Rhiannon Davies Instrumental teacher
Monday 23 November 2020
A year or so after my appointment as Director of Music at HCS, I was fortunate to be introduced to Rhiannon, who herself was fairly new to Herefordshire having previously enjoyed a distinguished career as a violinist and pianist based in Cardiff. Rhiannon hailed from Llangattock, was a former Gwent Young Musician of the Year, and an established and highly respected musician in South Wales. Soon after graduating from Royal Holloway College, she was head hunted by Gwent, (one of the finest Music Services in Britain), and was a founder member of the Welsh Sinfonia. As a highly respected young musician, Rhiannon’s natural ability as a teacher meant that she was much sought after, and she quickly gained the reputation as a teacher with high standards and expectations who could get the best out of her pupils. In her years in Cardiff she worked with the BBC on radio and television, and in particular with Rebecca Evans and also the producer Owen Money. She toured extensively with the Welsh Sinfonia whilst also concentrating on her work as a teacher. Rhiannon was blessed with an extremely supportive extended family, and both her Mother and Grandmother were distinguished musicians and teachers. Family meant everything to Rhiannon and when she married in 2001 and moved to Hereford she was a loving and supportive wife to Robert who was establishing his osteopath business in Kyle Street. It was our good fortune that Rhiannon’s thirst for high standards and real music led her to the Music School, which in her own words she soon saw as a second home. Keen to use her significant experience as a performer and teacher, it wasn’t long before she was coaching piano trios, accompanying choirs and instrumentalists and teaching a significant number of our pianists, in addition to her private practice which she ran from home. Rhiannon accompanied many of the great HCS and HCJS occasions, and the National and International competitions where our choirs and instrumentalists achieved outstanding success. Her innate and infectious ability to enthuse and inspire meant she was such a natural teacher and musician. Believing wholeheartedly in the work and ethos of our Music School, Rhiannon was keen for both of her daughters Amelia and Phoebe to benefit from the cultural environment and opportunities here and we are all very proud of their significant achievements. They will, I feel sure, now be the fourth generation of distinguished musicians in Rhiannon’s family with Amelia having recently been offered a place in ‘Ex Cathedra’, the Birmingham based internationally acclaimed choir. Rhiannon was a performer to the end and gave her all. In March she would have played in the professional orchestra for the Karl Jenkins concert in the cathedral had it not have been postponed, but she did accompany the HCJS choir just before lockdown. Sadly her three year battle with cancer came to an end in late April and she is now at rest, and at home, in Llangattock with her husband Rob who tragically passed away last summer. We all miss Rhiannon dreadfully, both as a friend and as a highly respected colleague who always gave of her best. We think of her remarkable, wonderful two daughters who are now living with Rhiannon’s sister and family in the midlands, part of this wonderful extended family.David Evans, Director of Music at HCS