My brother, Aidan Plender, who has died aged 64, will be remembered in Wales and further afield for his considerable contribution to the arts. A former general manager of St David’s Hall, Cardiff, the national concert hall of Wales, he founded and led the first postgraduate course in arts management in the UK at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, from which he retired last year. His students are now establishing themselves as a new generation of cultural leaders and managers in the arts across the country.
Born in Cardiff, Aidan was always passionate about music. Our parents, William, the director of a malting company, and his wife, Averil, tried to steer him towards a conventional career in the professions, but he quickly recognised that this was not for him and went off to Hull University to read music. He was a fine organist and studied under Martin Neary at Winchester Cathedral. With characteristic determination he also introduced himself to the great French organist André Marchal and took lessons with him in Paris despite a very idiosyncratic grasp of French.
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