A NEW piece of music written by schoolchildren from Gwynedd who were inspired by the spooky sounds of outer space will be performed at a top music festival.

Pupils from Ysgol Bro Lleu in Penygroes and Ysgol Gynradd Talysarn further up the Nantlle Valley have been involved in the project for Bangor Music Festival at the city’s Pontio centre.

They are working with a leading young composer, Claire Victoria Roberts, 25, who’s studying for her PhD at Bangor University.

Claire was the winner of the William Mathias Composition Prize at last year’s festival and one of her new works will be premiered at this year’s event where it will be played by the internationally-renowned Australian pianist, Zubin Kanga.

Appropriately, the theme of this year's two-day festival which starts on Friday, February 2, is Space.

Another highlight of the festival will be a new piece of music created by using data from the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, in Geneva. The musical mastermind behind the piece called Dark Matter is Canadian composer Scott Wilson who lectures in composition and electronic music at Birmingham University.

The festival will also feature a premiere of a poem, Space is Fierce, written in the intergalactic language of Klingon from the hit TV and movie franchise Star Trek. It is being set to music which will be performed by the Bangor New Music Ensemble, consisting of university students.

The three-minute composition by the schoolchildren represents the sound of a “robot rover” spaceship bumping into an alien.

Tesni Jones, nine, and Anni Evans, 10, from Ysgol Bro Lleu loved being part of the project.

Tesni said: “I’m really excited and looking forward to the festival. I think I will be very proud but quite nervous when we play what we have composed.”

Anni added: “I’ve liked having the children from Ysgol Gynradd Talysarn working with us, it’s been really good and I think we all had some good ideas.”

Gwyn Owen Morris, 10, and Llinos Gregory, nine, from Ysgol Talysarn were equally excited about the project.

Gwyn said: “I enjoy making my own music. I’m really looking forward to the festival and I think we will make everyone very proud of us.”

Llinos added: “It’s good fun making new music and I like working with Claire Roberts, she’s amazing!”

Composer Claire, a native of Ferryside in Carmarthenshire who also plays violin and sings in a band, Swing Commanders, loved working with the youngsters.

She said: “We will make the music using a lot of body percussion and just a few basic instruments.

“It’s important we include every child whether they can play an instrument or not. Body percussion can be clapping, slapping thighs or chests, it’s about getting children involved and engaged with the process of making music.”

According to Claire, she was thrilled her own piece, a set of three dances called Infinity Freeze, will by played by Zubin Kanga during the festival.

She added: “I have met with Kanga to workshop my piece. I’m influenced by swing and jazz and tend to write music with a classical crossover. I like to put something extra in that engages with classical music.”

The festival’s Artistic Director, Guto Pryderi Puw, said: “Our aim is to provide audiences with an opportunity to experience and learn about contemporary music in a fun and engaging way.

“The idea of working with schools is to try and get the younger generation to appreciate all kinds of music and ultimately to compose their own works. We also encourage their parents to be involved with the festival through workshops and various community events. This year, to follow our theme of Space, we even have a planetarium set up!

“Claire is a talented student and a gifted violinist in her own right. We want to nurture the amazing talent we have at Bangor and this is an exciting opportunity for Claire to make her mark, not only as a composer but also as an educator. She will encourage the children to express themselves through performance and composition, and will be an inspirational role model for them too. I look forward to seeing what the children come up with and to the performance of their composition at the festival.”

The festival will also hear iconic pieces by American composer and master of avant-garde music George Crumb, a new commission titled Rotations by Welsh composer Maja Palser and a piece about the planets by English composer Patrick Nunn.

Leading up to the festival, there will also be an opportunity for the public to participate in a stargazing event, using some powerful telescopes.

For more information about the festival on February 2 and 3 and to book tickets go to www.bangormusicfestival.org.uk/