Gwyn Arch MBE (1931-2021)

Gwyn Arch MBE was one of the most frequently-published and performed choral arrangers in the UK. He had over 45 years as a choir director, choral arranger and choral adjudicator.

His first arrangements were for the girls choir of the secondary school where his career in education began. When he moved into teacher-training he began writing for children and for student groups. He then took over the conductorship of a large mixed voice choir in his home town and found it was often quicker to write an arrangement of a particular carol for the Christmas concert than track down an existing one. When he founded a male voice choir he quickly became aware of the dearth of suitable material for the men to sing, and so felt compelled to arrange for them. In short, Gwyn worked with, wrote for and conducted every kind of choral combination for much of his life. He published well over 200 choral arrangements with nearly all the major British publishers and they have been performed and broadcast all over the world. As an adjudicator of competitive music festivals he even found himself in the embarrassing situation of being required to pass judgement on the performance of his own work.

Outside of work, Gwyn assembled and drove eight cars purchased in kit form...and only one of them ended up in a hedge!