Dyfed Choir will be bidding a fond farewell to their gifted conductor next month.

Timothy Noon (pictured), organist and master of choristers at St. Davids Cathedral, has been music director of the Dyfed Choir since 2002. He has now been appointed to the major post of Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool, and will be leaving St. Davids shortly to take up this post. In a parallel move, his wife Sarah has been appointed senior academic co-ordinator at the world-famous Chetham's School of Music, Manchester. To mark the occasion, the Dyfed Choir is giving a farewell concert at St. Davids Cathedral on July 14. They will be supported, not quite by a cast of thousands, but by the massed ranks of Carlow Choral Society, Eire (last heard at St. Davids Cathedral in July 2005 when they joined Dyfed Choir for a memorable performance of the Verdi Requiem) and the choristers of St. Davids Cathedral, whose soaring soprano voices will be remembered by all who attended the Handel Messiah given by Dyfed Choir and the cathedral choir in December. Altogether, there will be a chorus of about 120 voices, supported by the 46 players of the Menevia Sinfonia. Dyfed Choir members share with their conductor a taste at one extreme for works which are serenely beautiful and at the other for works to be sung with passion and gusto. This concert programme offers ample scope for both. Works performed will be: The Chichester Psalms, Leonard Bernstein's dramatic setting of familiar psalms, sung in the original Hebrew; Symphony No. 40, one of Mozart's most popular works; Mass of the Children, rated as one of John Rutter's finest works, written to express his gratitude for the experience of singing with adult choirs when he was a young chorister. In this work, dating from 2003, a leading role is played by the children's choir. Thanks to generous sponsorship by the Artswave organisation and the Welsh Amateur Music Federation, this will be a rare opportunity to hear these works in a live concert performed by a large choir with full orchestral accompaniment - a fitting farewell concert for a conductor who has made an outstanding contribution to the musical life of West Wales in general and to the Dyfed Choir in particular. More details are available from (01834) 811588 or from the Dyfed Choir website http://www.dyfedchoir.org.uk">www.dyfedchoir.org.uk