After every concert there’s always a ‘but’ – not so after our last concert at St John’s Church, Llandudno.
Tuesday, 4th October, saw the choir make it’s last appearance in this years St John’s Church concert season. And what a night it was.
Reunion for old friends at St John’s Church
Arriving early at St John’s Church, it was a very pleasant surprise to find that a former member of the choir, David Carter, and his wife Carol, were already in the audience.
Gronwy Wynne, David Carter, Clwyd Wynne and Huw Jones Reminisce at St John’s Church
David was a second tenor with the choir for a number of years, retiring due to ill health.
An opportunity was taken before the concert for David to reminisce good times with the choir.
John Price Solo Debut with Choir
Our soloist for the concert was the choir’s own John Price, 1st Tenor, who was accompanied by Nia Jones.
John Price and Nia Jones check the Musical Scores at St John’s Church
In addition to choral singing, John is a very accomplished soloist. He has competed in many Eisteddfodau over many years, including the National Eisteddfod this year.
John was making his debut performance as a soloist since returning to the choir.
Choir and John Price hit all the High Notes
With St John’s Church almost full, the choir opened with ‘Y Ddau Wladgarwr’ (The Two Patriots).
That was followed by ‘Let There be Peace On Earth’, ‘Gwawrio Mae’r Bore’ and ‘The Rose’ where Peter Davies, Baritone Solo, was in fine voice.
It was then the turn of John Price to entertain the audience.
John opened with a faultless and powerful rendition of ‘Because.’ This resulted in prolonged applause from the very appreciative audience.
A video recording of John’s performance will be made available soon but, in the meantime, you can see him performing ‘Because’ here:
‘Llwybr yr Wyddfa’ (The path of Snowdon) followed. A very difficult piece to sing correctly, and just as difficult for the accompanist to play. John and Nia’s performances were faultless.
The choir then closed the first half to sustained applause.
More of the same at St John’s Church
The choir opened the second half with ‘The Mansions of the Lord.’ Accompanied by Raymond Stythe-Jones on the organ. A powerful and moving piece of music, which was performed at the funeral of Ronald Reagan.
The highlight of John’s second solo set was his performance of ‘If I Can Help Somebody’. Again, until our video is available, you can see John singing here:
The length of the applause from the audience and choir alike confirmed that John’s performance had been superb.
Special and very grateful thanks must go to our accompanist, Nia Jones, who did not have a break during both halves of the concert. Her performance was perfection itself.
Nia Jones
We are extremely fortunate to have secured Nia’s services.
Our musical director, Arwyn Roberts, also deserves special thanks for his varied choice of programme and his energetic conducting.
Rousing finale at St John’s Church
The choir closed the concert with Alwyn Humphreys’ arrangement of ‘American Trilogy.’ Accompanied mostly by Nia on the piano, and Raymond Stythe-Jones on the Organ for the final section.
A fitting climax to a very memorable concert. A prolonged standing ovation followed.
Thank you St John’s Church
The choir wish to thank everyone from both St John’s and St David’s Churches for the assistance and support given to us at all of our concerts there this year.
We are grateful to every one of you, Organisers, Stewards, Sound & Lighting Technicians, Chairpersons and Catering staff.
We also thank you for allowing us to be part of your Male Voice Choir Concert series this year and also for the generous invitation to return again next year. The dates can be seen in our Concert Section. See you all then.
Leave a Reply