Alleluia

Welsh Soprano, Gwawr Edwards and one of Wales’ leading talents releases stunning new album, ‘Alleluia’ featuring guest appearances by Only Men Aloud, Côr Ieuenctid Môn, mezzo-soprano Caryl Hughes, harpist Dylan Cernyw and the Rhys Taylor Dixieband. Gwawr was born into a farming family in Ceredigion, west Wales, and culturally was nurtured in the rich Eisteddfod tradition giving her a solid foundation for her future music career. Music is truly in the Edwards family blood, as well as being a dedicated farmer, her father was also a busy and popular concert tenor, and her sister Menna is an accomplished accompanist who contributed to the new recording, accompanying Gwawr on the piano. From a very young age, Gwawr was thrown into the performing world and at the age of eleven Gwawr took part in her first concert tour of America with her father and sister, offering a concert full of singing, harp recitals and piano duets. Gwawr is in constant demand in the UK and further afield and recently returned from a mini tour of the US. Other performances abroad include concerts in Beijing, Hong Kong, Europe and South America and will be boarding a cruise to St Kitts to entertain the voyagers before Christmas. Gwawr began her studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. She also studied at The Conservatorio Statale di Musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ in Turin, and subsequently at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she gained a first class masters’ degree. In 2010, Gwawr was a finalist in the BBC Radio 2’s Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Prize – a search for an ‘opera star of the future’ and was ear-marked as a special voice and talent to look out for. She has won all the major awards and competitions in Wales including the prestigious Towyn Roberts Scholarship, the Osborne Roberts Scholarship, Llangollen International Eisteddfod, Lampeter Eisteddfod Blue Riband and the Violet Mary Davies award for most promising soprano at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. She is also a recipient of the Elizabeth Evans Trust, a Samling Artist and a patron of Age Cymru. In 2010 Gwawr released her debut album with the record label SAIN featuring bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and harpist Catrin Finch. She also sang a duet with Bryn on his 2010 Christmas album on the Deutsche Grammophon label and recently toured the UK with Bryn Terfel . The new album features 11 tracks of popular and classical favourites along with a brand new composition by Gwawr herself, a song dedicated to her baby daughter, Nel born earlier this year. ‘It’s been a very memorable year and an unbelievably busy one’ says Gwawr, ‘after nearly six years since my debut album on Sain I’m really excited to see the release of Alleluia and wish to thank everybody who’s contributed in some way or another with a special thank you to my husband Dan for his support and guidance.’