Choir takes gold prize
A SOCIAL media video of a Welsh choir singing Myfanwy has gone absolutely nuts and they are getting messages of admiration from all over the world.
The Pendyrus Male Voice Choir’s version of Joseph Parry’s Myfanwy has seen more than 150,000 views as well as thousands more likes and shares since it was posted last week, and conductor Stewart Roberts said the reaction has been “overwhelming”.
He said: “It’s great and something that came as a surprise to us. We posted our version of Bring Him Home for Armed Forces Day last month, and that received a huge reaction, but this one has gone beyond even that.
“We cannot quite believe it. It’s really kicked off and we’ve had messages of support from places like Colorado, Sydney and Barbados.”
Stewart puts much of the group’s success down to the relatively young age of the choir and the modern take they put on their set lists.
He said: “As well as the classics, we also do a lot of arrangements of pop songs from Shania Twain to Take That and are ahead of many other choirs because they find it more difficult to attract the younger generation.”
The choir has had an extremely successful month, and walked away with the top prize at the Cardigan Semi-National Eisteddfod.
The Rhondda-based choir scooped first prize at the Gwyl Fawr, which took place on Saturday, July 1. It marked the third time the choir has been successful at the event as the group also took away trophies in 2010 and 2012.
The choir, which formed in 1924, has been making music for over 90 years.
Known as the oldest established choral organisation in the Rhondda Valley, Pendyrus Male Choir performs at various events across Wales and has also made several television appearances.
For the performance at the Eisteddfod, Pendyrus staged 80 choristers for their performance.
During the event, the choir was praised for its quiet, warm and expressive tone during their performance of a Czechoslovakian folk-song.
This contrasted to the boys’ exciting, energetic account of the Hughes, which was met with great applause from the audience at Cardigan’s Theatre Mwldan.
One of the Eisteddfod’s organisers and major sponsor, David Peregrine, said: “Rarely do we hear a choir with such discipline and versatility as Pendyrus. A credit to Welsh male choir singing.”
Catrin Hughes, the adjudicator, added: “A choir with a most pleasing, warm sound that was demonstrated particularly well in the beautiful but seldom-heard folk-song, Ploughing, by Janacek.”
Well-respected composer, Brian Hughes, helped to judge some of the competitions.
After hearing Pendyrus, he said he would like to write a piece especially for the choir as they approach their 100th anniversary.
The choir is said to be “amazingly proud” of its achievements and are looking forward to performing at more events throughout the rest of the year.
In August the choristers will be jetting off on a summer tour to Poland where they have been invited to sing at St Mary’s Basilica in Krakov.