MUSIC audiences in Pembrokeshire welcomed back one of their own on Saturday as pianist Roger Owens returned to his home county – and to the choir he accompanied as a young boy.

Now established as one of the UK's most versatile of soloists, he has performed many major works of the solo piano repertoire with orchestras both here and abroad.

He is currently professor of piano at the Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and head of keyboard studies at Peter Symonds College, Winchester, but his career began as a young boy in Hook and a member of a talented musical family.

But he learned his trade at grassroots level too. He cut his teeth at Young Farmers' dances and at his local chapel, and even at the tender age of ten landed a role as the first accompanists of the Landsker Junior Singers under their musical director Shirley Williams.

Many of those junior singers were to be found more than 35 years later in the ranks of the adult Landsker Singers for their concert at St David's Cathedral at which Roger took a central role as soloist for the evening.

But he couldn't resist the opportunity to once again accompany the choir for their items, both on organ and piano.

It was a unique occasion, both for the soloist's delicate and expressive touch in works by many of the greatest composers for keyboard – from Scarlatti to Debussy and Liszt to Chopin.

There was emotion here, and power and passion where they were needed, as well as the lightest and most delightful lyrical playing.

The choir too tackled some ambitious works with considerable confidence and exceuted them to a high standard – from the rousing opening of Handel's 'Zadok the Priest', the passion of pieces from Mozart's Requiem and more modern offerings by Arwel Hughes and Eric Jones.

The audience stood to congratulate the soloists and singers at the end, not only for the quality of the music but undoubtedly too for the uniqueness and emotion of the occasion.

It was so much more than just a concert.

EJ