Dr Rhiannon Mathias is an author, performer and public speaker. She studied music at Surrey University (B. Mus), St. John’s College, Cambridge (M. Phil) and Reading University (PhD), and has particular interests in music of the 20th and 21st centuries and women in music, frequently giving public talks and broadcasts on her areas of expertise.

Her publications include an influential book on three ground-breaking British women composers Lutyens, Maconchy, Williams and Twentieth-Century British Music (Ashgate, 2012) and she is currently Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Elements: Women in Music’ series for Cambridge University Press. As a Lecturer and Music Fellow in the Department of Music, Drama and Performance at Bangor University, she has directed three successful International Conferences on Women’s Work in Music (2017, 2019, 2021) and is editor of The Routledge Handbook on Women’s Work in Music (2022). Her forthcoming publications include a chapter on ‘The Symphony in Wales’ for Cambridge University Press’s The Symphony in Britain and Ireland Since 1900, chapters for a new Elizabeth Maconchy in Context publication and a second edited Handbook for Routledge on Women’s Work in Music.

In addition to her research activities, Dr Mathias is resolutely committed to inspiring and enabling music-making at both local and national levels. As a professional flautist, she has given many solo recitals and currently performs in a flute and harp duo. She is the flute tutor at the specialist music school Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias (Music Centre) in north Wales, teaching pupils up to ABRSM diploma level in performance, and also serves as a Canolfan Board member and Chair of its Artistic and Marketing committee. She is a board member of the Gŵyl Beaumaris (Music) Festival, Trustee and Chair of the Gŵyl Gerdd Bangor Music Festival and a Vice-President of the North Wales International Music Festival.