Where music is heard at its best
A musical tour through Cardiff by Music Patron composer David John Roche.
Dora Stoutzker Hall
I think it’s hard to argue that there’s a better concert hall in Cardiff.
I’m from Tredegar, a small town in South Wales famous for Aneurin Bevan (very good) and the rock band Budgie (completely alright).
It was also where Dora Stoutzker – the mother of Welsh businessman Ian Stouzker, and namesake of the first of my chosen venues – taught music.
My regional bias is palpable and electric, but don’t worry, not everything on here has been picked because it relates to someone who worked down the road from where I grew up.
Putting my serious hat on, I really do love this venue. Situated right next to the main entrance of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, The Dora Stoutzker is a relatively compact, gorgeous-sounding space. I think it’s hard to argue that there’s a better concert hall in Cardiff.Â
You can feel the acoustical design choices come through in the shaping of sounds produced by performers on the stage.
Allegedly the only purpose-built chamber recital hall in Wales, it is a professional and sonically pleasant space. You can feel the acoustical design choices come through in the shaping of sounds produced by performers on the stage, making it especially suitable for composers. You can really pick up on details; you can actually hear your music.
I’ve had a series of lovely premieres and performances here, from my electric guitar concerto Chorus in Alto, co-commissioned by Sinfonia Cymru and Britten Sinfonia, for Grammy-nominated guitarist Sean Shibe, to an intense guitar quartet for the amazing National Youth Guitar Ensemble.
Watch: The premiere of David's Hammer of Acceptance performed by the National Youth Guitar Ensemble
It was the backdrop for a performance of a lovely commission from the awesome Uproar Ensemble, which received a five-star-review from the mighty Stravinsky scholar Stephen Walsh.
It is the perfect venue for this piece.
The Dora is also the setting for the September 2025 premiere of my new, PRS-funded, super virtuosic, three-movement work Gentle Constancy for Welsh guitarist Gerard Cousins. Â It is the perfect venue for this piece; focused, clear, chamber-music focused, and comfortable. I love it.
The Shut Down Venues and Scene
Music felt like a constant – you could just bounce from venue to venue; there was always something happening.
Not trying to be a buzzkill here, but I’m making this slightly rule-bending choice because every time I walk through Cardiff, I spend a solid chunk of time pointing out where once-amazing, now-closed venues, festivals, and events were situated.
It’s wild to consider that Cardiff used to have a massive, thriving circuit and scene for local bands and musicians. So much of it has been crudely and carelessly obliterated causing irreparable damage to legacies, as well as local and international pathways.
There’s some infrastructure left but, when these venues are shut, we lose the pathways, international connections, aspirations, and success stories.
I remember seeing Beethoven’s 9th for the first time at St. David’s Hall (currently closed). This is where I saw my first ever orchestral concert as a teenager, went to countless concerts with family and friends, worked with local and international artists with the (now closed) Vale of Glamorgan Festival, and heard my arrangements played at Cardiff Singer of the World. On several occasions, I would go to an orchestral concert here before going straight to somewhere like Barfly (also now closed) to see a stack of local bands. Music felt like a constant – you could just bounce from venue to venue; there was always something happening.
There’s some infrastructure left but, when these venues are shut, we lose the pathways, international connections, aspirations, and success stories. What’s there to seriously replace this? Why aren’t artists part of these conversations? What representation do we have to fight these closures? My hope is that a reckoning is coming – but it is clear that music makers have been completely and utterly sold down the river.
We need to remember that it can be better, and we must support future and upcoming generations in creating things that exceed the rose-tinted brilliance of the old structures that I spend my time whining about – free me from my own nostalgia!
Watch: The world premiere of David's 'Practice Patience' performed by the Psappha Ensemble, which closed in 2023 after losing its funding
Hoddinott Hall
I saw my first Wozzeck here (pretty intense) and my first Wagner opera (also pretty intense).
Alun Hoddinott is almost certainly the frontrunner when it comes to candidates for great Welsh composers. Even after his death he remains one of Wales’ biggest international cultural figures – especially with respect to contemporary classical music – so it feels pretty reasonable to name one of Wales’ most significant concert halls after him.
Hoddinott Hall itself is within the Wales Millennium Centre, an imposing, grand, and gorgeous building in Cardiff Bay (almost next to The Senedd, another amazing building). It’s home to several Welsh institutions including the mighty Tŷ Cerdd and the brilliant BBC National Orchestra of Wales. I saw my first Wozzeck here (pretty intense), my first Wagner opera here (also pretty intense), and I had my some of my earliest performances and experiences with professional orchestras here too.
The concert ended up being postponed several times and I experienced a 7-hour delayed train journey on the day of the first rehearsal.
One event that sticks out for me is the premiere performance of my work Waves of Love, commissioned by Vale of Glamorgan Festival.
This composition was my first large orchestral piece after the pandemic and the whole experience was tumultuous – for me, at least! The concert ended up being postponed several times and I experienced a 7-hour delayed train journey on the day of the first rehearsal. After months of writing and editing the piece, I was finally able to hear it live, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Watch: Waves of Love performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Waves of Love was performed alongside my arrangement of John Metcalf’s Calm which has since gone on to have quite a bit of radio play. It’s a gorgeous piece. John taught me for a long time, so it was rewarding to be able to help create this arrangement as a thank you to him, he really changed the trajectory of my career.Â
Concert Hall, Cardiff University School of Music
The variety of performances at the Concert Hall were enormous, the players were world-class, and the concerts were frequent.
I’m picking this one out of raw sentimentality. I loved studying music at Cardiff University and it’s lovely to be named one of the winners of its prestigious Wales to the World 2025 30(ish) Awards, which celebrate alumni making a positive impact in their communities – all before they hit 30. Well, 30(ish). Cardiff University supported me so strongly with numerous scholarships, prizes, and – most importantly – a rigorous and meaningful education that I use literally every day. It might seem obvious, but a big part of what made my time here so successful was access to music.Â
I saw so much new music – for free – as a student at Cardiff University. The variety of performances at the Concert Hall were enormous, the players were world-class, and the concerts were frequent. It was in this hall that I heard a lot of important chamber music for the first time, stuff like the Bartók quartets and Ravel’s Quartet.
My first (utterly ridiculous) opera was premiered on this stage – kudos to co-writer Martin Humphries – as was my recent song cycle, commissioned for Jeremy Huw Williams, as part of the Welsh Music Guild’s Paul Mealor Prize for Composers.
It was exciting, it was accessible, and it was really engaging.
Cardiff University Concert Hall was also where the student body held choir rehearsals for concerts. I’ll admit that I wasn’t always into this, but these rehearsals were happy, fun times with friends, and it was great exposure to new (to me) music and the act of putting together large compositions. It was here that I heard music by other students and lecturers for the first time, giving me my first insight into what living composers might be writing. It was exciting, it was accessible, and it was really engaging.
It’s such a shame to see the Music Department under threat now, and it would be a colossal, unnecessary loss if it was dissolved or downsized further. If we want to do great things, then we need these halls and organisations. Buildings and institutions can come to mean different things to different people over time, and this can, with enough support, significance, and usage, form part of a shared heritage or legacy.Â