Photographs by Colleen Gauntlett. Left click to enlarge
On a cool but sunny Spring evening, April 12th saw the choir privileged to present its 51st Annual Concert at the Leisure Centre in Caldicot. This is our major concert of the year and gives us the opportunity to present a tableau of varied music and to show off our talent to the populace of Caldicot.
Always a popular event in the town, to a full house of over 400, the choir, introduced by returning compere Don Maclean, opened with the rousing, satirical ‘Entrance and March of the Peers’ followed by spiritual ‘De Animals’ a comin’ and for the first time by the choir, the famous Elvis hit of 1972 ‘Always On My Mind’ which, judging by the response of the audience will be a favourite in future programmes. The choir of 65 choristers was conducted by Siân Hatton and Shirley Ann James and accompanied by Stephen Berry and John Nicholson.
This year the choir was delighted that the The Camilli String Quartet accepted our invitation as guest artists at our concert and in their opening performance provided us with a blend of well known, mellifluous classical pieces including three movements from ‘Divertimento in D major’ – W.A Mozart, ‘Canon’ – Johann Pachelbel, ‘Air’ – J.S Bach which many will recognise from the Hamlet cigar advert which ran for 31 years from 1966 and a ‘Minuet from String Quartet in E maj Op.11 No.5′ by Luigi Bocherini. Although a change from the regular appearance of a soloist singer, the choir is pleased to once in a while offer the opportunity to encourage young, promising musicians by inviting them to perform alongside us.
The choir’s second performance opened with ‘Brahma! Brahma! the start of probably the world’s most famous operatic duet, ‘The Pearl Fishers’ Duet’ by Bizet and then contrasted, in Welsh with the moving but technically difficult Psalm 23 by Schubert. For the first time for many years the programme included the modern hymn ‘Mansions of the Lord’ from the film ‘We are Soldiers’ and culminated with the rock song by Queen ‘Somebody to Love’ in which Siân Hatton once again superbly took Freddie Mercury’s part.
Following the interval, the choir presented three contrasting pieces; rousing, classical hymn ‘Laudamus’ sung in Welsh was contrasted by a second spiritual, the fast moving ‘Ride the Chariot’ in which the soloists were David Gould and Siân Hatton and with a two minute introduction and accompaniment by the Camilli String Quartet, the choir finalised with ‘By Babylon’s Wave’ a piece of epic proportions telling of the dire consequences of the Babylonian enslavement of the Hebrews.
Once more the Camilli String Quartet were introduced on the stage by Don Maclean but this time gave a lighter repertoire of folk and popular songs, opening with ‘Lord of the Dance’ – Sidney Carter and including ‘Reel Fiddlin”, a selection of traditional Scottish tunes by William McConnell, continuing the Elvis theme, ‘Love Me Tender’ and ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ followed, a tune by the Beatles which many of us can relate to and everyone knows, ‘When I’m Sixty Four’ and finalising with George Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ classic, ‘Summertime’, arranged by the quartet’s own Elin Parry. We are sure to hear more of these highly talented musicians and we wish them every success in the future.
The final quarter had the audience in raptures with a second Queen number, which we all enjoy singing, Bohemian Rhapsody, conducted by Siân and with dramatic accompaniment from John Nicholson on keyboard and Stephen Berry on piano. For the first time we included two items from the show ‘Les Misérables’; the rousing chorus of ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’ and then the Jean Valjean prayer ‘Bring Him Home’. We shall certainly sing these two again, judging by the audience reception. The concert was reluctantly closed by the choir singing the foot tapping, rhythmic ‘Rhythm of Life’ from the musical ‘Sweet Charity’ and made famous by Sammy Davis Jnr. in the 1962 film of the same name.
Special guests included not only County Councillors representing Caldicot wards, Mrs Pauline Watts and John Marshall, but also Alan Davies, Mayor of Caldicot, David Dovey , Chairman of Monmouthshire County Council, Simon Boyle, Lord Lieutenant of Gwent and once again, long standing choir supporter John Griffiths AM, Welsh Assembly minister for Culture and Sport. The choir was privileged to include as a special guest, world renowned male voice choir conductor Dr Haydn James, a firm favourite as choir conductor at many Rugby International and Lions matches throughout the world, Haydn’s own guest, Caldicot resident Patrick Hodges, former secretary to the ‘1000 voices’ at the Royal Albert Hall and last but not least long standing supporter, Lyndon Birch, always welcome as a representative of the Welsh Association of Male Choirs.
The evening concluded with remarks and thanks to all who made the evening a great success from our chairman Mark Stocker (his first Annual concert as chairman) and long standing President Richard Evans.
Finally, a well deserved 25 year continuous long service certificate was presented to Terry Plummer by John Griffiths AM and Siân Hatton followed by a standing ovation as well deserved Lifetime Achievement Awards and Honorary Vice Presidencies were presented by Siân and John to long serving choristers, Bill Nash and John Callow. Both have made outstanding contributions to the choir over many years and the presentation of these awards shows the choir’s eternal gratitude to both.
Congratulations to the following choristers for successfully completing their first Annual Concert:-
Top tenors: David Price, Frank Wells, Peter Williams, John Antell, and Stephen Edwards, 2nd tenors: Russell Woodward and Lee Rees, Baritones: Craig Howells and Phil Cody and 2nd Bass Paul Carlson.
Many thanks are extended to all who helped to make the concert a great success, not least Mrs Kirton and Mrs Worwood for the beautiful flower arrangements, to the ladies at the ticket table and those selling raffle tickets and CDs, to Richard Drinkwater, manager of Caldicot Leisure Centre and his staff, the wives and girlfriends of the choristers for their support, all those who set up the staging and cleared up afterwards and last but not least the bar staff at the Choir Hall.