Rhiannon passed her Grade 8 with Distinction back in March 2009 aged 11 and has been forging ahead ever since.  She has now just learned that at the age of 13 she has become the youngest trombonist in the UK to become an Associate of the Trinity College London (ATCL) following a 38 minute recital in March!  The ATCL is a professional level qualification equivalent to studying and passing the first year of an undergraduate degree programme at a Conservatoire or University, and Rhiannon’s sterling performance of the Rimsky-Korsakov Trombone Concerto, Eugene Bozza’s Ballade and Ferdinand David’s Trombone Concertino was more than enough to convince the examiner to award her the title.

“It’s been an amazing few months,” Rhiannon explains.  “In January I competed in the Chandos Young Musician competition and was awarded the most promising musician title and have now been asked to participate in the orchestra in June and then in February I won the Newark National Brass Festival”.

“In March I was lucky enough to be invited to play the Ferdinand David Trombone Concertino with the Solihull Symphony Orchestra which was an incredible experience and I would love to play more concertos with orchestras now.  It was also great preparation for my ATCL which I took a couple of days later.  The exam was really scary but exciting too.  I loved the programme I was playing and had been looking forward to it but two days before the exam I went down with tonsillitis and ended up off school so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be well enough to get through the programme on the day.  Thankfully I did – just!” 

“Then I had to forget all about the exam because the results take about 6 weeks (which has been agony for both me and my Mum who has been watching out for the postman anxiously for the last week or so!)  Luckily, I had the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales course at Easter to take my mind off the wait and this year I was made Principal Trombone of the Orchestra which is a real honour and I loved the course – even though it was held at my school (HMSG) so I ended up in school during the holidays!”

“I’m chuffed to have passed my ATCL and am proud of it but don’t think I’ll be adding the letters after my name to my school work – that would feel a bit odd!”

Rhiannon, who is also a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Wales and currently Principal Trombone with Lydbrook Band, is now looking forward to a quieter few months before embarking on a summer tour to Leipzig with the Greater Gwent Youth Orchestra.