Ceinwen Rowlands (15 January 1905 – 12 June 1983) was a Welsh concert soprano and recording artist.
Rowlands was born in Holyhead, Anglesey, the daughter of William and Kate Rowlands; William was the proprietor of the "Anglesey Emporium", a men's outfitters. Kate Rowlands (née Jones) was a singer, originally from Cerrigydrudion, Denbighshire. Ceinwen Rowlands took lessons from Wilfrid Jones, a Wrexham-based singing teacher. Her reputation as a singer was made when she won first prize in two successive North Wales national eisteddfods, at Mold, Flintshire, in 1923 and Pwllheli in 1925; she was received into the Gorsedd in 1927.
Rowlands continued to appear in eisteddfods throughout her career, even after re-locating to London, giving the premiere of a Welsh translation of Felix Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang in 1943 at Bangor. She provided one of the off-stage voices for Ninette de Valois's ballet based on Orpheus and Eurydice in 1941.Stephen Lloyd, Constant Lambert: Beyond the Rio Grande. Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2014. P 299. . Accessed 1 April 2016 and was a soloist in The Messiah at Cradley Heath in 1945."When all the stars came to the Majestic", Black Country Bugle, 19 June 2008. Accessed 1 April 2016 In 1946 she married Arthur Aaron Walter (died 1967), who held the position of Official Receiver at the London Bankruptcy Court.National Library of Wales: Ceinwen Rowlands papers . Accessed 1 April 2016
Rowlands appeared in concert alongside Kathleen Ferrier, among others.Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier by Kathleen Ferrier & Christopher Fifield. Boydell Press, 2003. P 242. . Accessed 1 April 2016 Her many recordings included Welsh songs and works by Welsh composers such as Morfydd Llwyn Owen.OCLC WorldCat: "To Our Lady of Sorrows" (193?). Accessed 1 April 2016
Rowlands' career ended in 1961, and she retired to Rhyl after her husband's death. She died in Clatterbridge Hospital, Cheshire, aged 78.
Notable recordings Decca 2; AM 626; DR 12795-1: Welsh Music (Boyd Neel Orchestra with Mansel Thomas; date unknown) Decca 2; AM 627; DR 12793-1: Welsh Music (Boyd Neel Orchestra with Mansel Thomas; date unknown) Decca 2; AM 627; DR 12794-1: Welsh Music (Boyd Neel Orchestra with Mansel Thomas; date unknown) Wenonah Milton Govea, Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Harpists: A Bio-critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. P 81. . Accessed 1 April 2016
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