Contributors

Craig Roberts

Craig studied at the United Kingdom's University of Salford, gaining first his BA (Hons) then Masters degree there, studying with Dr Roy Newsome 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 Wales Millennium Centre, St David’s Hall, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, BBC National Orchestra of Wales' Hoddinott Hall, and the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea; the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Academy of Music, London. Abroad Craig has toured to Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Libya, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, 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, with numerous leading ensembles and artists. These include the Stadtorchester & Kreisverband Jugendblasorchester Ravensburg, Stadtkapelle Nurtingen, and Musikkapelle Thanheim of Germany, the Don Cossack and Russian Cossack State Dance Companies, Errollyn Wallen and the Welsh National Opera Company, Tim A. Duncan and the Imperial Ice Stars, Steve Bingham, Dr. Robert & David Childs, Shan Cothi, Rebecca Evans, Catrin Finch, Lesley Garrett, Joji Hirota & the Japanese Taiko Drummers, Claire Jones, Peter Karrie, Sarah Lark, Paul Mealor, Andrew Powell, Katy Treharne, James Watson, the Band of Her Majesty’s Grenadier Guards, plus numerous leading bands and choirs which have included Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Cory, Grimethorpe and Leyland brass bands; and Cor Meibion Morlais, the Gentlemen Songsters, Only Men Aloud, Pendyrus and Treorchy Male Choirs, the Richard Williams Singers, the Vivace Singers and the Yurlov Russian State Academic Chorus.

Within Wales Craig has conducted the majority of the top brass bands, including the famous Cory Band who Craig guest conducted for the Golden Jubilee procession through London of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He has been successful in competition at the highest level, winning the Welsh League Championship on three occasions (2006, 2009 and 2011) and has won every contest in the Welsh League Championships: the SWBBA Championships in 2006 with Parc & Dare, the WWBBA Championships in 2007 with Burry Port, and the SEWBBA Championships in 2011 with Abergavenny Borough. Craig was named Conductor of the Year by the SEWBBA and WWBBA in 2004.

For a number of years Craig was Director of Music of the Woods Mfg Co Brass Band based in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada. He directed the band at several of the world’s largest military shows 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 in Hamburg, Germany. In 2014, also in Canada, together with Dr Robert Childs, David Childs and with the support of the Buffet Group and Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo Society, Craig founded the North American Brass Band Summer School (NABBSS).

Today Craig is a member of the Production Team of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, where he is one of two Assistant Directors of this, the world’s largest annual indoor show. He has also worked as a production consultant to the annual Canadian Beating Retreat “Fortissimo” held annually on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (2007-10); travelled to Russia, to work with the Kremlin Zoria Festival on the first Tattoo held in Moscow's Red Square (2007); and to Tripoli, Libya, where he acted as Director of Music and Production Consultant to the World Military Music Festival (a Tattoo and parade held in Green Square, Tripoli in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Arab Jamahereya). In 2010 & 2011 Craig travelled to Crete, Greece, acting as Director of Music and Production Consultant for the first Crete International Tattoo and Mediterranean International Festival of Arts. In 2013 he then visited Kharkiv, Ukraine to undertake a major parade and performances in the presence of then Ukrainian President, marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city and region in 1943. In 2015 Craig participated in and tour managed Grimethorpe Colliery Band's 10 date nationwide concert tour of Australia. 

Formerly Executive Officer of the UK National School Band Association (NSBA), Artistic Director of the Welsh Brass Arts Festival, and Wales Development Manager to Making Music, the national support body for UK voluntary music, Craig is now a leading freelance arts management consultant whose clients include Owain Arwel Hughes, Camerata Wales l Cymru & the Welsh Proms Cymru; David Childs, Cory and Grimethorpe Colliery Bands. In July 2014 Craig also took up the post of Project Manager, Wales with Superact, working on the organisation's national Last Post project to mark the First World War centenary across Wales and the UK.

In addition to all of the above Craig also still supplies brass tuition to numerous schools and young musicians in his home county of Rhondda Cynon Taf, in conjunction with the Cory Academy. He is a serving member of the Executive Council of Music Centre Wales, Ty Cerdd; a member of the Board of Directors of Sound Affairs and Community Music Wales; a trustee of the famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band; and Musical Director of both Symphonic Brass Wales and Lewis-Merthyr Bands.