Geelong with Geelong Ladies Choir

We were delighted to be asked to share a concert entitled “Sing into Spring” with the Geelong Ladies on September 16th on their home ground at the Wesley Uniting Church.

VicWelsh started the concert with some Welsh favourites then presented two new works – Pemulwuy and Our Cities Face The Sea – which we had learned as part of the Australasian choirs’ performance at the Choir of the World mega-concert in London in early July.

The ladies continued with a selection including the upbeat Rhythm of Life and the beautiful Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn. The first half closed with both choirs joining together on The Rose and the uplifting Yr Utgorn (The Trumpet) complete with a young local trumpeter.

The ladies recommenced with a bracket including You Raise Me Up and the lullaby Suo Gân. VicWelsh sang Myfanwy a capella then, by way of complete contrast, Drew Hopkins and John Hales led the choir with a spirited performance of Cherchez La Femme (the irony of which was not lost on our hosts!).

Local soprano Emma Lamb featured in the Les Mis medley before the choirs combined on I Am Australian. The finale was a special arrangement of Waltzing Matilda with soloists Drew Hopkins and Graham Warner (who also shared the compering duties). It was a wonderful experience to sing with such a professional ladies choir and the capacity audience held nothing back at the end in showing its appreciation of a wonderfully wide-ranging concert.