Castlemaine Festival

“Two wonderful performances”

On 3rd April we made our fourth visit in a decade to Castlemaine, this time to take part in the Castlemaine Festival.  We presented two performances:

A wide repertoire of the choir’s much-adored Welsh and English choral tunes, opera choruses, spirituals and popular songs from musicals. Soloists were Roger Bartlett, Ambrose Morgan, Drew Hopkins, Ed Hughes and the Bendigo Balladeers (Wayne Blandford, Rob Hopman and Ken Simpson, accompanied on recorder by Rob’s wife Merle).

Diary of a Welsh Swagman – a specially-created response to the 2011 Castlemaine Festival’s focus on storytelling.  Tenor Drew Hopkins told the story of Joseph Jenkins, who carried his swag around northern Victoria for 25 years in the late 19th century. The narrative was built around extracts from his comprehensive and illuminating diaries, read by Tony Davies, and punctuated by a selection of appropriate songs from the choir. Soloists were Stephen Lynn, Gordon Parsons, Roger Bartlett, Barry McMahon and Bob Ash.

Afterwards the organisers wrote “Congratulations on two wonderful performances on Sunday!”