On song with
THERE was disappointment last week as the scheduled Treorchy Male Choir concert at The Lyric in Carmarthen had to be postponed at late notice.
A number of choir members tested positive for coronavirus, forcing the postponement.
Happily, a new date has been scheduled for the concert – Saturday, July 9. Tickets for March 26 will still be valid for the event.
The Gala Concert will feature the internationally-celebrated Treorchy Male Choir, who have enchanted audiences around the world for more than 130 years.
From their Royal Command Performance for Queen Victoria to their appearance at the Royal Variety Show more than a century later, the choir continues to entertain to packed houses.
Under the baton of its new musical director Stewart Roberts, the choir aims to raise the roof of The Lyric.
Performing alongside Treorchy will be up-and-coming young tenor James Oakley. James, from Llannon, Llanelli, is currently studying his A-levels at Ysgol Gyfun y Strade.
He is a member of Loud Applause Rising Stars (LARS), which mentors and supports talented young musicians.
Tickets for the event are available at The Lyric box office or through the Theatrau Sir Gar website at https:// www.theatrausirgar.co.uk/en
Meanwhile, in Llanelli, the countdown is for the new Chamber Choir, who will be performing John Stainer’s The Crucifixion next week.
The performance is at the Parish Church of St Elli in the middle of Llanelli on Sunday, April 10. Doors open at 6.30pm, with ‘curtain up’ at 7pm. Piet Zorn is the musical director and Andrew J Pike will be the organist.
The Crucifixion will feature baritone Liam J Edwards and tenor
James Oakley. Tickets are available from 07535166956 or by emailing chamberchoirllanelli@gmail.com
Piet Zorn, born in Germany, but now living in Llanelli, is already a familiar figure in musical circles in west Wales through his work as a performer and music teacher. He has set up a Facebook page to give his latest project some momentum – www.facebook.com/groups/ 3024583054451014
The choir rehearses at 5.30pm on Mondays at St Elli Church.
Piet has worked with the Hywel Girls’ Choir and Hywel Boy Singers and Llanelli Music Theatre Group.
He has also worked at Bryngwyn School, Llanelli, Penyrheol Comprehensive in Gorseinon and Ysgol Rhydygors in Carmarthen. He has performed in west Wales as a tenor and as an accompanist.
During his early years in Germany he expanded his musical repertoire and took up the piano, guitar, flute and violin.
He trained as a classical singer with Knut Schoch, Mark Bruce and Elisabeth Bengtson-Opitz at the Hamburg College of Music and
Drama and holds a master’s degree in music education.
His repertoire stretches as a solo singer from art songs by Schubert, Schumann and Wolf over oratorios by Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rossini and Saint-Saëns to operatic works by Humperdinck, Wagner and Britten. He loves teaching the art of singing to students of all ages and abilities.
Stainer’s The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887.
It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor.
Stainer intended that piece would be within the scope of most parish church choirs. It includes five hymns for congregational participation.
The text was written by WJ Sparrow Simpson, the librettist of Stainer’s earlier cantata Mary Magdalene.
Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) was an English composer and organist whose music is seldom performed today, with the exception of The Crucifixion.
Stainer’s work as choir trainer and organist set standards for Anglican church music that are still influential.
He was also active as an academic, becoming Heather Professor of Music at Oxford. Stainer was born in Southwark, London, the son of a schoolmaster.
He became a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral aged 10 and was appointed to the position of organist at St Michael’s College, Tenbury, at the age of 16.
He later became organist at Magdalen College, Oxford, and subsequently organist at St Paul’s Cathedral.
When he retired due to his poor eyesight and deteriorating health, he returned to Oxford to become Professor of Music at the university.
In the Tywi Valley, the Cantorion Llandeilo Singers choir are rehearsing again and making a call for new members to join.
Rehearsals are at the town’s St Teilo’s Church for a summer performance of Handel’s Messiah and the choir is eager to fill all singing parts, but particularly new tenors.
In turn, the choir also welcomes sopranos, altos, and basses.
At the moment, members are still wearing masks during rehearsal, following guidance from Church in Wales, and singers are expected to do lateral flow tests on the day of rehearsals.
Colin New, who joined in 2019 to sing with the tenors after moving to Llandeilo from Hampshire, took over as the new musical director and conductor last September.
He has a huge amount of experience in music education and performance from his career as a secondary school music teacher and deputy head of a large and successful music service.
He is also a performer and accompanist on piano, double bass, and guitar, as well as having been a director of a mixed choir for more than 30 years.
He said: “With the well-publicised benefits to mental and physical health and general well-being there cannot be a better time to start or return to singing.”
There are no auditions but it helps to have some experience of singing in choirs.
Lots of enthusiasm and commitment are highly desirable as well.
Rehearsals are held on Mondays at 7.30pm. For more information contact Sheila on 07851 786569.
Finally, well done to everyone who helped organise the concert at Saron Chapel, Saron, in memory of the late Eirwyn Richards, former musical director of Tybie Ladies Choir.
Tybie Ladies Choir were joined by Timothy Richards (tenor), Nils Richards and a brass ensemble as well as flautist Sophie McLaughlin and soprano Joyce Williams.
Tenor Osian Clarke, from Tycroes, also featured as a soloist.
More than £3,000 was raised for the Guide Dogs charity.