A Very Important Performance
Music students from the college performed for
a royal audience yesterday, as the Queen visited Cardiff to open
the fourth National Assembly.
Brass and percussion students performed three
fanfares at the official opening ceremony, one of which was
composed by RWCMD’s Head of Contemporary Music, John Hardy.
Fourth year Trombonist Kate Wilson was part of
the group. She said: “It's been really exciting here today - there
was a lot of build up because we had to be here so early for
security checks and last minute rehearsals. It was so
exciting to play for royalty, we knew when they had arrived because
all the people outside were screaming and waving their flags
frantically!
“I think the performance went really well,
especially as we were unsure about timings. Unfortunately we
wouldn't know how long it would take the queen to walk through
until she actually arrived but, luckily, we managed to pull it
off!”
Elsewhere in Cardiff Bay, Harp students Hannah
Stone and Bethan Semmens played for VIP guests, and RWCMD string
quartet the Newman Quartet also performed at the lunch reception in
the Wales Millennium Centre.
Final year violin student Rachael Elliot said: “Performing for
the Queen was a fantastic opportunity for all of us. We feel as
though we performed to our best and many of the VIP guests were
very complimentary, including Prince Phillip, who congratulated and
thanked us as we finished.”