Welsh pianist and organist Elin Rees began performing and accompanying when she was very young, initially with piano and harp, beginning organ studies when she was 12 at Llandaff Cathedral. Having gained a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music at 16, she studied with James Gibb (piano), and with Ann Elise Smoot (organ) at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. At the Royal Northern College of Music she obtained a BMus(Hons) followed by an MMus in Solo Piano Performance, studying piano with Carole Presland and Paul Janes and organ with Kevin Bowyer. While at the RNCM, Elin was appointed Pilling Trust Organ Scholar at St Ann’s Church, Manchester city centre, working alongside organist and director of music Ronald Frost, holding the position for 4 years.
From 2014-16 Elin was a Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the RNCM, where she continues to work as a freelance accompanist, playing for many of the College’s principal study tutors, particularly in the School of Vocal Studies. She has performed Krzysztof Penderecki’s violin sonata as part of a duo in front of the composer, played in classes for celebrated singers including Sir John Tomlinson, Hilary Summers and Richard Stokes, and accompanied several winning RNCM Vocal Students in competitions. She has performed at venues such as the Bridgewater Hall and St David’s Hall, and performed at the conservatoire’s Day of Song on several occasions.
As an organist she is in regular demand as an accompanist to choirs across the North West, including the Alteri Chamber Choir, Congleton, Bury and Salford Choral Societies and Ad Solem, the prize-winning University of Manchester Chamber Choir. With the Bury Parish Church Choir she has played for a week of services at Canterbury Cathedral, and will be playing at Carlisle Cathedral in September, and Gloucester Cathedral in the summer of 2018. She enjoys giving organ recitals, at venues that have included Bangor and Bradford Cathedrals, and frequently performs at St Ann’s, Manchester, and at the Summer Recital Series at Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds. Forthcoming recital venues include Tabernacle, Cardiff, and Rochdale Town Hall.