Gwyn Arch composer / arranger

GWYN ARCH will be some act to follow. Not only has he the conductor’s gift, but a conversation with him about his life leaves you humbled by the staggering amount this modest, yet determined and versatile musician has achieved.

He was born in Southampton but his family moved to Birmingham and then Ipswich, and it was his Welsh father who was his first great musical influence. As a missioner and licensed lay reader, he organised the local annual pantomime for the deaf and dumb of the parish. Gwyn remembers watching awestruck as the members danced to the vibrations produced by the piano’s contact with the stage.

The Ipswich secondary school he attended did not have a choir or an orchestra, but it boasted an excellent music teacher, who was also a gifted composer. From him Gwyn learned composition and piano.