Talented singer back on home turf with Gilbert and Sullivan classics

A TALENTED student who only started singing following a friend’s suggestion, will return home to perform operatic classics with his group next month.

Rhys Thomas, 21, from Bryn Pydew, is a third year student at Cardiff’s prestigious Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The former Ysgol John Bright pupil and six colleagues will perform Gilbert and Sullivan tunes at St John’s Church, Mostyn Street, Llandudno, on February 18.

Yet the talented performer, who will study a master’s degree in music at the RWC next year, admits he was not always so forthcoming.

“I was quite a shy child until about year 10,” said Rhys, who sings bass with his collective. “Performing is a way of expressing myself.”

He revealed he only took music from year 11 in school, aged 15, and it needed a shove from a friend to get him singing.

“I started out with piano, then a friend suggested I sang,” he said. “Then my teacher suggested I try for the Royal College.”

He tried out for the RWC and was successful, so is now targeting a career in music, despite being destined never to get the girl.

“I would like to perform bass roles in opera companies around the world,” he revealed. “I would always be playing the bad guy. The bass singers are never the romantic lead. The tenors get that.”

Notwithstanding Rhys’s lack of a dramatic love interest, he and his colleagues will be at St John’s from 7pm on February 18. Tickets are £5 on the door.