WELSHMAN Karl Jenkins' haunting scores have peppered countless TV adverts worldwide, from Renault, Volvo and De Beers to Levi's, British Airways and Pepsi. The Penclawdd-born genius is widely recognised as having brought the classical music genre to a bright new audience. Yet he resolutely spurns the label "classical". To him music is just music. As if to prove the point, his best known work is the choral masterpiece Adiemus, which topped both pop and classical charts across the world. Says Jenkins: "I've trained classically, but during my teenage years I got really interested in jazz. After my student days I got into progressive rock and played with Soft Machine. All these influences have gone into the melting pot, and I've come out with what I do now. I don't think I'd be doing what I do now if I hadn't gone on that musical journey. "But I've always resisted putting music into boxes and I appreciate music in different styles. I don't think it's relevant because it's not necessary to put a name on any kind of music. I always just call myself a composer, not necessarily a classical composer. "I borrow from different cultures quite a lot, whether it's the use of ethnic instruments or ethnic sounds. In the case of Requiem I've set some Japanese haiku poems to music." Having recently moved back to his roots to a home on the Gower peninsula, he's never been busier as the commissions flood in. He admits that it restricts the time to listen to other composers' work.. "I suppose I don't really want to be influenced by anything else." He still finds time to take up the baton, and later this month shares the conducting with John Gibbon as the acclaimed Welsh Chamber Orchestra takes Requiem on an UK-wide tour. Also taking part are the London-based Apollo Voices and two Welsh choirs - Serendipity and Côr Caerdydd. * Welsh dates: September 23: Galeri, Caernarfon (01286 685222); Saturday, September 24, St Giles' Church,, Wrexham; Sunday, September 25, Brecon Cathedral; Friday, September 30, St David's Cathedral; Saturday, October 1, Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. Call 01844 346558 for all venues except Galeri. | 
