Culture

Giant mural of iconic musician appears in Welsh town

23 Jul 2026 2 minute read

Amelia Jones

A forgotten Welsh musical talent has been brought back into the spotlight with a striking new mural.

A striking new mural celebrating Welsh composer and pianist Morfydd Owen has been completed in Pontypridd. The artwork has been created by street artist Tom Llewelyn also known as Tee2sugars, following a two-year journey to find the perfect location for the project.

After several unsuccessful attempts to secure a site, the mural has finally found a home at Rhi’s Cafe in Pontypridd.

Owen was a talented Welsh composer, pianist and mezzo-soprano born in Treforest in 1891. A musical prodigy, she studied at University College Cardiff before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she became an accomplished composer and performer.

She wrote around 250 pieces of music, including orchestral works, piano compositions, hymns and songs, with her Welsh-language work Gweddi y Pechadur among her best-known compositions. She mixed with influential figures in London’s artistic and intellectual circles and performed her own music at major venues.

Her promising career was tragically cut short when she died in 1918, aged just 26, following complications after an operation for appendicitis. Today, she is remembered as one of Wales’ most gifted but overlooked composers.

The artist said the project had been “two years in the making”, with several potential locations falling through before Rhi’s Cafe was chosen as the final home for the artwork.

Sharing the completed mural online, Tee2Sugars thanked the people of Pontypridd for their support and positive comments throughout the project, saying he believed Rhi’s Cafe was “the best place to have it”.

The mural now gives visitors the chance to learn more about Owen’s remarkable life and musical legacy, while celebrating a figure whose contribution to Welsh music has not always received the recognition it deserves.

One commented: “You’ve done a great job! And it’s great to see Morfydd immortalised like this.”

Another added: “She was a very talented composer that died young.”

Visitors can scan a QR code featured alongside the mural to find out more about the life and legacy of Morfydd Owen.

The project was funded with support from the Arts Council of Wales, the National Lottery and the Welsh Government.

You can view the post from the artist here.

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