This was a wonderful evening – probably the best yet! We were fortunate to have the fantastic ‘Bella Voce’ with us, who had only 5 weeks earlier performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London, with the massed male choirs. They are a ladies group of 16 members, formed in 2013 by their musical director Sarah Benbow-Thomas and Lisa Shelmerdine Richards and come from South Pembrokeshire. They boast around a dozen music degrees and have over 30 instrumental and vocal Grade 8’s between them and, together with their accompanist Seimon Morris, make a brilliant sound.
The concert was held at All Saints, Oystermouth and we opened the evening with ‘Morte Criste’ to a tremendous ovation from the packed church. This set the scene for the rest of the concert. We followed this with our 2 Italian items, ‘Ave Maria’ and ‘Nella Fantasia’ and finished the first section with ‘How Great Thou Art’. This is becoming a very popular item and, considering all the key changes and the fact that it’s unaccompanied, we performed it really well. Bella Voce then started their first set with ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing’ and followed this with ‘Cwlwm Cariad’ by local composer Alan Llewelyn Thomas. Other items in this section included an arrangement of a song made famous by the Flying Pickets, ‘Only You’ and their last item was ‘Who Will Buy’ from ‘Oliver’. We then sang 3 Welsh items, ‘O Gymru’, ‘Ar Hyd Y Nos’ and our rousing setting of ‘Cwm Rhondda’ to end a fantastic first half. Both ‘Morte Criste’ and ‘Cwm Rhondda’ featured Steve on the organ, together with our accompanist Rhian.
Following the interval we sang the lively ‘Hey Look Me Over’ and then we sang some more modern popular sings. First was a new item to our repertoire ‘Hard To Say I’m Sorry’ which is the lovely song written and performed by ‘Chicago’ in the early 1980’s. We followed this with ‘God Only Knows’ and finished this section with the Elvis Presley number ‘If I Can Dream’. Bella Voce returned and delighted the audience, once again, with their items. They started with a delightful arrangement of ‘Three Little Maids’ and followed this with ‘Pure Imagination’. They finished this set with an arrangement of the lovely song by Snow Patrol ‘Run’ and their final item was a new upbeat arrangement of ‘Calon Lan’, with a terrific accompaniment, brilliantly played by Seimon. This was truly a memorable performance by the ladies, full of beautiful phrasing and musicality and deserving of their huge ovation.
Our final section started with ‘He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother’ and one of our favourites, Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels’. Our last piece of the evening was Alwyn Humphreys’ arrangement of ‘An American Trilogy’, again with Steve on the organ, which brought the very appreciative audience to its feet. We then introduced Bella Voce back to the stage and the concert closed with everyone singing our National Anthem. A number of presentations were made by our President, Geoff Wheel including one to our Ladies Committee Chairwoman, Linda Lewis, who works tirelessly throughout the year, with her fellow members, to raise funds for the choir and steward the ‘annual’.
This was, surely, our best ever ‘Annual’ and thanks must go to our MD Nick, brilliant accompanist, Rhian and organist Steve, who also played harmonica for ‘He Aint’ Heavy’! The wonderful All Saint’s Church proved a great venue again and there were many others who contributed to the success of the evening. We were sponsored by the Swansea Building Society and thanks must go to Alun Williams and his team for their financial support. Adrian Crowley arranged the writing and printing of the programme and arranged for the concert to be recorded by Ken Geen, from Cardiff, and also a video has been made, by Tom and Jenna of Cardboard Donkey, of some of the items and, hopefully, both of these will be released soon. Ticket sales were again looked after very efficiently by Walter Jones.
To watch some videos recorded at this concert please click on the following links: ‘Ave Maria‘, ‘Mor Fawr Wyt Ti‘ and ‘Hard To Say I’m Sorry‘.
