National Celtic Festival – Côr Bach

Our broader-based Celtic theme at our St David’s Day concert stood us in good stead as we gave the Portarlington Celtic Festival fans a good taste of just what a Welsh male choir could do.

The noontime show at Parks Hall revealed a large and musically aware audience who very much appreciated the choir’s broad range, from traditional Welsh hymns, modern arrangements and Celtic favourites.

Informative and witty compering duties were shared by John Evans, Stephen Pepper, Tony Davies and Drew Hopkins. Ambrose Morgan got patrons laughing with his clever version of Hymns and Arias and Musical Director Faleiry Koczkar skilfully involved the audience early on with some spirited chorus singing.

There were marvellous solos from Ed Hughes, Drew Hopkins, Rushan Hewawasam (with his own arrangement of Carrickfergus), Barry McMahon and Graeme Sanderson and a very well-modulated duet from Drew and Jonathan Melland on Waltzing Matilda.

The afternoon show at St John’s Church was equally well-received with patrons asking for more at the end of the allotted hour. The musical program was nearly the same as the earlier show with the addition of The Anvil Chorus, complete with anvilist Colin Evans, and a humorous but instructive Welsh lesson by native speaker Stephen.

Speaking after our first performance our host complimented us on our quality and musicality as well as the breadth of our repertoire, and it was evident by the applause that Festival fans very much agreed.  It was an absolute pleasure to be part of the Festival where we are sure we made a lot of new friends by showing the Welsh flag, both literally and musically.