“Weir’s music has a power that's rapier-precise and radiantly all-encompassing. You're drawn into its enchantment, its quicksilver transformation of seeming simplicity into coruscating richness … There's a shimmering moment at the end of listening to any of her music in which the world seems changed… every piece of Judith Weir's glows with a luminous sense of freshness …” - Tom Service 

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A mutual musical motivation, developed over decades, comes to full fruition this week when revered composer Dame Judith Weir DBE’s Oboe Concerto is celebrated at the scene of its UK Premiere; Cardiff.

The Oboe Concerto (2018) by former Master of the Queen’s and King’s Music is the set piece of the Oboe Prize sponsored by Crowther’s of Canterbury on Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The adjudicating team consists of Weir, who has recently stepped down after being Patron of Royal Society of Musicians (the music charity founded by Handel in 1738) and the dedicatee, newly appointed International Visiting Lecturer at RWCMD, Celia Craig. 

Speaking of the culmination of the pair’s decades-long connection, Judith explains that part of the inspiration for the piece was observing nature – and specifically trees – around her central London home. 

“I think you should be able to write music about the inner city,” she says. “It is, after all, where most people live.”

Judith was Master of the Queen’s Music from 2014, and also became Master of the King’s Music – something only one other person in history has ever achieved – and moves in some high circles, but don’t think that doesn’t mean she isn’t still a composer for all.

It’s one of the reasons she’s so enthusiastic about the Crowther’s of Canterbury RWCMD student Oboe Prize and also happy about the digital release of the Oboe Concerto she wrote for oboist Celia Craig: because an online release means everyone, or more importantly anyone, can listen to it.

This Prize event organised by RWCMD Head of Woodwind Robert Plane (who as Principal Clarinet of BBC National Orchestra of Wales, also played in the Concerto’s 2019 UK Premiere) is typical of Weir’s attitude towards sharing her music with people of all ages.

She adds: “The afterlife of the piece is very interesting,” saying a recording at the Premiere was ‘a great way for even more people to discover it.’

“It doesn’t ask for a big orchestra - it is definitely the kind of piece that students could play. I want to make this accessible to a wide group of players.”

The Oboe Prize is a culmination of eight years behind the scenes since Judith first wrote the piece for Celia, after it was co-commissioned by Adelaide, Western Australia and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.

It received its World premiere in October 2018 at Adelaide Town Hall, and its UK Premiere at the Wales Miillennium Centre Cardiff in 2019.

But the pair’s musical relationship was in the mix for much longer.

Celia was a music student at York University in the late 80s when the group she was in played Judith’s wind quintet and piano piece, Airs From Another Planet, becoming only the second group ever to perform it.

Their paths also crossed a couple of years later when Celia was an Exhibitioner post graduate student at the Royal Academy of Music. Judith asked Jane’s Minstrels, which Celia was a member of, to perform at the Spitalfields Festival, of which she was Artistic Director.

It wasn’t until 2015 that Judith was commissioned to write the Oboe Concerto for Celia.

In the meantime Celia’s career had taken off, and she had played with some world renowned orchestras, including being appointed to the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Cor Anglais and as Principal Oboe of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, following a move to Australia with her husband and young family.

The Concerto was premiered in 2018, and dedicated to Celia.

“It is a very important piece for me,” says Judith.

“I played the oboe until I was 30. Working with Celia, I re-discovered a part of my life – playing the oboe was such a big part of my training as a musician and development as a composer.”

She added: “I have known Celia for a long time, since her student days – dare I say, it’s a decades-long friendship! We have kept in touch throughout the years, and when Celia was able to invite me to write a piece for her we were in touch constantly. It’s a very interactive thing to do, to write a new work for a performer. Celia is someone who has always got exciting and interesting ideas.”

The recording of the original live performance in South Australia was released by Celia’s own boutique record label, Artaria, something which Judith is fully supportive of.

“Artaria’s albums are very beautiful. The fact that an individual artist like Celia can do this properly – not only perform the piece, but to produce and release it through their own record label – is quite fantastic, and very creative.”

Celia adds: “Judith’s music is so intuitive for woodwind players: playable and lyrical. I am really delighted to return to Wales with Judith to where the UK Premiere took place, and via this brilliant connection between the Royal Welsh College and Crowther’s of Canterbury, to introduce the piece a new generation, so more people can enjoy it.”

Listen to the Concerto