branwen

Branwen started piano lessons at the age of 4. While in secondary school her passion for music developed and she taught herself guitar, bass and drums, taking every opportunity to experiment with four-track recorders, synthesisers and drum machines. She played regularly in rock bands at venues throughout the south west of England. During the early 1990s Branwen was one of the first students in the world to graduate with a BA(Hons) in Popular Music and Recording at University College of Salford.

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Following her studies, she forged a career in London as a freelance sound engineer, musician, producer, and DJ, working on recordings and live events with pioneering and diverse artists including 4hero, Talvin Singh (including work on Mercury Music Prize winning album "OK"), Terry Callier, Biddu, Madonna, and Lady Miss Kier. Branwen continues to record, produce, mix, and master music of her own and for other artists at her own GoldHill Studio in Carmarthenshire. To find out more about this, visit the GoldHill Studio page.

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Branwen's involvement in theatre music began when she relocated to west Wales in 2002. Since then, she has produced and/or created original music for a wide variety of theatre and screen work, notably “Heart of Darkness” and “My Life in CIA” for Give it a Name, “Yuri”, "Les Miserables" and “Singing the Subject” for August 012, "Petula" for August 012/NTW/TGC, “LoveCraft (Not the Sex Shop in Cardiff)” and music videos for Carys Eleri, "The Apocalypse Killer" for Rain Dove, "Queerway" for Leeway Productions, and "Afanc" for f.a.b. The Detonators. During 2019 Branwen worked as sound designer for Paula Varjack’s “#TheBabyQuestion” project in London. To listen to some of Branwen's theatre and screen work, visit the Theatre & Screen page.

During 2020 Branwen started GoldHill Disco, initially a weekly DJ livestream performance via her Mixcloud page, playing a wide variety of uplifting, dancefloor-friendly tunes from all eras and genres. Since the pandemic, Branwen has taken the GoldHill Disco phenomenon out into the 'real world', playing at events and venues around the UK. She is a regular mix contributor to Bethan Elfyn's Saturday night show on BBC Radio Wales. To find out more, visit the GoldHill Disco page.