The next Bank Holiday weekend promises to be a memorable one for Llandovery Male Voice Choir.
They will be staging their annual concert on Saturday, May 5, at Pantycelyn School (7pm start).
The guest soloists will be tenor Aled Wyn Davies and soprano Llio Evans.
Mrs Lynne Jones MBE will be the musical director and the accompanist will be Mrs Elaine Robins.
Mrs Shirley Ann James will be president for the evening and the proceeds from the event (tickets £10) will go towards Friendship Club 2018.
Llio Evans, hails from the famous village on the island of Anglesey, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, or Llanfair PG, as most of us know it!
With her sparkling vocal tone and charming stage presence, Llio particularly revels in coquettish and comic roles.
Recent highlights include Iris (Semele) for Garsington Opera, The Little One in the revival of Music Theatre Wales’ critically-acclaimed production of The Golden Dragon (Eötvös) and her English National Opera debut as Celia in Iolanthe.
Aled Wyn Davies has become a very familiar name to Welsh concertgoers over the years.
He is one of the famous Three Welsh Tenors, along with Aled Hall and Rhys Meirion.
He started his career as a folk-singer, but, after winning all the important prizes in folk-singing at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 1999 and the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2001, he started to broaden his horizons as a tenor soloist.
One of Aled’s greatest achievements is that he has won the national tenor solo competition three times in succession in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
He won the ultimate accolade at the Swansea National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2006 – the famous Blue Riband vocal prize (Y Rhuban Glas).
Aled has had considerable success at all of our major eisteddfodau including “International Singer of the Year” at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod.
Aled has been very honoured over the last few years to sing with many outstanding performers including Gwyn Hughes Jones, Jonathan Lemalu, David Kempster and Shan Cothi and, of course, Rhys Meirion and Aled Hall.
One of the highlights must be performing the Pearl Fishers duet with Bryn Terfel at a special concert in Machynlleth in 2015.
Next week will see the much-anticipated ‘Music for the Parc’ is being staged at Llanelli’s Stradey Park Hotel on Friday, April 27 (7pm).
The concert follows a successful ‘Music in the Park’ event organised by the Parc Howard Association.
The evening will be hosted by BBC newsreader and broadcaster Huw Edwards, who is, of course, a native of Llangennech.
The concert will feature The Phil Harmonics, alongside the award-winning Parti Llwchwr, Côr Meibion Llanelli Male Voice Choir, Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera, Otherside, Osian Clarke and Adele O’Neill.
Tickets are £12 and available from Mossies at Llanelli Market Precinct or via members of The Phil Harmonics.
Soloist Adele O’Neill is always a favourite with Llanelli audiences.
Adele is a native of Pontarddulais and an experienced Coloratura Soprano who graduated from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2003-07) under the tutelage of Professor Laura Sarti, the celebrated Italian Mezzo Soprano.
Adele has been successful in voice competitions which include the National Eisteddfod of Wales, winning several prizes in the soprano class. She was the winner of the International gold medal singing competition at Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 2008, and a semi-finalist in the International Montserrat Caballe singing competition in Zaragoza Spain in 2008.
Following her competition successes, Adele has performed in many operas with acclaim from both audience and critics.
Her operatic roles include principal roles as Adina (L’elisir d’amore) Donizetti; Leonora (Il Trovatore), Violetta (La Traviata) Verdi; Micaela (Carmen), Bizet; Adele (Die Fledermaus) Strauss; Norma (Norma) Bellini; Elizabeth (Mary Stuarda) Donezetti.
Adele has performed as a soloist for many ensembles throughout the UK.
International engagements have included concerts in Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and Canada.
She has performed with Longborough Festival Opera, Grange Park opera, and most recently Welsh National Opera.
In addition to her operatic work she has recorded with the Pontarddulais Male Voice choir, Côr Meibion Llanelli and Morriston RFC male voice choir.
Tickets are now available for a major concert to be staged at Ffwrnes Theatre, Llanelli on Saturday, May 19, 2018 (7pm).
An array of stars will perform a very special evening of song in celebration of Llanelli Rotary Club marking its landmark Centenary Year.
Shan Cothi, one of the country’s most popular sopranos, will be sharing the stage with two great Welsh international choral ambassadors – Côr Meibion Llanelli, under the baton of conductor D Eifion Thomas, and the Hywel Girls’ Choir and Hywel Boy Singers, under the baton of conductor John Hywel Williams.
Joining them will be the delightful sounds of Cor Ysgol Goffa, an ensemble from Ysgol Y Strade under the baton of Catrin Hughes and the Lewis-Meredith sisters – Calley, Sarah and Steffi.
The event has two aims –
To help commemorate the centenary of Llanelli Rotary Club
To raise funds for the Green Light Postrate Cancer Machine at Prince Philip Hospital.
The concert is another event co-produced by Carmarthenshire Theatres and Loud Applause.
Côr Meibion Caerfyrddin Carmarthen Male Choir’s 60th anniversary concert will be held at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen, on Saturday, October 13.
The choir will be joined on stage by four other choirs – Mynydd Mawr, Burry Port, Dyffryn Tywi and Dyffryn Aman.
This will create a combined choir of around 150 voices under the baton of Wyn Maskell, musical director of Côr Meibion Caerfyrddin.
Also taking part will be well known soloists: Jessica Robinson, soprano, and Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, tenor.
The MC for the evening will be television and radio personality Garry Owen.
Soprano Jessica Robinson is from Pembrokeshire and graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a first class Honours Degree.
As a student at the RWCMD, Jessica studied with Beatrice Unsworth and Jeffrey Howard, winning the Aneurin Davies memorial award, The Mansel Thomas prize, The Margaret Tann Award and the Elias Soprano award.
Throughout her studies, Jessica has been fortunate to participate in master classes with artists such as Michael Pollock, Simon Lepper, Adrian Thompson, Simon Keenleyside, Donald Maxwell and John Fisher. Jessica was also chosen to sing as part of an octet for HRH the Prince of Wales.
Her singing life started at a young age as a competitor in local eisteddfodau in her home county of Pembrokeshire.
She went on to gain success nationally in the Urdd and the National Eisteddfodau.
Jessica has represented Pembrokeshire in the Young Farmers Eisteddfod winning the under 26 solo in 2008 and again in 2012. She was awarded Vocalist of the Year in the Pembrokeshire Chevron Music Awards and Musical Student of the Year in her secondary school, Ysgol y Preseli, Crymych.
as an oratorio and concert soloist, Jessica has performed in venues such as the Wales Millennium Stadium, The National Museum of Wales, Dorking Halls and The Dora Stoutzker Hall. She regularly appears in concerts all over the UK as guest artist with many of Wales’ most renowned Male Voice Choirs such as Blaenavon, Bridgend, South Wales and the London Welsh Male Voice choir. A personal highlight for Jessica was being asked to perform to the Welsh rugby team at the Welsh Assembly during the champagne reception celebrating their success in the Six Nations Championship and also alongside Paul Potts in a Charity concert for the Philippines disaster.
Recent oratorio performances include Handel’s Messiah ( Symffonia Tywi and The Mega Messiah), Vivaldi’s Gloria, Rutter’s Mass of the Children, Karl Jenkins’ Peace Makers and Joseph Parry’s Emmanuel (Côr Bro Ogwr). Jessica performed her first operatic role as the Spirit in ‘Dido and Aeneas’ by Purcell with ‘Opera’r Ddraig’, scene credits include Despina (Cosi fan Tutti), Violetta (La Traviata) and the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro).
Jessica is an artist on the prestigious Live Music Now scheme and also performs regularly as an artist with Music in Hospitals.
Jessica performed in China in March as part of a Welsh Government Scheme; she toured around the country introducing Welsh music. Then toured with the Harry Ensemble as their soprano soloist around New York in May.
Welsh tenor Trystan Llŷr Griffiths, who hails from Clunderwen, Pembrokeshire, is a popular concert soloist throughout Wales and further afield.
One of the first recipients of a Study Award from the Bryn Terfel Foundation, he was named the Voice Of Wales by Decca Records in 2012 in an S4C TV series.
Trystan studied initially at University of Wales Trinity Saint David for a Theatre, Music and Media degree. He subsequently completed an MA degree in Vocal Studies at the Royal Academy of Music and a further postgraduate degree in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He has recently completed his studies as a Trainee at the National Opera Studio in London.
Prizes and awards include: Ian Stoutzker Prize 2014; Richard Van Allan Award 2014; Bruce Millar Gulliver Singing Prize 2014; RWCMD HRH Prince of Wales Scholarship 2013; Dunraven Welsh Young Singer of the Year 2013; MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year Prize 2012; Sybil Tutton Award 2012; London Welsh Young Singer of the Year Prize 2011; W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship 2011; Osborne Roberts Memorial Prize 2009.
Concert highlights include appearances at the Royal Albert Hall, Hay-on-Wye Festival with Bryn Terfel, the Brynfest at the Southbank Centre, a concert performance of Tristan und Isolde with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and recitals at St Martin-in-the- Fields and the Cardiff Music Festival.
He took the role of Carlos in a recording of Le Duc d’Albe with the Hallé Orchestra for Opera Rara and during summer 2015 received a scholarship to attend the Mozart Residency at Festival d’Aix-en- Provence.
Trystan made his first professional operatic début in the role of Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte on tour with Scottish Opera.
Finally, here’s a date for your diary for later in the year. The Annual Royal British Legion Charity Gala Concert will be held at the Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen, on October 27 (7pm).
This year, 2018, marks a significant year for our Armed Forces. It is the centenary of the end of The Great War (First World War) and also commemorates 100 years of the Royal Air Force.
The prestigious annual Royal British Legion Concert has become one of the landmark events in the calendar of South West Wales, providing a platform for the Royal British Legion to pay tribute to the fallen of current and past conflicts.
It also helps the British Legion launch the Poppy Appeal in South West Wales.
The concert features leading soprano and TV and radio personality Shân Cothi, one of Wales’s premier choirs in the form of Dunvant Male Choir, the highly popular Carmarthen-based mixed youth choir Côr Seingar, Swansea-based Dancerama performing arts group youth choir, the stirring sounds of the City of Swansea Pipe Band and the unforgettable Corps of Drums of the 215 City of Swansea Squadron.
The compére will be Brian Sullivan and the guest accompanist Jeffrey Howard.
The evening ends with the poignant Tribute to the Fallen and a Service of Remembrance.
The Royal British Legion is being supported with this event by Loud Applause Productions, the production company run by Llanelli’s Cerith Owens.
Robert Lloyd works as a media consultant – www.rlloydpr.co.uk
If you have any news about the choral scene in Llanelli, then please contact him on 07777 683637 or email rlloydpr@btinternet.com
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