RNCM Fellowship Awards to Hindmarsh and Owens
The Royal Northern College of Music has conferred Honorary Fellowships (FRNCM) to Paul Hindmarsh and the late Rhys Owens. The awards were made on Wednesday 14th December as part of the annual RNCM Graduation Ceremony.
The outstanding musical contribution of Rhys Owens, the former principal trumpet of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra saw a posthumous award made. He passed away in March 2022 following a diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease. The Welshman began his musical career in the brass band world and played with both Lewis Merthyr and BTM Bands as well as becoming the principal cornet of the National Youth Brass Band and National Youth Orchestras of Wales aged 17. He joined the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991 and became section principal in 1998.
One of the most respected figures of the modern brass banding movement as a conductor, academic, writer, curator, commissioner and BBC producer, Paul Hindmarsh was instrumental in the foundation of both the Brass Band Heritage Trust and the BBC Festival of Brass, later becoming the RNCM Brass Band Festival, which he will curate for the final time in 2023.
Commenting on social media after the ceremony Paul wrote, “Today was a highlight in my musical life, to be honoured with a Fellowship from the Royal Northern College of Music for my contribution to the musical life of the RNCM and to brass bands. It has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of my career to curate the annual brass band festival, which I started as a BBC series 32 years ago, to witness so many fabulous performances and to enable so much new music for the medium to be launched. Thank you RNCM and thanks also to David Thornton for his lovely presentation.”
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