While working in Raleigh North Carolina recently, I got caught up in the frenzy surrounding the arrival of Grant Llewellyn. Who was this person who had totally captured the hearts and minds of the cultural community, not only of Raleigh, but of the State of North Carolina? Who was this person whose picture appeared larger than life on banners flying from every downtown light pole? Who was this man who caused the search committee to immediately abandon all further interviews and guest appearances to woo their new-found star? It took no time at all to learn from newspaper headlines and radio and television interviews that Grant Llewellyn is the new musical director and conductor of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra who performed at the beautiful Neymandi Hall in Raleigh's BTI centre. Grant Llewellyn is from and still lives in Tenby. He is married with four children, Imogen, Ceridwen, Jasper and Theo. He conducted his first symphony at Cambridge University in 1980. In the viola section was one Charlotte Rose. Charlotte is now his wife. The symphony he conducted was Mahler's first which is what he chose for his inaugural concert in Neymandi Hall in September, along with Haydn's 104th symphony. I was fortunate to be a guest of one of the sponsors of the concert and as I sat in the second row from the new conductor, I was captivated by his charisma, his talent and his presence on stage. As I watched him connect with the orchestra and audience, my mind wandered back to Holiday Inn, when a young man, 19 years of age, took Toronto by storm as guest soloist with the Dunvant male choir when they performed at the Ontario Gymynfa Ganu's Saturday night concert. Yes! The young man was Bryn Terfel, displaying the same charisma, talent and presence that I was again witnessing 20 years later. Will Grant Llewellyn be Wales' next world renowned musician? Time will tell, but I have already made up my mind. On a personal note, I met Grant Llewellyn the day following his first concert as the new maestro. I introduced myself as being from Ystradgynlais and as someone who knew Tenby very well from the countless Sunday School trips we made to his home town... and it always rained! We swapped reminiscences of Wales and ended up with a discussion of Max Boyce songs and trips to Murrayfield to see Wales play Scotland - it was quite a change from Mahler and Haydn, but just as enjoyable.

Bill Phillips, Atlanta [This article was included in the autumn issue of the members magazine for Dewi Sant Welsh United Church, 33, Melrose Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. M5M 1Y6].