St David’s Day Concert – 22 February 2026
The 2026 St David’s Day concert took place at a new venue the James Tatoulis Auditorium at Methodist Ladies College in Kew. Gratifyingly, the auditorium was sold out and patrons stood for the opening Welsh National Anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of my Fathers).
Compère Drew Hopkins welcomed everybody and introduced Mary O’Driscoll, Ballarat accompanist, and the musical director Rushan Hewawasam. The first bracket of Welsh tunes was Rachie, Calon Lân (A Pure Heart) and Bryn Calfaria (Calvary Hill). The second bracket was Ar Hyd y Nos (All Through the Night) with the choir led by a fine solo by Drew. Next was Ar Lan y Môr (By the Seaside) and Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn (Watching the White Wheat). This was followed by Ti a Dy Ddoniau (You and your Wiles) with a sensitive duet by tenors Mike Gooey and Rhys Parry.
Drew then introduced Tony Davies, the president, who acknowledged the choir’s hugely important major sponsor the Gross Foundation represented by their main trustee Mr Peter Silcocks and his wife. Another major donor, for Vic Welsh and all the other Welsh choirs, is the Melbourne Welsh Church and Tony acknowledged their generous support represented by the secretary Christine Boomsma and the minister Rev. Siôn Gough Hughes. They also organise the annual Gymanfa Ganu at St Paul’s Cathedral and this will take place on Saturday 28 February.
Tony conveyed condolences to the Jewish community and restated the choir’s abhorrence of racism and violence anywhere in the world. The choir was welcoming to all faiths, ethnicities and communities including LGBTIQA+.
He also acknowledged other choirs’ musical directors in the audience – Jeanette John from Geelong Welsh Ladies and Mitch Meyer from Melbourne Welsh. Today’s concert was the first in a week celebrating St David’s Day with the Gymanfa on the 28th and Melbourne Welsh’s concert on March 1. Australian Welsh’s MD Tom Buchanan was not present but Tony, on behalf of VicWelsh sent their congratulations to Tom and his wife on their new baby.
Coincidentally the next song, Sosban Fach, told the story of a house of chaos, quite often the case with a new baby. The audience happily clapped along with this very lively tune.
Rushan then took the mic and turned to the audience as soloist in the poignant welcoming song Unwaith Eto’n Nghymru Annwyl (Once again in Dear Wales). Showcasing his musical talents, he then sat down at the piano to accompany the choir in his own new arrangement of the classic Cwm Rhondda.
Immediately after the interval, Rushan again mentioned the Bondi tragedy and dedicated the next song Bashana Habana (In the next Year) to the Jewish community.
Drew then introduced our second accompanist Janice Hayoon Noh and the first song from the musicals – Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love. This was followed by Anthem from Chess and then the dramatic Stars from Les Misérables. As the rain started outside it was fitting that the next tune was Carly Simon’s Let the River Run from Working Girl. Next was a piece of nostalgia for choristers and many in the audience , featuring Sealed with a Kiss, He ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother and the lyrically challenging but rousing Da Do Ron Ron, along with plenty of audience participation.
This was followed by Save the Last Dance for Me which was dedicated to bass Barry McMahon in memory of his recently deceased wife Val.
Drew thanked all the musicians by name before introducing the final bracket comprising three well-known operatic pieces sung in three different languages. Firstly, Wagner’s Pilgrims’ Chorus, then Au Fond du Temple Saint (In the Depths of the Holy Temple) from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, set in Sri Lanka. Lastly the show-stopping Nessun Dorma (None shall Sleep). This was very warmly applauded by the sold-out assembly and the inevitable encore elicited great acclaim. By the sheer volume of singing and applause there was no doubt that anybody was sleeping.