Welsh personality, Shan Cothi is a versatile performer in both classical and music theatre repertoire and is an experienced actress, television and radio presenter in Wales. She began her career as a music teacher, but winning the Blue Riband for the best classical soloist at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1995 prompted her to become a professional singer.
Her career as a singer has spanned a range of music styles from opera, oratorio, music theatre, jazz, welsh song to contemporary music. She has performed throughout the world in a variety of venues from the Wales Millennium Centre to Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End, from the Ritz- Carlton Hotel, San Francisco to the Kowloon Shanghai Hotel in Hong Kong.
Shân performed the role of Carlotta in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End production of The Phantom of the Opera for fifteen months in the West End, London. Her self-titled music television series for S4C won a BAFTA award was nominated for the best music programme in the Montreux Festival.
Her debut album Passione with the Welsh National Chamber Orchestra is on the Sain Label. A promotional video of one of the tracks was voted ‘Most Watched Video’ on Classic FM television.
Shân made her television acting debut playing the role of Davina Roberts in the highly successful drama series ‘Con Passionate’ for S4C and was nominated in the ‘Best Newcomer category at the 2006 BAFTA Cymru awards.
Shân has presented a number of television series for S4C and also presented programmes for both Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. The S4C programmes include ‘Bro’ which sees her and co – presenter Iolo Williams travelling all over Wales getting to know different localities through its people, and ‘Y Sipsiwn’ in which Shân travels in a gipsy caravan following the old Welsh Romany gipsy route.
Shân is a keen horsewoman and in 2012 the television programme, Cheltenham Cothi, documented her progress training to be a jockey to compete inthe St Patrick's Day Charity Derby at Cheltenham, in aid of charity.