Edward-Rhys Bate showed musical promise at an early age when he was appointed church organist at the age of 15. The following year, the young lad from Penclawdd on the Gower peninsula was commissioned to write music for the National Youth Theatre of Wales, and at 18 his firstmajor work – a children’s musical – was performed in Swansea.

Most of his subsequent undergraduate studies at Bangor University were conducted through the medium of Welsh, and he won the music department’s composition prize for the orchestral work Re:Becca. His tutors included eminent composers such as William Matthias, Dilys Elwyn-Edwards and John Harper, and their influence encouraged him to pursue a post-graduate diploma in music technology and sound recording.

Throughout the ten years he spent as Musical Director of a local college, Edward developed his talents as a freelance conductor and composer, and eventually moved to Hampshire where he worked as a private tutor for gifted students. He also studied for a Master of Music degree in composition under Francis Pott at the London College of Music, and was appointed lecturer in composition at the University of Winchester. After four successful years in Hampshire and London, during which he became an examiner for the Edexcel and Oxford and Cambridge examination boards, he returned to postgraduate study, gaining an MA in choral conducting under Simon Halsey and Adrian Partington at the Royal College of Music and Drama.

For a time he performed with the BBC National Chorus of Wales, being involved in several recordings. As Musical Director of the Bristol Chamber Chorus he directed the first recording of the newly- found Requiem setting by Robert Pearsall, as well as his own Requiem of Loss.

He is the current holder of the Glynne Jones Choral Conducting Scholarship at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and in 2006 Edward’s achievements were recognised when he was made a member of the Gorsedd of Bards of the National Eisteddfod. He holds lectureships at the RWCMD and the University of Bath, and works occasionally with the Welsh National Opera Company. He continues to be involved with a number of choirs including Cor Bro Ogwr in Bridgend, Wales’s largest mixed choir, and The Athenaeum Singers. His own choral works are published by Chichester Music Press.

photo courtesy of John Downing

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Last updated 3 February, 2010
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