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Dunvant Male Choir (Welsh: Côr Meibion Dyfnant) is the oldest continuously singing Welsh choir and is based in Dunvant, Swansea, Wales.[2][3]
| Dunvant Male Choir | |
|---|---|
| Choir | |
| Also known as | Côr Meibion Dyfnant |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Genre | Male Choral Singing |
| President | D Byron Lewis, CVO, KstJ, FCA |
| Music director | Jonathan Rogers[1] |
| Rehearsal space | Ebenezer Chapel, Dunvant, Swansea |
| Website | https://www.dunvantchoir.wales/ |
History edit
The choir was founded in 1895,[2] in the country traditionally known as the "land of song".[4] Singing in harmony is synonymous with the Welsh choir and Wales has a history of using music as a primary form of communication.[4]
The arrival of the railway in 1867 changed Dunvant and its surrounding villages forever. It allowed the development of the coal seams in the area, local quarries, brick works and an iron foundry. It attracted people to move into the village and with the spread of new housing, to triple the size of the village. By good fortune the station master at Dunvant on the London and North Western Railway, Mr Isaac Peters (Station Master 1880–1892), was a man of some musical talent and he stirred the musical interests of the village by leading a mixed choir at Siloam Chapel and using the station waiting room for rehearsals of the Killay and Dunvant united choir.[5]
As the number of villagers grew so did the need for Dunvant to have its own chapel, and Ebenezer was built in 1872, expanded in 1882 and rebuilt in 1893, becoming the heart of the village.
As more villagers attended Ebenezer and the great religious revival of the 1890s took hold,[dubious ] David Evans of Three Crosses who had trained under Joseph Parry, was a fine tenor and had won several eisteddfod prizes, started a small male-only group at Ebenezer and also formed Gowerton Male Choir around 1890.
This was developed by Thomas Coslett Richards, father of the well-known Dunvant painter Ceri Richards, who drew male members of Ebenezer and other chapel choirs to form the Dunvant Ebenezer Excelsior Male Voice Choir in 1895 and laid the foundation for its success in local eisteddfods, taking 1st prize at the Gwyn Hall in Neath in 1901[6] and being presented with an oak chair that is in Ebenezer Chapel to this day.
The choir's 125th anniversary concert was postponed due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and was eventually held in April 2022 in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. The choir's activities during the pandemic were described in a BBC Radio Wales documentary called Still Singing: Dunvant Male Choir.
A statement to prospective members reads, “You do not have to be a trained singer or be able to read music, all you need is to enjoy singing and be willing to learn”.[7]
Discography edit
Albums
| Release date | Title | Label and catalogue number |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | "With A Voice of Singing" | EMI / Dunvant Male Choir CDBM2022 |
| 1980 | "Harmony and Humour" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD06 |
| 1981 | "Feast of Song" / "Gwledd o Gan" | Sain SCD 7013 |
| 1986 | "The Power and the Glory" | Grasmere / Dunvant Male Choir CDBM560 |
| 1999 | "There is a Land" | Black Mountain / Dunvant Male Choir CDBM4001 |
| 2001 | "A Child Is Born" | C&A Ltd / Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD03 |
| 2003 | "Moments In Time" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD01 |
| 2003 | "You Make Me Feel So Young" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD02 |
| 2004 | "Your Favourite Songs" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD04 |
| 2005 | "Return To Gower" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD03 |
| 2007 | "Remember The Voice" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD05 |
| 2011 | "Brangwyn Memories" | Black Mountain / Dunvant Male Choir CDBM 3015 |
| 2012 | "A Christmas Concert" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD07 |
| 2016 | "Prince of the Apple Towns" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD08 |
| 2018 | "For The Fallen" | Dunvant Male Choir DUNCD09 |
Flash mobs edit
The choir is increasingly well-known for several flash mob performances when they have arrived at random locations around the City of Swansea and performed unannounced. The choir has performed in the Quadrant Shopping Centre, Swansea Marina, on the seafront at Mumbles and more recently in Swansea Market.[8] and St David's Shopping Centre, Cardiff.
Tours edit
One visit that has resulted in the choir's great friendship was in 1965 with Sangervereinigung 1866 Essen Burg Altendorf visit to Dunvant, with a return visit to Germany and the Menin Gate, Ypres in 1966.
In 2015 the choir celebration 50 years of friendship with the choir when it performed in Burg Altendorf Church and the Philharmonie Hall, Essen.
The choir embarked on its first North American tour in 1985 when it travelled with a young Bryn Terfel as a soloist. Further tours saw the choir visit Toronto, Ottawa, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Washington State, Seattle, Portland Oregon and a tour to Singapore in 2012.
August 2024 sees a planned tour to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in partnership with the North American Festival of Wales.
Young Singer of the Year competition edit
The choir launched "The Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer of the Year" competition in 2003 and it's taken place every year except 2019 due to national lockdowns. The name changed in 2020 and the Young Singer competition was born. The competition supports young singers from the Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire areas and offers a cash prize and the chance to sing with the choir in a concert.
In 2005, Hayley Gallivan won the competition and is went on to be an understudy for Elphaba in Wicked.
Connie Fisher won the competition 2006, she followed this up by winning the BBC One talent contest How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, subsequently opening as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in the West End of London.
Ben Joyce won in 2017 and went on to star as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys [9] in the Trafalgar Theatre in the West End of London. Ben more recently took on the lead role of Marty McFly in the West End production of Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre[10]
Notes edit
- ^ "About Us". Dunvant Male Choir. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ a b Rogers, Jude (24 April 2021). "'We were determined Covid wouldn't finish us off': the Welsh choir who sang through the pandemic". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Rogers, Jude (1 Feb 2011). "'Welsh male voice choirs: a vocal minority': Welsh male voice choirs: a vocal minority". The Guardian. London.
- ^ a b Davies (2008), pg 579.
- ^ Evans (1992), pg 197.
- ^ Evans (1992), pg 199.
- ^ Holland, Maureen (21 Dec 2015). "Voices from the Land of Song". cmuse. London.
- ^ Harrison, Rhodri (14 Feb 2022). "Male voice choir break into song inside Swansea Market". Wales Online. Swansea.
- ^ Rogers, Harry (2 May 2022). "Living the dream: Jersey Boys star Ben Joyce on the pressure and joy of playing Frankie Valli in London". Group Leisure and Travel. London.
- ^ Mayo, Douglas (13 Jul 2022). "Ben Joyce and Amber Davies join the new cast members of the award-winning Back To The Future musical at the Adelphi Theatre". London Theatre Week. London.
References edit
- Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
- Evans, Gareth (1992). Dunvant: Portrait of a Community. Swansea: Stowefields Publications. ISBN 9780951910207.