Pablo composes for Prince Harry

Friday 6 July 2018

Royal College of Music composer Pablo Barrios has had a specially written piece performed at Marlborough House to celebrate Prince Harry’s new role as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador.

The ‘Your Commonwealth’ Youth Challenge Reception took place on Thursday 5 July at Marlborough House, home of the Commonwealth Foundation. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in attendance, as were hundreds of Commonwealth delegates and youth leaders.

As well as having his cross-cultural piece performed, Pablo was able to present members of the Royal family with a beautifully bound score. RCM musicians Samuel Mallia (saxophone), Niki Moosavi (cello) and Gemma Riley (trombone) joined performers from The Commonwealth Resounds to perform the piece as Harry and Meghan arrived and departed.

Pablo said: ‘It was a huge honour to have my work performed at the Commonwealth ceremony and to work with wonderful musicians from the RCM and Commonwealth Resounds. Being able to present my score personally to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex is an experience I'll never forget!’

Pablo is a Venezuelan-born composer and pianist in the second year of his undergraduate degree at the RCM. He is a Henry Wood Scholar studying composition under Mark-Anthony Turnage. Over the past three years, Pablo has received numerous commissions to write for various genres and his compositions have been premiered in the UK at Westminster Abbey, Adrian Boult Hall, St John Smith’s Square and internationally at the Manoel Theatre in Malta. Prior to studying at the RCM, Pablo was a student at the Purcell School, where he won the Tim Stevenson Award for Composition.

To find out more about composition at the Royal College of Music click here.