Karl Jenkins was born in Wales and educated at Gowerton Grammar School before reading music at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He then commenced postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

It was in jazz that he initially made his mark; co-forming Nucleus (3), which won first prize at the Montreux jazz festival and appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, Rhode Island. This was followed by a period with Soft Machine, one of the seminal bands of the 70’s. Through many incarnations, ‘Softs’ defied categorization playing venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the classical ‘Proms’ at the Royal Albert Hall, the Reading ‘Rock’ Festival.

After a period as a media composer, his return to the music mainstream was initially marked by the success of the Adiemus project.

The Armed Man; A Mass For Peace, commissioned by the Royal Armouries for the millennium and premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, London has had over four hundred performances.

He was awarded an OBE, by Her Majesty The Queen, in the 2005 New Years Honours List “for services to music”.