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| January |
The Concert at
Gloucester Cathedral on Saturday, 19-01-08 (in aid of MacMillan
Cancer Support) was a successful
Concert in the majestic Cathedral nave. The choir, in some items especially,
produced a tremendous sound and many of the climaxes were “overwhelming”
(echoing around the nave), leading to great audience response.
Adele O’Neill
was also an impressive guest soloist.
While some who had bought tickets did not attend because of the “flood
scare”, the organiser has given us
very good feedback about the Concert, both on quality and on the audience’s
size: 350 people were present – only one Concert in the Cathedral in December
had a bigger audience.
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| February |
On Saturday 16th February we did a concert for the 25th Anniversary of the Chinese Information and Advice Centre. The concert was in the Shaw Theatre, Euston Road, London and it was an interesting concert in the compact Shaw theatre to an enthusiastic audience. We were entertained by two Chinese soloists, Alan Tsang and Catherine Chan. Peter Totterdale from the choir also did a solo spot. The concert was conducted by Michael Wyn Jones our Deputy Conductor and Annabel Thwaite was the acconpanist. Berwyn Evans, with his past experience of the Hong Kong Welsh Choir was an admirable compère.
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| March |
March 29th was a really good day for the choir. We sang at the prestigious concert hall at Snape Maltings. It was a concert organized by the Rotary club of Woodbridge Deben and we were delighted at the response. The concert hall was full to capacity with 800 in the audience. It was a real privilege to sing there and the acoustics were superb.
Our principal soloist was Elizabeth Donovan, soprano, who gave us a virtuoso performance. Feris Ash from the choir delighted with his Fishermen of England and the Hippopotamus Song. Haydn James conducted and in the absence of Annabel Thwaite, Anita D'Attellis was our accompanist. The choir were on a high and the celebrations lasted well into the night, despite the clocks going forward. We certainly look forward to a return to Snape. |
| April |
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Joint Concert at Cadogan Hall 19th april 2008 This Concert shared with the Gwalia and London
Welsh Chorale was a memorable and successfulevent both in its own right and
as a fundraiser for the LW Trust and for the LW School, which iscelebrating
the 50th Anniversary of its foundation. The Choirs, MDs,
accompanists, soloists and compère all performed
admirably and were enthusiastically received by the near capacity audience.
Rita Clark, one of the concert organisers, wishes
to thank us on behalf of the two charities “for areally wonderful Concert;
everyone I have spoken to has said how much they enjoyed the evening.”
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| May |
The choir turned out in force for the concert on Saturday 17th May at Worcester Cathedral. The concert was in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and was well supported. Despite the Cup Final the rehearsal was well supported and admirably conducted by Gren Gutterage. Our Musical Director Haydn James had the honour of being musical director for the Cup final and led the singing of Abide with Me and the anthems. He then dashed up to Worcester in time to conduct a memorable concert.
Sian James was very well received with her lovely singing and harp playing. Geraint Lewis from the choir was the other soloist . |
| June |
Saturday 21st June saw the choir at Peterborough Cathedral for a concert in aid of several local branches of the Alzheimers Society. The appreciative audience of over 1000 were treated to a memorable concert. We were pleased to have Adele O'Neill the Welsh soprano as our soloist and we have been delighted to hear that she has gone on to win the over 21 solo competition at the Llangollen eisteddfod - check out this link to her winning performance LlangollenTV |
| July |
Aldro School, Shackleford was the venue for the 'Concert of Stars' and outdoor concert in the grounds of the school. We sang from a large covered stage to a picknicking audience of over a thousand. We were joined by the Regimental Band of the Royal Welsh with Major Denis Burton the Director of Music. The Choir and the Band were conducted by Haydn James and Annabel Thwaite accompanied us on several items
Major Burton led the band on a stiring section which also involved the Corps of Drums.
Rebecca Evans was indisposed but she was relaced by the exciting soprano Amanda Roocroft whose was a delight to listen to.
Anthony Stuart-Lloyd the baritone was a tower of strength, the National Eisteddfod Blue Riband winner had to voice to mattch his 6ft 7ins height. A truely Rolls Royce performance.
Half way through the first half the heavens opened and it continued to tip down for the rest of the concert. At one point it felt like we were singing from behind Niagara Falls.
Amazingly the 1000 strong audience stuck it out to the end and were rewarded by a fine concert. |
| September |
August was a quiet month but in September we set off on a short tour of New York and Boston USA. The prime reson was to meet up with the Sangerfest Choir who were due to Join us at the 2008 Festival at the RAH. We had a very good concert in Harrison and were well and truely looked after. We had the opportunity for a few days sight seeing in New York before setting out for Boston on the train.
In Boston we had a great joint concert with Sangerfest and again had a few days to sample the delights of Boston before heading home. |
| October |
| The big event in October was of course the Festival of Male Voices at the Royal Albert Hall. I will be publishing a full review soon. |
| November |
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Saturday November 1st saw the choir back in Leatherhead for another very successful concert organised by the Wooden Spoon Society.
The theatre was sold out and a very appreciative audience heard the choir sing in fine style.
Emily Rowley Jones, soprano, who has sung with us on a number of occasions, showed a fine maturity in her singing and delighted the audience with three appearances. A highlight being the Queen of the Night aria "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" from the Magic Flute.
Emily sang 'On My Own ' from Les Miserables to lead the choir into our traditional Les Miserables trilogy.
Iorwerth Pritchard , bass, sang splendidly in the other solo spot..
On Tuesday morning 11th November, The Choir were privileged to be leading the singing in the ceremony at The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London to commemoratethe 90th Anniversary of end of World War One
The ceremony was televised live on BBC1
It was a moving ceremony and the highlight for many being the humming of 'The Day Thou Gavest' as the veterans were escorted to Downing Street.
Luckily the sun shone and 85 choristers enjoyed an event to remember |
| December |
Those who braved the gales and driving rain on Saturday evening, 13 December, were greeted by the sight of the magnificent Victorian Gothic edifice of Lancing College Chapel rising Hammer Horror-like amid the gloom on a hill nestled in the South Downs north of Shoreham.
All it needed was a bolt of lightning across the sky to accompany the complete mastery of Baroque organ music displayed by 17 year old Lancing College soloist Edward Dean, and the illusion would have been complete. Instead, those present were warmed by the choir's Christmas concert in aid of St BArnabus House: this comprised two thirds of our normal repertoire with the remaining third being a mixture of the choir's rendering of less tradtitional carols and the more tradtional ones on which the full house audience joined in to Musical Director Haydn James' baton.
Apart from the superb organ solo performance, we were also treated to the bell like soprano tones of the other College soloist, Poppy Ewence, as well as the performance of the choir's own David Williams. Despite the clear direction of compere Patrick Hodges, the now traditional rapturous reception to "Working Man", unusually the first of the three items before the interval instead of the last, was sufficient for Haydn to think the half had ended, asking accompanist Annabelle Thwaite to take a premature bow!
The audience reaction throughout was warm and enthusiastic, and helped to warm us all in the famously cold atmoshpere of the Chapel and begin to anticipate the Christmas to come.
John Feltham
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16 June, 2010
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