Three Choirs Festival

We are absolutely delighted to hear that Richard Blackford is a nominee in the Best Vocal and Choral Composition category at this year's Ivors Composer Academy Awards for his magnificent piece, The Black Lake.

The work is based on Caradog Pritchard's masterpiece of Welsh literature, Un Nos Ola Leuad (One Moonlit Night) and is a 50 minute cantata which received its premiere at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford 2025, magnificently performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Three Choirs Festival Chorus, soprano Elizabeth Watts and narrators Betsan Llwyd and Stefan Rhodri. This was a co-commission by the Three Choirs Festival, the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts and the premiere concert was supported with funding from the Colwinston Charitable Trust.

Our fingers are crossed for Richard and the award ceremony which takes place 17 November 2026. Good luck!