Ballarat
“Loved audience participation. Enjoyed stories and jokes”
“Well done (as it always is)”
“Very well rehearsed. Wonderful pianist.”
“So glad I finally made a performance.”
“Nothing like the mellowness of a male choir.”
“Have heard the choir before and I loved the performance so had to come again”
We were delighted to be hosted by the Ballarat Uniting Church for the fifth time in ten years to sing in the soaring acoustics of the Lydiard Street Church.
Tenor Gordon Parsons gently set the Welsh tone on We’ll Keep a Welcome. This was followed by the patriotic O Gymru, the classic Blaenwern and the old favourite Cwm Rhondda. Ambrose Morgan had the congregation chortling at the imagined frustrations of a group of Welsh rugby visitors, with patrons happy to join in with the choruses of Hymns and Arias.
Then a more serious bracket with Ed Hughes transcendently leading the choir in Latin on Gounod’s setting of the ancient hymn Sanctus. Y Tangnefeddwyr (The Peacemakers) was next, exploring the anguish of the poet’s pacifist parents when their hometown Swansea was bombed in WWII. Equally tender was the choir’s rendition of The Rose, as well as You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel, but, as compère Bob Ash quipped, the latter was also a song which had been very successfully adopted by Liverpool Football Club. Next, bass-baritone Roger Bartlett stepped up to the microphone to set the scene and to showcase his impressive vocal range on Let Me Fall, from Cirque du Soleil.
The last bracket before interval had the common topic of slavery with Speed Your Journey and Battle Hymn of the Republic with very committed audience participation on the final chorus. It was so good everyone had to do it again before a well-earned rest.
The second half started with the stentorian Men of Harlech, sung in Welsh by the choir and then in English with the enthusiastic audience joining in with the help of the words in the program. The choir’s own stupendous commissioned work Land of my Song by Paul Jarman came next with outstanding solos by Bob Ash and Geoff Roberts. This was followed by another Jarman favourite, the vocally challenging Pemulwuy.
Versatile and hard-working Bob then echoed what many expatriates feel about their adopted country with a finely modulated Shelter by Eric Bogle. The old favourite Amazing Grace followed, before a Welsh love song Yfory (Tomorrow) and then the marvellously emotive Working Man with fine soloist Geoff Serpell.
Another of the choir’s talented soloists Roger Bartlett retook the stage with the winsome Homeward Bound and then the choir fired up for the finale with four famous operatic choruses: Soldiers’ Chorus from Gounod’s Faust preceded The March of the Toreadors from Bizet’s Carmen (in French) with a spirited solo by Barry McMahon. Then the choir showed its linguistic versatility by launching into the fifth different language of the afternoon – this time Italian in the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore complete with anvil-bashing (to time of course) by Col Evans. Then it was back to English for the challenging Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhäuser.
After sustained applause for a terrific concert, the choir came down to the tune of Men of Harlech before taking up position to sing their farewells to the assembled company with the haunting words of Sunset Poem.