Ceinwen Rowlands

Ceinwen Rowlands (15 January 1905 – 12 June 1983) was a Welsh concert soprano and recording artist.[1]

Rowlands was born in Holyhead, the daughter of William and Kate Rowlands; William was the proprietor of the “Anglesey Emporium”, a men’s outfitter’s. Kate Rowlands (née Jones) was a singer, originally from Cerrigydrudion, Denbighshire. Ceinwen Rowlands took lessons from Wilfrid Jones, a Wrexham-based singing teacher.[2] Her reputation as a singer was made when she won first prize in two successive North Wales national eisteddfods, at Mold, Flintshire, in 1923 and Pwllheli in 1925; she was received into the Gorsedd in 1927.

Rowlands continued to appear in eisteddfods throughout her career, even after re-locating to London, giving the premiere of a Welsh translation of Felix Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang in 1943 at Bangor. She provided one of the off-stage voices for Ninette de Valois's ballet based on Orpheus and Eurydice in 1941.[3] and was a soloist in The Messiah at Cradley Heath in 1945.[4] In 1946 she married Arthur Aaron Walter (died 1967), who held the position of Official Receiver at the London Bankruptcy Court.[5]

Rowlands appeared in concert alongside Kathleen Ferrier, among others.[6] Her many recordings included Welsh songs and works by Welsh composers such as Morfydd Llwyn Owen.[7]

Rowlands' career ended in 1961, and she retired to Rhyl after her husband's death. She died in Clatterbridge Hospital, Cheshire, aged 78.[1]