Spotlight on the Hywel Girls’ Choir and Hywel Boy Singers:
If the traditional saying “experiences make a man rich” is true, then thousands of local children have gained great wealth thanks to the Hywel Girls’ Choir & Hywel Boy Singers.
Born from the baton of John Hywel Williams, the Hywel Girls’ Choir & Hywel Boy Singers have become an institution in choral singing.
With an unequalled heritage of teaching over 8,000 young voices, the choir has enjoyed the extraordinary achievement of more than 200 TV and radio broadcasts spanning 120 countries globally, 25 international concert tours, performing at world leading concert halls to Royalty, World Leaders and The Pope – and all perfectly summed up by British Prime Minister The Rt. Hon. John Major as “Wales’ Ambassadors of Song.”
From its origins in Llanelli in 1948, the Hywel Choir were soon choral pioneers in both performances across leading British concert halls and also in their national television and radio broadcasts.
By the late 1950s, the choir had already enjoyed national and international acclaim with six international concert tours to the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania and three tours to Czechoslovakia.
This included the historic tour which captured national and international press headlines when Llanelli’s Hywel Girls’ Choir broke records in being the first British Choir to tour behind the oppressive communist iron curtain of Eastern Europe at the height of the Cold War.
During this period, the choir also enjoyed television and radio broadcasts from Prague broadcast across Eastern Europe and from Belgium, Romania and The Netherlands.
The choir’s first decade was only a first step in a history of even greater achievements which spans an incredible 70 years.
A wealth of national and international broadcasts and recordings:
Performances for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Singing for His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Performing for His Holiness The Pope at the Vatican.
A BBC televised performance from Russia’s largest concert hall the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.
A Eurovision broadcast from Belgrade to millions of TV viewers across Europe. The Arad Opera House, Bucharest. The internationally acclaimed Prague Spring Festival. St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Ontario. The Festival of Remembrance with HRH The Duke of Kent. The Royal Festival Hall. St David’s Cathedral. Llandaff Cathedral. Wells Cathedral. St. David’s Hall. Brangwyn Hall. Numerous performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall . . . the list keeps going.
Hywel Choirs continue to shine:
The Hywel Choir continues to shine and inspire audiences at home and around the world.
In the last 12 months alone, the Hywel choristers have enjoyed performances at The House of Lords, Covent Garden, Brangwyn Hall, St David’s Cathedral, Morriston Tabernacle Chapel, Birmingham Hippodrome as well as various performances with their resident orchestra the British Sinfonietta Symphony Orchestra.
However, their busy concert schedule is eclipsed by an incredible broadcast year on television and radio.
This year alone, television broadcasts of the choristers have reached over 30 million viewers and include appearances on BBC, ITV, S4C, Channel 4 and international television channels with highlights including a special feature on the choir on BBC Songs of Praise, ITV Britain’s Got Talent Semi-Finalists, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day appearances on S4C and memorable TV filming from The London Palladium, London’s iconic Elstree Studios, Llansteffan Castle, Manorbier Castle.
National and regional radio broadcasts have reached over 7 million listeners and top online videos of the choristers have recently past 15 million viewers.
In coming months, some of the choir’s many performances include Manchester Cathedral, a televised broadcast performance with an audience of 15,000 from Birmingham’s mighty NEC Arena, a historic WW1 Centenary Festival of Remembrance from Coventry Cathedral, the 20th anniversary Last Night of the Proms with the British Sinfonietta orchestra. The Hywel Choir will also be launching their latest international album in Summer 2018 and will also be recording an exciting new Christmas album during the summer for release Christmas 2018.
The choir is proud of its beloved music and performance team, Director of Music John Hywel Williams MBE, pianist Jane Jewell, organist Huw Tregelles Williams OBE, percussionist Gareth Hamlin, performance trainer Jeremy Hywel and resident quartet and orchestra, the British Sinfonietta.
Links to other information and news –
Army of 200 musicians prepare for ‘Big Mad Proms’ this Saturday
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