A clarinettist from Aberystwyth has won the £4,000 Bryn Terfel Urdd Gobaith Cymru music scholarship award.

Rhys Taylor, 24, who gained a first-class degree at the Royal College of Music in Manchester last year, will use the money for professional tuition to further his career.

The competition was held on Saturday at Clwyd Theatre in Mold.

The eight finalists won their places by competing in this year’s Urdd Eisteddfod in Denbighshire.

Rhys, who had won the instrumental solo at the eisteddfod in May, was awarded his prize by opera star Terfel.

Last year he gained a first class degree in the clarinet at the Royal College of Music in Manchester.

“It is an honour to receive an award bearing the name of Bryn Terfel who has contributed so much to the arts in Wales,” said Rhys.

“My days of competing with the Urdd have come to a perfect finale. It was a pleasure competing this evening against such talented performers.

The aim of the scholarship is to give young people in Wales a chance to progress and develop their talents.

Rhys, who has recently launched his first CD, hopes to become a professional soloist.

Speaking on the night of the competition, the director of the Urdd Eisteddfod, Siân Eirian, said: “We enjoyed a feast of talent tonight and in a brilliant competition it was the clarinettist Rhys Taylor who was awarded the scholarship with glowing commendation from the adjudicator’s panel.”

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Monday, September 11, 2006 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Scholarship. Tags: College, Scholarship, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.