Phyllis Kinney

Phyllis Kinney (July 4, 1922 – June 29, 2026) was an American and Welsh singer, collector and historian who was a leading authority on Welsh folk music. She studied at the Juilliard School and was a soprano with the Carl Rosa Opera Company during the 1940s. After meeting her husband Meredydd Evans, Kinney immersed herself in the culture of Wales. Through her writing, research and performances, Kinney helped to preserve and promote traditional music of Wales. The archives of Kinney and Evans are now part of the Welsh Music Archive at the National Library of Wales.

Life and career Kinney was born in Pontiac, Michigan, on July 4, 1922. After completing her education at Pontiac High School, Kinney enrolled at Michigan State College in East Lansing. Jones sparked an interest in Welsh music in Kinney, who later said she had "hardly heard of Wales" before meeting him. By 1942, Kinney was giving public performances of Welsh songs, assisted by Jones at the piano. Kinney graduated in 1943 and secured a fellowship at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Like Evans, Kinney began to work for the BBC, often performing duets with her husband. In June 1952, the family moved to America, where Evans enrolled at Princeton University. In 1960, the family moved back to Wales, where they settled. With Evans, Kinney edited collections of Welsh songs described as "definitive reference-works for this genre of national song." In 1962, Kinney provided operatic vocal accompaniment on Evans' album A Concert of Welsh Songs, with backing by the Russian harpist Maria Korchinska and several musicians and singers conducted and arranged by Robert Docker. Kinney later described the album, Evans' first to use instrumental backing, as "tradition dressed up to suit the audience".

In the 1980s, Kinney and Evans settled in Cwmystwyth, where they contributed to the community and taught Welsh to a host of their non-Welsh-speaking neighbours; according to biographer R. Arwel Jones, the couple's home became "a magnet for people of all ages, from all over Wales and the world who would flock there to enjoy their company and to benefit from the couple's intellectual generosity". quote=Being Welsh is like belonging to an exclusive club without membership. I can appreciate why Welshmen want to preserve their language. It's a beautiful, imaginative language. — – Phyllis Kinney, 1964

Meredydd Evans died aged 95 in 2015; he and Kinney had arranged to donate their archives to the National Library of Wales, where they subsequently became part of the Welsh Music Archive. In 2019, the couple was awarded the Welsh Music Prize Inspiration Award.

Kinney turned 100 on July 4, 2022. On that date, the National Library hosted Phyllis Kinney: 100, an event featuring her daughter Eluned and harpist Elinor Bennett, to celebrate the centenary.

Publications Canu'r Cymry Canu'r Cymry II Caneuon Chwarae II