Guest Performers
Guest Performers at Annual Concerts
Risca Male Choir often collaborates with other talented artists at our events.
Here you can find out about our guest performers.
Sopranos
Cynthia Glover - 1973, 1974
Janet Price - 1975
Maryetta Midgley - 1977
April Cantelo - 1978
Merril Jenkins - 1979
Jennifer Rhys Davies - 1981, 2002
Suzanne Murphy - 1982
Maria Moll - 1986
Pamela Field - 1988
Elizabeth Vaughan - 1989
Patricia O’Neill - 1993
Gail Pearson - 1994
Jill Padfield - 1997
Cara O’Sullivan - 1999, 2001
Laura Parfitt - 2002, 2006
Julie Kennard - 2002, 2008, 2010
Samantha Hay - 2014
Emily Bennett - 2019
Mezzo-Sopranos
Della Jones - 1980
Beverley Humphreys - 1984
Eirion James - 1985
Leah-Marian Jones - 1992, 2004
Joanne Thomas - 1997, 2011
Kate Woolveridge - 2009
Tenors
Emlyn Ellis - 1973
Vernon Midgley - 1977
David Hillman - 1979, 1980
Ramon Remedios - 1984
Gwyn Hughes Jones - 1994
John Hudson - 1996, 1998, 2000
Robert Bourton - 1997
Bonaventura Bottone - 2003
Bruce Sledge - 2013, 2016
Baritones
John Lawrenson - 1974
Raimund Herinx - 1975
Eric Roberts - 1978
Delme Bryn Jones - 1979
John Rawnsley - 1983
Jason Howard - 1991, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015
Tim Rhys Evans - 1997
Darren Jeffrey - 2005
Seung-Wook Seong - 2006
Gary Griffiths - 2016, 2017
Basses
Forbes Robinson - 1981
Sir Willard White - 2000
Sean Rea - 1987
Robert Winslade Anderson - 2007
Michael George - 2008
Instrumentalists
Christopher Knott - 1980*
Stephen Rose - 1981, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2015
Ingrid Surgenor - 1982, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2015
Rosemary Barnes - 1983
Michael Pollock - 1984
Caryl Thomas (Harp) - 1985
John Querns - 1986
Jonathan Watts - 1987, 1988, 1990, 1995*
Julian Smith - 1989
Bryan Davies - 1997, 2004
Geoffrey Burford - 2003
Christopher Glynn - 2005, 2008
Gia Coppolo - 2007
Janice Ball - 2009
Jane Samuel - 2011
David Doidge - 2013, 2016
James Southall - 2014
Catherine Tanner-Williams (Oboe) - 2019
Caradog Williams - 2017
Christopher Williams - 2019
*Christopher Knott & Jonathan Watts accompanied the choir on many occasions, annual concerts, recordings, competitions and were inspirational in all that they did. Jonathan also accompanied RMC on the three trips to California as pianist and organist. His organ playing can be heard on many of our CDs.
Theme Shows Guest Artists
Risca Male Choir theme shows are quite unique and give an opportunity for choristers and local musicians to take part. The number of choristers who have featured as soloists over the years are too numerous to mention, but all have taken on solo roles and brought credit to themselves and to the choir.
Since 2006 we have been thrilled to have as regular guest artists, two Risca born musicians, actress/vocalist Sarah Jayne Hopkins and pianist Dan Thomas.
Both attended Risca Comprehensive School and Crosskeys College (now Coleg Gwent) and both furthered their studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
They made a great team appearing in all our subsequent theme shows and eventually decided to form a duo which they called Duality. They have become a very popular local group entertaining in a wide variety of venues throughout South Wales. In 2014 Duality was given an award for the best duo in Wales.
Dan Thomas
Dan has been actively involved in music from a young age. He studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, specialising in piano, and also had vocal coaching from Martin Hodson MBE. In addition, he studied Music Technology at the University of South Wales.
Dan’s musical passions embrace both performing and the technical aspect of music and production. He is also a DJ.
His initial training was as a classical pianist, but he has spent many years exploring other musical styles making him an extremely versatile performer. Dan is also an accomplished guitarist.
He is well known for his role in the duo Duality and more recently another duo, Vocal Force.
He performs as a soloist, part of a duo, part of bands, and has accompanied many instrumentalists, singers, and choirs. As a choral accompanist, Dan has worked frequently with Risca Male Choir apart from the theme shows, including a tour to Northern France and Belgium as the choir’s accompanist. (musicmandan.co.uk)
Sarah Jayne Hopkins
Sarah attended Risca Comprehensive School and Crosskeys College. She has been singing and acting professionally since she graduated from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2006, and is a past member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.
Some of her many stage appearances include: Natasha Master and Margarita, Lyric Hammersmith, Wicked Witch Hansel and Gretel, and multiple parts in Under Milk Wood.
Sarah can also be seen in TV and film roles, her favourite being the musical feature film Rain in which she played the lead role of Janey.
Sarah forms one half of the musical duo Duality. Sarah and her talented musical partner Dan Thomas have been entertaining audiences around the country for many years. In 2014 they won the award for best duo in Wales.
Sarah is now enjoying her most exciting role yet as a mother of two; Joseph born 2016, and her baby daughter Eira, born in 2020.
Some other soloists who have joined us for theme shows
Stephanie Benavente (vocalist)
Matthew Brind (keyboard)
Beverley Davies (vocalist)
Emma Hughes (soprano)
Sarah James (vocalist)
Anna Lacy (saxophone)
Leanne Masterton (vocalist)
Alys M Noakes (vocalist)
Derek Richards (actor)
Tina Seabourne (vocalist)
Katy Treharne (vocalist)
Percussion players including
Adrian Evans, James Harrison, Olly Thomas
Present choristers who have taken solo parts in theme shows
Trevor Baker, Kevin Cegielski, Alan Davis, Mark Knight Davies, Cliff Edwards, Chris Halford, Cliff James, Ian Meredith, George Morgan, Gareth Phelps, Geraint Price, Gerry Pritchard, *Steve Ramm, Martin Savery, Tim Stone, Leigh Tucker, Dave Tutton *Steve featured prominently as a soloist for many years.
In more recent times, even though we still find short solo parts for many choristers, two of our own have featured prominently. Andrew Jenkins (please see Accolades section) and his singing partner, tenor Henley Cegielski.
Henley Cegielski – Tenor
Henley comes from Blackwood where he now lives. He has been singing seriously, under the direction of Martin Hodson, since joining Risca Male Choir in 2008. He studied electronics at Crosskeys College and completed his studies with a B.Eng. degree at the University of Glamorgan. He now works in the electronics industry in Oakdale.
On starting his singing lessons he also joined Risca Male Choir. During his time with the choir he has appeared as soloist on many occasions and can be heard on a number of RMC’s live recordings. With the choir Henley has sung on tour as a soloist at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, the Mariacki Basilica in Krakow, the cathedrals at Ghent and Arras and at St Thomas’s Church, Leipzig, where he sang a solo during the Sunday morning Mass.
Henley has also sung with the Cwmbran-based mixed choir, Côr Aduniad, with whom he has performed a number of solos. In 2018, Henley made his stage debut in the show All Shook Up! for the Aberdare based society, Colstars. In 2019 he was given a lead part, playing Prince Peter in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Henley also appeared in Colstars production of The Wedding Singer. He enjoys singing virtually anything that is put in front of him, and his repertoire extends from music theatre items, through art songs to operatic solos. For Gwent Chorale Henley has performed as a soloist in Stainer’s The Crucifixion, The Pirates of Penzance and Mozart’s Missa Brevis in Bb. Henley continues to study with Martin Hodson.
Other musicians who have worked with Risca Male Choir
Stuart Burrows OBE (tenor)
Jill Harris (soprano)
Delme Bryn Jones (baritone)
Gareth Jones (conductor)
Catherine Zeta-Jones (singer/actress)
Peter Karrie (singer)
Ian Power (bass)
Carlo Rizzi (conductor)
Stephen Rooke (tenor)
Sir Bryn Terfel CBE (baritone)