wales Miners Museum and Bandiau Pres Cymru | Brass Band Wales, and holds the post of Musical Director with both Lewis Merthyr Band and Symphonic Brass Wales
Further information on Craig and his activities can be found at www.croberts100.com
Craig studied at the United Kingdom's University of Salford, gaining first his BA (Hons) then Masters degree there, studying with Dr Roy Newsome, Dr Peter Graham and Prof David King. Whilst at the university, Craig was awarded the Roy Newsome conducting prize as the outstanding undergraduate conductor of the academic year 2000.
Within the UK, Craig has performed in most of the country’s finest concert halls including the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Academy of Music, London; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; Brangwyn Hall, Swansea; Wales Millennium Centre, St David’s Hall, RWCMD Dora Stouzker Hall, BBC Hoddinott Hall, and Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Craig has also frequently worked overseas, touring to Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Libya, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States of America.
Craig has worked on a wide variety of large scale and innovative concert projects both at home and abroad, ranging from the closing event of the London 2012 Olympic Park through a wide variety of major international performances and festivals. He has worked with some of the world's leading performers, including the Stadtorchester, Kreisverband & Jugendblasorchester Ravensburg, Stadtkapelle Nurtingen and Musikkapelle Thanheim of Germany; the Don Cossack, Russian Cossack, Nalmes and Russian State Ballet Companies; Errollyn Wallen and the Welsh National Opera Company; Joji Hirota & the Japanese Taiko Drummers; Tim A. Duncan & the Russian Imperial Ice Stars; and more.
Through his recent work with the Welsh Proms, Craig also worked on events featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Welsh National Opera Orchestra. In 2014, he also worked on production of the Dylan Thomas Centenary Gala held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, which featured Griff Rhys Jones, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander, Sian Phillips, Jonathan Pryce, Owen Teale, Owain Arwel Hughes and Camerata Wales.
Soloists Craig has worked with to date include Sir Bryn Terfel, Shan Cothi, Kerry Ellis, Rebecca Evans, Wynne Evans, Catrin Finch, Lesley Garrett, Claire Jones, John Owen-Jones, Peter Karrie, John Lill CBE and James Watson. Craig has also commissioned and premiered music from a wealth of leading composers including Sir Karl Jenkins, Paul Mealor, Edward Gregson, Andrew Powell and many more.
Throughout his career, Craig has directed a wide variety of leading bands and choirs in performance, including the Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick and Leyland brass bands; a wealth of international military bands, including the Band of Her Majesty’s Grenadier Guards; and numerous choirs ranging from Only Men Aloud to the Yurlov Russian State Academic Chorus.
Within Wales, Craig has conducted the majority of the top brass bands, including the world number one brass band, Cory, who Craig guest conducted for the Golden Jubilee procession through London of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He has also been successful in musical competition at the highest level, winning the Welsh League Championship on three occasions (2006, 2009 and 2011) with three different bands, and has won every contest in the Welsh League at championship level. In 2004, Craig was named Conductor of the Year by the SEWBBA and WWBBA.
For a number of years, Craig was Director of Music of the Woods Mfg Co Brass Band based in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada, and directed the band at several of the world’s largest military festivals, including the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in Halifax, Canada; the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk, USA; the Netherlands Nationale Taptoe in Breda, Holland, and the Polizei Show of Hamburg, Germany. Craig later became Assistant Director of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, working with the world’s largest annual indoor show for a period of 20 years, until resigning his position in June 2018.
Craig has worked as Production Consultant to a wide range of large scale international events, including the Canadian Beating Retreat “Fortissimo”, held annually on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (2007-10), and the Kremlin Zoria Festival, the first Tattoo to be held in Moscow's Red Square, Russia (2007). He was also Director of Music and Production Consultant for the World Military Music Festival held in Green Square, Tripoli, Libya in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Arab Jamahereya and 10th anniversary of the African Union (2009). The show featured over 1000 performers from 18 different nations, was televised internationally, and attended by over 200 international heads of state.
Craig also acted as Director of Music and Production Consultant for the Mediterranean International Festival of Arts and International Tattoo held in Crete, Greece (2010 & 2011), and in 2013 visited Kharkiv, Ukraine to undertake a major parade and performances in the presence of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the region from occupation in 1943.
In 2015, Craig tour-managed and featured as narrator in the Grimethorpe Colliery Band's 10 date nationwide concert tour of Australia. In 2017 and 2019, he then returned to Russia to work on the famous May 9th Immortal Regiment Parade in Red Square, Moscow. The parade consisted of over a million people in Moscow alone, with over 2 million people participating nationwide.
In addition to Moscow, Craig has also travelled to Krasnodar and the Crimean Peninsula in 2018/19, and will return to Russia again in 2021. In September 2020, Craig took up the post of Principal Director of Music to the Estes Park Tattoo in Colorado, USA, and will make his debut at the newly branded Estes Park International Tattoo in 2021.
Craig has been the recipient of a number of awards and honours including the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf's Good Citizen Award for Artistic Achievement, which he was presented with for services to music, the arts, education and charitable causes in May 2018. In August 2018, he was then awarded the Talent & Vocation Medal as a Worldwide Charitable Alliance Peacemaker by the International Coordination Council for the Development and Promotion of the Ideas of Peace in a ceremony at the iconic Vorontsov Palace in Alupka. In May 2019, Craig accepted a second award from the Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taf, in his capacity as Director, for the pioneering work of the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT).
Having formerly held positions as Artistic Director of the Welsh Brass Arts Festival, Wales Development Manager to Making Music (the national support body for UK voluntary music) and Executive Officer of the UK National School Band Association (NSBA), in November 2018 Craig took up the post of Director with the Rhondda Arts Festival (RAFT), working with artists such as Sir Tony Robinson, Omid Djalili, Kerry Ellis and more. Craig remains a leading freelance arts management and funding consultant, recently working with Wales' national classical music festival, the Welsh Proms Cymru, and the chamber orchestra Camerata Wales | Cymru
A longstanding member of the Executive Council of Music Centre Wales, Ty Cerdd, the Board of Directors at Community Music Wales, and a Trustee of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Craig is currently Vice Chair of Rhondda Cynon Taf International Twinning, a member of the Board of Directors of Sound Affairs, South Wales Miners Museum and Bandiau Pres Cymru | Brass Band Wales, and holds the post of Musical Director with both Lewis Merthyr Band and Symphonic Brass Wales
Further information on Craig and his activities can be found at www.croberts100.com