Patrick Rimes

Job Role: Violin (Folk and Traditional)

Department: Strings

Biography

Patrick Rimes is a musician, composer, arranger and conductor. Born and raised in the thriving traditional music heartlands of Snowdonia, he went on to study classical violin and viola at Leeds University, Janáčkovo Akademie Muzických in Brno, Czech Republic and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Expertise

In 2014 he co-founded North Wales Camerata, a chamber orchestra dedicated to neo-professional musicians and promoting contemporary repertoire, and he remains their resident conductor.

He is in demand as a composer/arranger, recent highlights having included works performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and West Virginia Symphony. His compositions have been played on Radio 2, 3 and 4, and in 2016 he won a BAFTA for a television programme with regular collaborator Bryn Terfel.

He is a passionate educator in the field of traditional music - he is currently artistic director of AVANC, the National Youth Folk Band of Wales, and since 2021 has been incorporating traditional music into proceedings at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Notable Achievements

As a founder member of both Calan and VRï he has toured extensively in the UK, Europe and North America, released multiple acclaimed studio albums and received 4 awards at the inaugural Welsh Folk Awards in 2019. He has appeared as a soloist with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and City of London Sinfonia at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Sage Gateshead and St Davids Hall.