Gallery

London Welsh Male Voice Choir, resplendent in their red jackets and black trousers and bow ties, thrilled the capacity audience at the 48th annual concert of Chelmsford and District Welsh Society at Chelmsford Cathedral on 13 June. Their previous appearance was at the inaugural concert in 1968. They delivered a superbly varied, exciting and uplifting programme, much of which was new to the majority of the audience. It included a nostalgic Gwinllan A Roddwyd I’m Gofal, Robat Arwyn’s haunting Anfonaf Angel (Guardian Angel), the spiritual Steal Away, the beautiful Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, Dylan Thomas’s Sunset Poem, Working Man, and the rousing Morte Criste and Deus Salutis. Three of the songs were composed by the conductor Edward-Rhys Harry, who works across the UK and internationally as a voice coach, adjudicator, composer, arranger and choral conductor. His compositions included The Man We Never Knew, which celebrates an unknown Canadian soldier killed in the Great War; an uplifting Gweddi’r Arglwydd (The Lord’s Prayer); and Can You Hear Me?, with its haunting words and marvellous melodies, dedicated to those suffering the devastations of war. His arrangements included Let It Go from the Disney film Frozen: a Swinging Sixties Medley; and Cadwyn O Emynau Cymraeg (a trilogy of Welsh hymns) with its stirring Amen. The soloist was a young Welsh Mezzo-Soprano, Eirlys Myfanwy Davies, whose prestigious prize winning achievements include“Voice of the Future” at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 2014. She will join the prestigious National Opera Studio, London, in September. Her varied repertoire included songs from the operas The Italian Girl In Algiers, Carmen and Samson And Delilah; from the shows The Student Prince and Showboat; and the favourite Welsh songs, Ryan Davies’s Pan Fo’r Nos Yn Hir (When The Night Is Long) and the gently patriotic Cymru Fach. The accompanist for the choir and the soloist was Annabel Thwaite, one of the most versatile and charismatic pianists and winner of all the major accompanying prizes. Immediately after the interval Cllr. Paul Hutchinson, the Mayor of Chelmsford, delivered a Civic Welcome to the choir and soloist. At the conclusion, the audience showed their appreciation with prolonged and enthusiastic applause. Buddug Rowland Frank, the President of the Society thanked the audience for their support. She congratulated the choir and soloist for putting on a wonderful concert and made presentations to the conductor, soloist, accompanist and compere.