This concert, to raise funds for the Chapel’s building fund, brought to a close a very busy couple of months for the Choir. We regard the Chapel as our home, and rehearse there twice a week, so we were glad to be able to help raise funds for more remedial work to the fabric of the building.

The undoubted star of the show was soprano Ros Evans, who charmed us and the audience with her anecdotes and humour. It was refreshing to see a soloist who can communicate so effortlessly with her audience. Although her roots are in Swansea, Ros is now an international singer, travelling worldwide to perform.
Her programme ranged from Mozart’s Alleluia to Nella Fantasia (from Enio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe), with a Karl Jenkins composition, and Cymru Bach. In Ivor Novello’s We’ll Gather Lilacs, Ros demanded (and got) full audience participation. She was accompanied by the Choir’s accompanist, Hywel Evans, who happens to be her cousin.
The Choir was conducted by D. Huw Rees as we sang a dozen songs from our repertoire, including our first public performance of Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Huw Roberts was the soloist in Anfonaf Angel.

The concert ended with Ros Evans joining us and singing the second verse of Gwahoddiad. Compere for the evening was our chorister Robert Harwood.

The Chapel’s Minister, Rev. Eirian Wyn, was unavoidably a couple of hundred miles away officiating at a wedding, so he and his wife Helen (our deputy MD) were unable to be with us.
The Choir would like to thank all those from the Chapel who were involved with organsising the concert, and also for the very convivial interval and post-concert refreshments.

The voluptously stuccoed hall in Oxford Town Hall was the venue for Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir’s Annual Concert. It is a wonderful room, with a seating gallery, and it was almost filled to the brim.

This was a joint concert, with the combined choirs singing ten pieces together, and each one singing three on their own. The two Musical Directors each conducted one half of the concert, which involved a change of seating arrangement in each half due to the different placing of the four choir voice sections for each choir.
Fortunately, we were able to have a full rehearsal in the afternoon so that choristers could get accustomed to the other choir’s MD’s interpretation of familiar songs. This meant that, by the end of the evening, we had sung two concerts!

The choice of combined music included several Welsh favourites such as Rachie and Llanfair, and we were impressed by the command of the language by the exiles. Oxford’s MD, Helen Swift, is very expressive when she conducts, and she left us in no doubt as to what she wanted from us. Perhaps it does a choir good to be conducted by a different conductor occasionally; it certainly sharpens one’s concentration!

Our MD D. Huw Rees had chosen Unchained Melody, The Lord’s Prayer, and Anfonaf Angel for our “solo” pieces, with bass Huw Roberts singing the solo part in the latter.
Unfortunately, our accompanist Hywel Evans was unable to travel with us due to illness, but we were extremely fortunate and grateful when Helen Swift stepped into the breach at short notice.Oxford’s three pieces were the old favourite, Myfanwy, Fields of Athenry, and a very amusing version of Grandfather’s Clock which involved some audience participation. They were accompanied by Tim Croston (piano) and Andrew Patterson (organ).

We were also entertained by operatic duo Hannah Fraser-Mackenzie and Robert Jenkins. In the first half they sang classical operatic arias, and in the second their programme was based on West End and Broadway show numbers.

The concert supported Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, and we learned that it costs over £40,000 to train and maintain a dog.

We were treated to an excellent ‘afterglow’ in the Town Hall’s bar, where we were able to lubricate our hard-worked voices before heading for home (or to our hotel), having thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration. We plan to invite the Oxford Welsh Choir back to our own area in 2017, when we look forward to brief friendships being rekindled.
Thank you Oxford Welsh Male Choir for our invitation to join in your special day.