This celebration concert on St. David's Day was the culminating event in the four-day St. Johns Festival of Daffodils.
The audience was greeted by the MD Christine Shewry, who introduced the two accompanists for the evening, Jill Williams and Pat Stubbs. Due to Jill's recent ill-health, Pat is to become a deputy accompanist over the next couple of months. Pat had accompanied the choir for about 20 years when her husband Graham was the founder and conductor of Tenby Male Choir, and it was good to see her once again 'back in harness.'
The concert opened with the invitational hymn 'Gwahoddiad' and in the first section, a new piece, 'The Finnish Forest', was included. This was the first of several new pieces introduced during the evening. The lively and melodic 'Finnish Forest' gave opportunity to the baritones to lead the theme, and the piece finished on a rousing note.
Several choristers sang solo, and in the first interlude, Paul Varallo and David Llewelyn sang solo. David had learned 'Cartref' especially for St. David's Day. He sang with real warmth and feeling and his pronunciation of Cymraeg was excellent. Noting that David was brought up in London, though born in Wales to Welsh parents, one realised what a good teacher he must have, and what an able learner he is!
The guest soloist for the evening was Miranda Rees, playing oboe. Miranda is an extremely talented musician. Still at school, Miranda plays in several school music groups as well as the National Youth Orchestra. She plays oboe, violin and piano and sang a major role in the school's recent production of 'Jesus Christ, Superstar.'
In her first slot, Miranda played the first and third movement of Marcello's concerto in D minor. It was a real joy to listen to. Accompanied by Paul Rapi, head of music at Greenhill, Miranda's fluency and confidence flowed into her playing.
For her second selection, Miranda played 'Morceau de salon' by Kalliwoda, and again accompanied by Paul Rapi, she 'wowed' the audience. It was worth the ticket price just to hear Miranda play! After her A levels, which she takes this summer, she hopes to go on to do music at Cardiff, in the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
How fortunate we are in Tenby to be able to take advantage of the students at Greenhill in this musical way.
The choir returned to 'stage' to sing a rousing 'Stout-hearted Men,' followed by 'Dashenka' and then another new piece', Ti a dy Dddoniau' by Ryan Davies. Sung in Welsh, it had the usual Ryan sweet sentimentality about it, which suits the Welsh Male Choir equally as well as the perhaps more traditional marching songs or hymns.
The third chorister to sing solo was Eric Mullins, who sang 'Old Man River' and in contrast 'The Floral Dance.'
In their final section, the choir inserted two more Welsh pieces, including a new piece in the repetoire 'Ar hyd y Nos', which was beautifully sung, and 'Pan fo'r nos yn hir', which was followed by sighs of pleasure from the pews. They also sang a version of the hymn 'Just As I am', with a lovely second verse led by the second tenors, and 'Smoke gets in your eyes,' a much-loved piece.
The concert ended with a rousing National Anthem and the choristers afterwards enjoyed the hospitality of the church in the lounge.