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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
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 22nd.
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 15th 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 1st
Saturday 2nd
Sunday 3rd London Hammersmith Apollo 0844 477 4748
Tuesday 5th Portsmouth Guildhall 023 9282 4355
M/F
Wednesday 6th
Thursday 7th
Saturday 9th Plymouth Pavilions 0845 146 1460
Sunday 10th Bristol Hippodrome 0870 607 7500
Monday 11th Oxford New Theatre 0844 847 1585
Wednesday 13th Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 0844 999 9990
Thursday 14th Gateshead Sage 0191 443 4661
Friday 15th
Monday 18th
Tuesday 19th Birmingham Symphony Hall 0121 780 3333
Thursday 21st Cardiff
Friday 22nd Bournemouth BIC 0844 576 3000
Saturday 23rd 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 21st November @ 9am
