With that many unfamiliar capital letters after his name, you know that the guy must be a) very specifically successful and b) English. He's both, though being from Wales, the English thing is debatable, depending on who you're talking to. Mealor's work includes film, television, operas, symphonies, concerti, and chamber music, as well as choral music and songs (he had a 2011 Christmas #1 in the UK for "Wherever You Are" with the Military Wives Choir) and his Ubi Caritas, performed at Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding, shone an international spotlight on him.

​

Initially self-taught, Mealor has built a unique style, and worked with William Mathias (another royal wedding composer) as well as John Pickard and Nicola LeFanu.  Michael Hampel, writing for The Guardian, says: "...his work is marked by something outside of himself that is beautifully spatial and evocative of landscape. His music breathes."

​

In The Bleak Midwinter

​

In tackling this timeless Christina Rossetti poem, alongside giants like Gustav Holst and Harold Darke,  Mealor sweeps in, building a crunchy, yet shimmering chorus with a floating soprano line that settles into a quiet anticipation. A delicate melody is taken up by the sopranos, and then the tenors - all awash in lush chords from the other sections - and finally by a solo baritone, who  delivers the final, iconic line "what can I give Him? Give Him my heart" with a whisper of wonderment. Goosebumps.

​

​