On song
GIRL power is very much in evidence as 2021 gets under way, with two West Wales choirs doing their bit for charity.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to frustrate music lovers who can’t wait for live concerts to resume. But, while everyone waits for the situation to improve, it appears you can’t keep a good woman (or women) down.
Côr Curiad ladies choir in Llanelli and A Choired Taste in Carmarthen have been inspirational all through the different lockdowns.
Côr Curiad is hoping to raise £1,000 for the Wales Air Ambulance with its first-ever virtual Christmas concert.
The Christmas concert in aid of the life-saving charity, which is Côr Curiad’s chosen charity for 2020, took place ‘live’ on Facebook before Christmas. And choir officials announced this week that, so far, an amazing £757 has been raised.
The Christmas concert video, which is nearly an hour long, features musical items recorded before lockdown and songs recorded under strict social distancing principles in the open air at Stebonheath sports ground in Llanelli and in the town centre.
The ladies, who performed some of their favourite Christmas songs, are no strangers to fundraising.
Over the past 10 years, they have raised more than £60,000 for Marie Curie and Llanelli hospice Ty Bryngwyn.
The choir, which has been running for more than 25 years, has 43 members.
This includes mothers, daughters and sisters as well as ‘pals’. They even have members who live outside of Wales.
Chair of Côr Curiad Andrea Matthews said: “We’re never beaten. We have now taken to the internet to post our first-ever virtual concert.
“We can’t do live events, so this was the only option. We’ve never done it before but luckily we have a very good friend who is an IT magician who put our efforts together.
“We are hoping people will enjoy the concert and make a donation.
“The Wales Air Ambulance (with its headquarters in Dafen, Llanelli) is an essential service for us. Given our infrastructure, geography and the centralising of specialist health services, it’s getting increasingly important.”
Choir musical director Alex Esney said: “Thank you to everyone who watched our Christmas Concert online in aid of the Wales Air Ambulance Charity. We hope you enjoyed it. The positive feedback has been amazing! With your help we have raised £757! Thank you so much! Thank you to all who donated and thank you for continuing to support us! Happy New Year to you all and here’s to a better 2021!”
You can see the video via the Facebook group Côr Curiad at www.facebook.com/corcuriad.
You can sponsor the ladies via www.walesairambulance.com/fundraisers/cor-curiad-llanelli-fundraising-for-wales-air-ambulance
Meanwhile, in Carmarthen, the wonderful ladies of A Choired Taste choir have been blown away by the response to their festive online music video.
Having set themselves an initial target to raise £1,000 for the Mind charity, they raised their fund-raising target to £2000.
And they are currently £40 ahead of that target - an amazing achievement,
The choristers, led by Sarah Kirby, enlisted the help of singers from the
Carmarthen community, so the video features a grand total of 84 ladies singing.
Musical director Sarah said: “Before Christmas, we had raised £1465, which was beyond our original target of £1,000.”
The target was changed to £2000 and this week a delighted Sarah announced: “We’ve done it! Thankyou so much to everyone who has donated in these difficult times.
“A massive thank you to our friends at Ican for helping us over the final hurdle.
“We can’t wait to donate money to this worthy charity.”
It’s not the first time the choir has devoted time and energy to raising cash for charity this year.
Earlier this year, they raised an amazing £4,000, four times their original target, for local charities.
Money raised went towards the Covid-19 ward at Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen Foodbank, Carmarthen Domestic Abuse Services and towards the 5K for Ben appeal which saw four-year-old “superstar” Sam Dixon from Capel Dewi walking 5k a day for charity in memory of his baby brother Benjamin, who died earlier this year after being diagnosed with a condition called congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).
You can catch up with the choir’s fundraising efforts on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ achoiredtastecarms/
There is also a link to the latest video and the Justgiving crowdfunding page at www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/achoiredtaste20
In other news, west Wales tenor Trystan Llyr Griffiths is still basking in the afterglow of a concert appearance with Sir Bryn Terfel – an event the
recorded for transmission via New York’s world famous The Metropolitan Opera.
The 33-year-old, from Clynderwen on the border of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, did manage to fit in a performance with Garsington Opera during this stop-start year for concerts.
But his appearance with opera superstar Sir Bryn Terfel will go down as one of the highlights of his 2020.
You can see part of Trystan’s duet with Sir Bryn via his Twitter social media feed – @Trystanllyr
Sir Bryn teamed up with a top film and television director who worked on the hit TV series Friends and an old school mate for the Christmas concert from Brecon Cathedral that was streamed worldwide by the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The concert with a distinctively Welsh flavour was produced by Gary Halvorson, who directed 55 episodes of Friends between 1997 and 2004.
The concert was available on video on demand via the New York Metropolitan Opera website.
The concert was part of the Met Stars Live in Concert series and also provided a platform for up-and-coming Swansea
soprano Natalya Romaniw, who was performing alongside pianist Jeff Howard. Also performing were the Welsh traditional folk group Calan.
Sir Bryn was determined to ensure a Welsh television company was engaged for the broadcast and the project went to Cardiff-based Boom Cymru.
■ During the coronavirus crisis, this column will not be featuring events, but will be putting the spotlight on West Wales singers and choirs. If you have news of cancelled and postponed events, email robert.lloyd01@ walesonline. co.uk