Bryn Terfel awarded Bangor University honorary doctorate

Bangor University has awarded opera star Bryn Terfel an honorary doctorate for his contribution to music.

Terfel, from Pant Glas, Gwynedd, hosted his own festival at Faenol, just outside the city, for nine years.

University secretary and registrar Dr David Roberts described the bass-baritone as "an outstanding ambassador for the region and for Wales".

With the institution only having issued honorary degrees once before, Terfel said his award was "very humbling".

He said he was honoured to be receiving an honorary doctorate in music from the university.

"I've enjoyed a varied and eventful career in music and to be recognised for that is very humbling," he said.

The first honorary degrees were awarded to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir David Attenborough, Rhodri Morgan and Sir John Meurig Thomas to mark the university's 125th anniversary in 2009.

Terfel added: "It's a privilege to join such a prestigious list of internationally recognised individuals who have received honorary doctorates from the university in the past - all of whom have contributed a great deal to their respective fields.

"I'm in very good company."

Dr Roberts said Terfel was "arguably the greatest operatic singer Wales has ever produced" and that his roots were firmly in north west Wales.

"Bangor University is proud to honour an individual who has made such a remarkable contribution in the field of music," he said, "and in so doing he has become an outstanding ambassador for the region and for Wales."

Terfel competed at the Urdd and National Eisteddfod as a schoolboy before moving on to study at the London Guildhall School of Music.

He rose to prominence after winning the Lieder Prize in the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World competition and has gone on to perform in all the great opera houses of the world.

A versatile performer, he has taken part in the opening ceremony of the Wales Millennium Centre, the Last Night of the Proms and the Royal Variety Show.

In 2003, he was made a CBE for services to opera, and in 2006 was awarded the Queen's Medal for Music.