True Colors Festival: Blind pianist to perform in Japan

A blind pianist from Bridgend is set to perform at an international arts festival in Japan.

Rachel Starritt, 28, who was born blind, can learn entire concertos by ear and has perfect pitch.

She was the first ever blind student to study a music degree at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

The True Colors Festival features performers with disabilities, with nearly 100 performers from a dozen countries taking part.

Rachel initially turned to the piano in primary school and followed her passion with formal piano training at the Royal Welsh College.

• Blind pianist reaches BBC Young Musician final

• Blind opera-singing teenager has no barriers

• Students perform for prince and stars

She said: "I got into piano when I was in the school assembly, and I heard the teacher playing and I was drawn towards it just like that.

"I had lessons first of all with a lady that was local, and then it progressed through the Forte School of Music in Cardiff when I was six.

"I'm not sure if I realised I had a talent or not, it might have been when I was in assembly and I was just playing songs that I'd heard, and I suppose I just wanted to enjoy myself."

Rachel has been described as a "natural musician" with the talent to "play the piano brilliantly by ear".

Playing on a big stage isn't unusual for Rachel, as in 2019 she performed at Glastonbury as part of the Love Unlimited Synth Orchestra

"Obviously I learn pieces in different ways," said Rachel.

"So with my teacher Alison, I learn by listening to different recordings and different versions of the same piece. Then I go to my teacher and we go through the piece with different fingerings.

"At the end of the lesson we record the piece, everything that we've covered, and I practice it before the next lesson."

A trip to the True Colors Festival in Tokyo this weekend is an exciting prospect with the added treat of Katy Perry headlining the festival.

Rachel was also the featured pianist in the 2016 Channel 4 "We're the Superhumans" Rio Paralympic trailer

She said: "To participate in this event is really important because I think that musicians with different disabilities should be getting the same as anybody else.

"So the director was actually in Singapore. We did zoom calls, Zoom meetings, to go over the different pieces and what he wanted me to do.

"Then he would give me a week to work out the different arrangements and then eventually put it into a sequencer and then send it over to him."

Ms Starritt stressed the importance of the event and offering opportunities for all through the arts.

"I think it's really important because it offers more opportunities for different people," she said.