Gareth Glyn, born Gareth Glynne Davies (born 1951), is a Welsh composer and

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-b ...

Life and education

Born in

Machynlleth Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a pop ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, Glyn is the eldest son of the late Welsh poet T. Glynne Davies. He received his secondary education at

Ysgol Maes Garmon Ysgol Maes Garmon is an 11–18 mixed, Welsh-medium community secondary school and sixth form in Mold, Flintshire, Wales. It was established in 1961 and is the only Welsh-medium school in Flintshire. It shares some of its facilities with Alun ...

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...

, before attending Merton College,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, 1969–72, studying

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and specialising in composition.

Compositions

He has composed a wide range of musical pieces, including diverse vocal and orchestral work and music for television. He has produced one symphony, and many of his recorded orchestral works are in the light music genre, including ''A Snowdon Overture'', ''Legend of the Lake'' and ''Anglesey Seascapes''. In 2011, to coincide with his 60th birthday, a double CD of a selection of his orchestral works was released by Sain, including the substantial ''Enduring City'' celebrating the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city of

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

. In 2012, he was selected to provide the arrangement of Elgar's ''Nimrod'' for the opening ceremony of the London

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

; it was played by 80 East London children, some of them beginners on their instruments and aged as young as 7, alongside a small number of

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

(LSO) members. It is estimated that this broadcast was seen by a billion or more viewers worldwide. Orchestras who have commissioned and/or performed his compositions include - in addition to the LSO - the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

, the

North Carolina Symphony The North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-six full-time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the Opera Com ...

, the

Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra The Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra) is a French orchestra based in Strasbourg. It is one of the two permanent orchestras of the Opéra national du Rhin (the other being the Orchestre symphonique de Mulho ...

, the

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United K ...

, the

BBC National Orchestra of Wales The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) ( cy, Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Gymreig y BBC) is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisatio ...

, I Musici de Montréal and the

Royal Ballet Sinfonia The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is the orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet. The Sinfonia appears with Birmingham Royal Ballet in its home town, in London and around the UK, and frequently appears with The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House and on ...

; soloists include

Bryn Terfel Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and '' ...

and

Catrin Finch Catrin Ana Finch is a Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music in London. ...

. For his services to music, Gareth Glyn was made an Honorary Fellow of the Bangor University, and an Honorary Druid of the Gorsedd of Bards of the Island of Britain. He has made “a significant contribution to the music of Wales”.

Broadcasting

Glyn used to present the news and current affairs programme ''Post Prynhawn'', broadcast on

BBC Radio Cymru BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio network owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts on two stations across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and online. The main network broadcasts for hours a day from ...

from Mondays to Fridays in the 5–6pm slot. He was the programme's main presenter from when it was first broadcast in 1978 until January 2013.

References

External links

BBC website biography

Biography on Sibeliusmusic.comGareth Glyn's personal websiteBiography at publishers Gwynn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glyn, Gareth Living people 1951 births People from Machynlleth Welsh radio presenters Light music composers Welsh composers Welsh classical composers Welsh male composers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford