TALENTED GLAIN WINS THE TEXACO TITLE

Practice has made perfect for 15-year-old harpist, Glain Dafydd from Bangor as the dedicated teenager defeated four other musical hopefuls to win the prestigious 2007 Texaco Young Musician of Wales title.

Glain performed in the 2007 Texaco Young Musician of Wales competition final on Saturday night (31 March) to a packed auditorium at Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre. She wowed the judges and audience with her performances of Sonata for Harp by Hindemith and Pierné’s Konzertstück for harp and orchestra with the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra.

She collected the Texaco Young Musician of Wales trophy and £1,000 prize money for winning the competition and has decided to donate the other £1,000 given by Texaco, equally between her school, Ysgol Tryfan and the Canolfan Gerdd Mathias Music Centre in Caernarfon.

The 15-year-old is a familiar face to the competition as she reached the final in 2005. Glain is a pupil at Ysgol Tryfan and is the taught the harp by Elinor Bennett at Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias Music Centre. She has recently been accepted to the National Youth Orchestra for 2007.

Glain said: “Winning this competition means so much to me, especially after all the hours of practice that I have put in over the last few months. When they called my name as the winner, I couldn’t believe it but I always said that I would come back to win it one day!

“Music is everything to me and I hope that this is just the start of my journey of becoming a world-class musician.”

Steffan Morris, a 15-year-old cellist from Neath came second and walked away with £750 and 17-year-old violinist, Joseph Devalle from Cardiff won the third prize of £500. Two runners up, Gwenllian Llŷr from Ynystawe and Hannah Gill from Cardiff also took away £250.

Morgan Clark, general manager of Texaco’s Pembroke refinery said: “The talent at this year’s final was exceptional, which made the judges’ job even more difficult than usual.

“I would like to congratulate all this year’s finalists as making it to the final is a great achievement in itself, especially as they have beaten off competition from 80 other entrants along the way.

“But unfortunately there can only be one winner and Glain really shone on the night with her confident and flawless performances. We wish Glain every success for the future and are confident that this is just the start of a promising musical career for her.”

This is the tenth of the biennial competitions sponsored by Texaco and organised in partnership with Cr Meibion De Cymru, the South Wales Male Choir. The television programme of the competition final is scheduled to appear on ITV1 Wales on Monday 2 and 9 April.

Further information from Rachel Lewis

Quadrant

Tel: 029 20694900/email:rachel-lewis@quadrant.uk.com

Notes to editors

Texaco is a Chevron Company Brand