Last week, the 33-year-old star of
Brothers and Sisters,
Matthew Rhys, headed back to his homeland in Wales to tend to some cultural festivities. The actor, who stars as the gay lawyer Kevin Walker in the ABC dramedy, recently headed home to take part in an event sponsored by the National Youth Arts Wales, in which Rhys narrated the first Welsh translation of Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra at St. David’s Hall in Cardiff. The National Youth Orchestra of Wales was conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
"As a former member of the National Youth Theatre of Wales, Matthew appreciates the value of providing young people with first class training and performing opportunities that can truly influence them and their future life and career choices," Pauline Crossly, representative for NYAW, told Wales Online. "It’s great that he wants to give something back to a system that set him on his way."
In other news, Rhys is now officially a druid, after becoming a member of the Gorsedd of Bards at one of Wales’ most popular cultural festivals, the National Eistedfodd, which honors and celebrates music, literature and the art of performance. The star of Dylan Thomas’ biopic,
The Edge of Love was honored as one of the world’s recognizable actors, BBC reports. The event, which is of high importance in the Welsh culture, made Rhys “quite nervous,” but he was able to approach it with “absolute reverence.”
The actor adds, “It's a sort of mixed bag of nerves and excitement really. The honour is double or 10 times more when you hear the names of those who have gone before you and the things they have achieved. It's humbling to be in their number.”
Rhys' parents, Glyn and Helen Evans, were both there to share the success of their son, saying, "We are both extremely proud of the honour the eisteddfod has given Matthew. Words cannot really describe how we both feel today. And we are delighted he was able to be here today to receive this honour in his home city."
-Valerie Anne del Castillo, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source:
Wales Online,
BBC
(Photo courtesy of ABC)