Marking 50 years of being on song
A LONG-SERVING member of Swansea Philharmonic Choir has been thanked for her 50 years’ service.
Susan Croall is the choir’s accompanist and was surprised at a recent rehearsal at the city’s Calon Lan Centre with a commemorative love spoon and bouquet of flowers.
In addition to her tireless dedication to the choir, which was established in 1959, Susan has a long-standing connection with the Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts, and her father, Froom Tyler, was the editor of the South Wales Evening Post prior to retiring in 1969.
Hazel Phillips, the choir’s vice-chair, said: “We presented Susan with a commemorative love spoon and a bouquet of flowers, kindly arranged as a token of our appreciation by secretary Ruth Ridge, following a speech of heartfelt thanks from our chair, Helen John.
“As a pianist myself, I am in awe of Susan’s supreme talent as the choir’s accompanist.
“Her remarkable ability to deal with such difficult and challenging scores is truly outstanding.
“As a choir, we owe Susan an enormous debt of gratitude for her exceptional skill which has enabled us to perform such a wide-ranging repertoire, from the choral classics to the contemporary, throughout the decades.”
Susan was born in Bristol and educated at Badminton School and Leicester Collegiate. Having gained a Bmus degree at Edinburgh University, where she also studied piano, violin and accompanying, she did teacher training at Moray House College of Education.
She taught music in London before being appointed head of music at Glanmor School, Swansea. She also taught piano at Oakleigh House School, Swansea, and she still teaches piano and theory privately.
Susan has accompanied choirs, singers and instrumentalists, including the National Eisteddfod Choir and Swansea section of the Welsh National Opera Chorus.
She was also chair of Swansea Philharmonic Choir from 1985-90.
Susan is a former member of Swansea Bach Choir and the BBC National Chorus of Wales, with which she sang in the Vienna Musikverein and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as in concerts in Paris and Finland and performances at the Proms.
After some years as the administrator of the Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts, she is now the festival concert manager and a member of the festival board.
Swansea Philharmonic Choir now has around 100 members and is preparing for a performance of Handel’s Messiah which will take place on Sunday, December 19 at 7.30pm in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.
Tickets are on sale through the Grand Theatre box office, priced at £20 and all seating is unreserved to allow for social distancing for those who wish to do so.