BIOGRAPHY
Welsh Soprano, Gwawr Edwards is one of Wales leading talents. She is in constand demand in the UK, and further afield
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 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 is an accomplished accompanist, therefore from a very young age, Gwawr was thrown into the performing world, accompanying them in concerts on regular occasions. At the age of eleven, Gwawr took part in her first concert tour of America, along with her father and sister, singing, playing the harp, and piano. She has since returned on numerous other occasions touring the States, as well as travelled to Asia, Europe and South America.
Gwawr studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff where she gained an entrance scholarship. She also studied at The Conservatorio Statale di Musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ in Turin, on an Erasmus Exchange, and subsequently at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she gained a first class Masters degree, under the tuition of Yvonne Kenny.
Gwawr has recently released her second Album 'Alleluia' featuring Only Men Aloud, Rhys Taylor's dixieland jazz band, mezzo-soprano Caryl Hughes, and Cor Ieienctyd Mon. Her first, released in 2010 featured the bass-barritone Bryn Terfel and harpist Catrin Finch. She also sang a duet with Bryn Terfel on his Christmas album on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Both her solo albums were released on the record label SAIN.
This year, Gwawr will record her third Radio series, called 'Gwawr Gerddorol' on BBC Radio Cymru, and will continue to present Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol for S4C. In 2015 she filmed her first documentary for S4C called 'Gwawr Edwards yn Ohio' and in 2016 she presented another documentary for S4C called Difas yr Eisteddfod.
She has toured the UK with Bryn Terfel performing at Birmingham Symphony hall, London festival hall, Manchester Bridgewater hall, and Cardiff St David's hall accompanied by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Gwawr is a regular artist on Welsh Television and radio and has been a soloist on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ on numerous occasions accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Other noted venues in which she has performed, include The Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wales Millennium Centre, Royal Concert Hall Glasgow ,Wembley Stadium and Highgrove for the Prince of Wales’ Trust Appeal. She was a soloist at the Royal Launch For UK’s South Hook LNG Terminal (2) where she sang for Queen Elizabeth the second, and the King of Quatar and also toured with the choir ‘Only Men Aloud’ on their 2009 UK Christmas Tour.
Gwawr was a finalist for the BBC Radio 2’s Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Prize – a search for an ‘opera star of the future.’ 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.
Her operatic performances include Paquette in Bernstein's Candide for Opera de Lorraine in Nancy. Rossina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Cymru. Melpomene in Gluck's Il Parnaso confuso premier for Bampton Opera. Euridice in Charpentier's La descente d'Orphée aux Enfers, Third Apparition in Macbeth, understudied Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Donna in Handel's Rinaldo for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and understudied Virtu in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea for Glyndebourne Touring Opera. Roles performed during opera ensemble scenes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama include Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Titania in Purcel's The Fairy Queen. Roles whilst at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama included Alice in Alice in Wonderland and the understudy of Dido in Dido and Aeneas.
Her Oratorio repertoire includes Faure's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Bach's St John's Passion, Mozart's requiem and Haydn’s Creation.
BYWGRAFFIAD
Merch fferm o Fethania, Ceredigion yw Gwawr. Daw o deulu cerddorol iawn gyda'i thad, Dafydd Edwards yn denor adnabyddus a phoblogaidd. O oedran ifanc iawn, bu Gwawr yn cystadlu mewn Eisteddfodau ac yn cymryd rhan mewn cyngherddau ledled Cymru gyda'i thad a'i chwaer Menna. Pan yn unarddeg oed, fe deithiodd i America i wneud ei thaith gyntaf, ble bu yn canu, canu'r delyn a chwarae deuawdau piano. Ers hynny, y mae wedi dychwelyd i'r Unol Dalaethau ar nifer o achlysuron i berfformio, hefyd teithiodd i Beijing, Hong Kong, Ewrop a De America.
Fe aeth Gwawr ymlaen i astudio canu yng Ngholeg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama, Cymru, a'r Guildhall yn Llundain ble graddiodd a gradd dosbarth cyntaf. Mae wedi perfformio ar lwyfannau cyngerdd ag opera ledled Prydain a thramor, gan gynnwys neuadd Symffoni Birmingham, neuadd Bridgewater Manceinion, neuadd Dewi Sant Caerdydd, neuadd Albert, neuadd Festival a neuadd Cadogan Llundain, Cnolfan Mileniwm Caerdydd, neuadd Gyngerdd Frenhinol Glasgow ,Stadiwm Wembley a Highgrove yn perfformio gyda cherddorfeydd megis cherddorfa Philharmonic Lerpwl, Cerddorfa Gyngerdd y BBC, Cherddorfa'r WNO a Cherddorfa The Age of Enlightenment. Yn ddiweddar mae wedi canu gyda chwmni Opra Cymru, chwmni Opera de Lorraine cwmni opera Bampton a chwmni opera Glyndebourne, ac mae galw mawr amdani ar lwyfannau cyngerdd Prydain a thramor. Rhyddhaodd Gwawr ei chryno ddisg cyntaf yn 2010 gyda chwmni recordio SAIN, ac mae ei ail chryno ddisg 'Alleluia' allan nawr, yn cynnwys caneuon clasurol, ysgafn a chaneuon traddodiadol Cymraeg.
