Dyfan Jones - Composition & Sound Design
Reviews for “Great Expectations”
...this new production of Great Expectations is a truly memorable piece of musical theatre.
Broadway World
(Joe Gargery’s) song of friendship has no trace of false sentimentality; it’s simply what Joe would sing if he was able to express those emotions.
The Stage
... a tight, well-crafted musical play, with a strong cast and memorable songs. Composer Dyfan Jones and Baker have collaborated on some excellent songs, from the yearning opening piece on memories to the scorching Break His Heart, and the amusing Gentleman.
Western Mail
Reviews for “Portrait of the Artist”
...To cap it all there is glorious harmony in the Welsh songs that the cast sing to both link and divide the scenes. This is an utterly enchanting production.
...their singing of hymns and traditional Welsh songs is pure, clear and tremendously moving.
...the most glowering, chameleon cyclorama I’ve ever seen; accompanied by the loving sounds of gentle waves and raindrop piano notes.
Reviews for “Contractions”
...In between each scene there is complete darkness and a mechanical churning sound blasts out on the audience – getting increasingly intense as the play goes on. It’s an unnerving noise that keeps a dark undertone throughout the production, but it still doesn’t prepare you for the sharp change is tone when everything starts to turn sour.
...The play is structured in short individual scenes that are interspersed by Dyfan Jones’ oppressive soundscape of whirring gears, machine cranks and rending metal, which fill the Chapter Stwdio with a creeping sense of dread.
...There are blackouts between each scene when a droning soundtrack by composer Dyfan Jones is pumped around the studio heightening suspense. This together with the repetitiveness at the start of each scene makes you feel as though you are crumbling along with Emma.
...The scene-transitions are soundtracked by psychosis-inducing drones (sound design by Dyfan Jones), quickly establishing that all is not well.
“Dyfan's creative genius, ability to work quickly, understanding of genre and ability to recognise the need for the simple and the need for the complex make him, in my view, the most outstanding composer working in Wales. Dyfan has been, and would be, my first choice with any project, both as arranger and composer. His contribution to my work has been immense.“
Tim Baker, Theatr Clwyd
"From the misty opening on the Essex marshes to the bittersweet denouement of Dickens' compelling story - it is seamlessly woven together by a tuneful and atmospheric score of music and songs by Dyfan Jones, the production is a truly thrilling theatrical experience."
Dyfan is an award-winning Composer, Musical Director and Sound Designer from Aberdare in the South Wales Valleys. As a teenager, he was facinated with electronic instruments and early computer-based music making. At sixteen he opted for music over mathematics and now, with over 30 years’ experience, his work spans theatre, broadcast and music production across a wide range of projects.
He graduated in Music Technology at Kingston University before studying Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His work moves fluidly between TV drama, Music and sound design for large-scale musicals and straight plays, as well as scoring for film, animation and podcasts.
Recent theatre credits include Boys from the Blackstuff (National Theatre and West End), Anna Karenina (Chichester Festival Theatre), and a bilingual production of Romeo and Juliet for Theatr Cymru, which toured Wales before transferring to Shakespeare’s Globe. He was also Composer, Musical Director and Sound Designer on Welsh National Theatre’s inaugural production, Our Town.
Dyfan has collaborated with directors including Francesca Goodridge, Kate Wasserberg, Phillip Breen, Roxana Silbert, Steffan Donnelly and Matthew Dunster. Alongside his theatre work, he composes for television drama, children’s animation and works extensively in studio production.
He is an associate artist at Theatr Clwyd and continues to work across stage, screen and studio from his base in South Wales.
A full list of credits can be viewed here.