The choir returned to Mannheim, Germany, to help celebrate both the city’s 400th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of being twinned with Swansea. Photographs of the visit can be viewed at the gallery.
Translation of a report in a Mannheim newspaper:
A display of powerful singing seals the friendship between Mannheim and Swansea in Feudenheim’s Kulturhalle.
The Twinning of Two Towns is Celebrated with a Display of Powerful Singing.
There has been musical harmony between Mannheim and Swansea for fifty years.
Two wonderful choirs – the Gwalia Singers from Mannheim’s twin town of Swansea and the Maennergesangverein Teutonia – impressed their audience in a memorable performance in the Kulturhalle in Feudenheim. The public hummed or sang along enthusiastically to a number of the better known songs.
“I have great respect for the recital which these two choirs have given”said the Mayor of Culture, Dr. Peter Kurz.
The partnership and personal friendships between the singers from Wales and their Mannheim hosts were clear to see.
“It is just so important to have such good friends”, said Heinz Schmetzer, chairperson of the twinning association, which is why he has involved himself so ardently in the town partnership between Welsh Swansea and the Palatine city of Mannheim for almost fifty years. His motto is:
”Harmony and friendship are always positive whatever the circumstances”. Herr Schmetzer spent a few years in Britain as a Prisoner of War. The Chairperson of the Teutonia Choir, Wilhelm Heckmann, continued,
“The cooperation between our two choirs which has been running now for twelve years helps us understand each other better as people.”
It was evident from the performance of the Gwalia Singers on stage that music in a united Europe really does surpass boundaries.
The Gwalia Singers sang a wide variety of songs including Bridge over Troubled Waters, The Gospel Train, Light a Candle, I’m gonna Walk and Angels. Climax of the performance was the song ‘The Rose’ which the twenty-nine singers under their conductor, Nick Rogers, sang at the request of their hosts. Always in the background yet leading the choristers was the accompanist Rhian Lyles while Amanda Price charmingly compered. With an Abba medley as a finale the Gwalia Singers sang themselves into the hearts of their audience who were stirred to a standing ovation. An encore followed – the public would not have gone home without one!
Clive Walters, Chairperson of the Gwalia Singers, thanked Peter Kurz, Heinz Schmetzer and Wilhelm Heckmann for their hospitality by presenting gifts. The evening was opened with songs by Maennergesangverein Teutonia who sang ‘In times of happiness and sorrow we are ready to sing’, ‘Teutonia blossoms summer, winter and spring’. Under the musical conductor, Thomas Wind, who like the tenor Herbert Knebel made excellent solo contributions, Teutonia provided a potpourri of songs. Steven Wilson, one of the Gwalia Singers, said that Swansea was not situated in England but in Wales and that the name ‘Gwalia’ was the original name for Wales. Bernhard Kaiser and his band rounded off this evening which had been planned to celebrate harmony and friendship. This event was made possible by the support of many sponsors and involvement by official sources.
To celebrate St. David’s Day, the choir performed at Heatherslade Nursing Home and then moved on to a more informal setting at the Beaufort Arms in Norton.
A special concert was held at Swansea’s new Waterfront Community Church in April. Guests were the Bangor Ladies Choir from Northern Ireland (pictured below). The choirs met at the Bangor International Choral Festival a few years ago.
The choir headed off to Cornwall from 4-7 May to participate in the Cornwall International Male Voice Choral Festival. We spent a leisurely Saturday exploring St Ives and trying to avoid the seagulls. Not entirely successfully in our MD’s case! We performed at the Liskeard Methodist Church in the evening. Sunday saw a visit to the Eden Project before one more concert in St. Austell. On the programme with us on both occasions was the impressive Czech Boys’ Choir (Boni Pueri). An enjoyable weekend was had by all! Pictures from the trip can be viewed at the gallery.
From the South Wales Evening Post, dated 21 May 2007:
A Swansea choir is on a recruitment drive to build on its latest success. The Gwalia Singers was one of 60 choirs to feature in the Cornwall International Male Voice Choir Festival. It took its place alongside others from Finland, France and Sweden. The Swansea choir received standing ovations for its two concerts.
Officials are now on the lookout for new recruits, with rehearsals at Swansea Yacht & Sub-Aqua Club every Tuesday at 7.15pm.
A performance was given on 13 June at the impressive Celtic Manor Resort for a conference held by Medtronic, a company that provides medical technology for people with chronic disease. The audience all enjoyed a fairly brief concert and the choir found time to relax and enjoy a buffet plus a few drinks afterwards.
The choir performed at a social evening on 23 June held at the church hall in Bishopston. Reverend Chris Lee had returned from America and brought a number of his parishioners with him to Wales for a short stay. The choir was well received by the visitors and a very enjoyable evening was had by all.
We made our annual pilgrimage to the Giltar Hotel in Tenby on 29 June to entertain the guests staying on holiday in the area. A number of the old favourites were sung and the choir performed ‘You Raise Me Up’ for the first time. It was great to see Charles Clewett, our secretary’s brother, join us for the evening.
The choir went west on 14 August to Pontarddulais to sing for a full house at the Mechanics Institute on St. Teilo Street. It was a fund raising evening for the Arthritis Research Campaign and the evening was opened by Jane Jones, one of the news presenters from BBC Wales. We had an excellent evening and were well received by the audience. On the way home one of our cars had a slight mishap. In rather inclement weather, Pontarddulais’ one way system, and seemingly lack of sign posts, caused problems which somehow found the driver going through Garnswllt and then on to Ammanford. It was some twenty five minutes later that the car was travelling on the M4 passing Pontarddulais!
The concert was a milestone in the history of the Gwalia Singers. In November 2006 we realised that we had to do some serious recruiting, as our numbers had decreased to just 34 singers. Following a tremendous effort by the members and our publicity officer, Tom Bartley, we have now increased to 44 singers, with another 2 who have yet to become full members. This showed on Tuesday night as we had 39 singers on stage, and this is believed to be the largest choir that the Gwalia Singers have ever put out in its 40 year history.
The choir’s previous conductor, Simon Oram, picked up the baton once more to lead the choir at a wedding reception in Usk on 2 October. The bride was, in fact, Simon’s mother. The wedding guests enjoyed the concert and afterwards the choir continued singing in the less formal environment of the hotel bar.
Our annual concert took place on 20th October and, once again, it was hugely successful. The Waterfront Community Church provided an excellent venue and despite the Rugby World Cup Final being played at the same time, we had a full house.
Appearing with us were The Ariosa Singers. They are a young choir who have been together for just over two years and are made up of singers aged between 9 and 27, many of whom hope to follow careers in music. Their musical director is Mrs Penny Ryan and on this occasion they were accompanied by her husband, Les Ryan.
Both choirs sang a very varied programme and included in our programme were standards such as Morte Christe and Calon Lan. We also sang a new arrangement of You Raise Me Up by Alan Simmons, which featured Len Fuge and Lawrence Sutton singing the solo part. The first half ended with an arrangement by our musical team of the great Tom Jones classic Delilah, which was very well received.
The Ariosa Singers included two specially commissioned works, Ave Maria by Lisa Mears and Irish Blessing by Richard John. Other highlights of their programme were an arrangement by Roger Emerson of Fields of Gold by Sting, and a very powerful setting of the words Lux Aerterna to Elgar’s Nimrod, which showed the expertise of the young singers, as it was arranged for double choir.
We finished our programme with the fine arrangement of a medley of songs by Frank Sinatra, which includes Fly Me To The Moon, Strangers In The Night, My Way and ends with New York, New York. The two choirs then joined on stage to sing Anthem from Chess, arranged by Les Ryan, which led to rapturous applause, bringing many of the audience to their feet.
We were once again accompanied by the excellent Rhian Liles and our musical director Nick Rogers was very pleased with the performance of the choir and the evening as a whole. He was also especially pleased to see 40 singers on stage, the biggest ever choir at an annual concert.
The Gwalia Singers were chosen to represent Wales during a St David’s Day celebration in Disneyland, Paris in 2008.An article from the South Wales Evening Post, September 29, 2007.
Paris match for choir in springtime.
It will be Paris in the springtime for a Swansea choir after it was chosen to head the St David’s Day celebrations at Euro Disney.
The Gwalia Singers beat off the challenge of scores of Welsh male voice choirs for the honour.
“I can hardly believe we have been chosen,” said secretary Alan Clewett.
“It’s great to have a choir from the West.”
The 46-strong choir – founded in 1966 – took its chance with a host of others from across Wales.
“Euro Disney had a St David’s Day celebration last year, but what was missing was a male voice choir,” said Mr Clewett.
“They contacted the National Association of Choirs, who contacted all-Welsh male voice choirs.”
The city choir made its pitch and was delighted to come out on top.
“Disneyland Paris is about entertainment and they wanted a choir which could not only sing traditional Welsh songs but could also entertain,” said Mr Clewett.
“We also do comical numbers and have a wide variety. They asked for our last CD, and also said we had a good website.”
The choir are awaiting full details of the trip, but have been asked to do five 30-minute slots on March 1 and 2.
The choir are now on the lookout for sponsorship for items like special sweatshirts. Members are also putting the finishing touches to their programme for the annual Gwalia Singers concert at the Waterfront Community Church in Swansea’s SA1 on Saturday, October 20, at 7.15pm.
