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Rhydian announces 2009 UK Tour

All his life, Rhydian Roberts has had a dream. Now he is about to live it. The classically trained Welsh singer and last year’s X Factor finalist releases his debut album on November 24 and has announced a massive 17 date UK Tour in May 2009. The tour starts at Nottingham Royal Centre on Friday 1^st and ends at Sheffield City Hall on Saturday 23^rd.

His Album, entitled, simply, ‘Rhydian’, it is crammed full of passionate, inspiring versions of classic and original popular songs, delivered in his inimitable style, with impeccable technique. Dramatic, note perfect and rich with emotion, ‘Rhydian’ is the debut of an indisputably fantastic, authentically original British singing voice.

The album has been almost a year in the making. “You can’t rush a good album,” says Rhydian, sagely. “We wanted to make something timeless, full of great songs, not just an X Factor tribute.” He has worked with such stellar producers as Steve Mac, Desmond Child, Quiz & Larossi and Per Magnusson and David Kreuger. Tracks confirmed include his showstoppers from the X Factor, Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and West Side Story’s ‘Somewhere’, the serene Andrea Bocelli classic ‘The Prayer’, Meatloaf’s ‘Not A Dry Eye In The and ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ by Queen. Originals written especially for Rhydian’s voice include the lush, heart-stirring ‘I’m Coming Home Again’ ‘A Night To Remember’ and ‘What If’, a duet with Broadway star Idina Menzel. The lead track on the album is ‘The Impossible Dream’ which Rhydian will perform live on X Factor on November 22^nd.

It took the X Factor to make the dream come true, although Rhydian was always an unlikely candidate for the show. He won a scholarship to Birmingham City University’s Conservatoire to study music, where his talent and commitment was recognised with the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for Young Singers, the Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize and the Mario Lanza Educational Award. By his second year he was already performing in professional operas and musicals in Birmingham.

Rhydian had never seen X Factor, it wasn’t the done thing to watch at opera school. But then one night he saw Simon Cowell on American Idol and thought, ‘hmm, I think I know what that guy likes.’” Friends and contemporaries advised him not to audition but Rhydian proved them all wrong by getting all the way to the final. Rhydian was eventually beaten into second place on the final on Saturday, December 15^th 2007 by Leon Jackson, watched by an audience of 12 million. Perhaps there was a clue that Rhydian was not your average classical talent.

Rhydian has been preparing for this moment all his life and when he is singing, Rhydian says nothing matters but the performance. “I get completely lost. As long as my preparation is good, and my voice is in good nick, it is all about delivering the song, finding the meaning, moving an audience. If the song starts in the moment, it will continue that way. I know I am making a connection, I feel like I can literally move an audience within a line of a song. I can get the truth of a song, by searching deep within.”

And this is the dream for Rhydian Roberts. With his UK tour across all major cities he says; “I can’t wait to start my first headline tour next year, I feel I am really living when I am singing on stage and can’t wait to perform my album. The rest of life is like putting pieces together, trying to make sense of it. But when I am onstage, lights on, in the zone, that’s real, proper life for me. And it’s a great life. On stage, singing, that’s where I belong.”

To see this exceptional talent live, Rhydian will be appearing at;

May

Friday 1^st Nottingham Royal Centre 0115 989 5555

Saturday 2^nd Manchester Bridgewater Hall 0161 907 9000

Sunday 3^rd London Hammersmith Apollo 0844 477 4748

Tuesday 5^th Portsmouth Guildhall 023 9282 4355

M/F

Wednesday 6^th Ipswich Regent 01473 433 100

Thursday 7^th Cambridge Corn Exchange 01223 357 851

Saturday 9^th Plymouth Pavilions 0845 146 1460

Sunday 10^th Bristol Hippodrome 0870 607 7500

Monday 11^th Oxford New Theatre 0844 847 1585

Wednesday 13^th Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 0844 999 9990

Thursday 14^th Gateshead Sage 0191 443 4661

Friday 15^th Liverpool Philharmonic 0151 709 3789

Monday 18^th Southend Cliffs Pavilion 01702 351 135

Tuesday 19^th Birmingham Symphony Hall 0121 780 3333

Thursday 21^st Cardiff CIA 029 2022 4488

Friday 22^nd Bournemouth BIC 0844 576 3000

Saturday 23^rd Sheffield City Hall 0114 278 9789

Tickets are £40 / £30 / £25 / £22.50 (Cardiff and London) and £30 / £25 / £22.50 (Regional) and go on general sale on Friday 21^st November @ 9am

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