Review of RMC Concert for Pontllanfraith Rotary Club
Saturday 16th March 2024, at Islwyn High School
One of the joys of singing with RMC is the opportunity it gives to perform alongside a variety of other musicians, in a variety of contexts. Though our own programme was almost the same as at the St David’s Hospice event in St Basil’s Church two weeks ago, this was a very different experience.
Pontllanfraith Rotary Club had invited us to sing for their annual concert, alongside students from Islwyn High School led by their Head of Music, Katey Day. Entry was free, but the audience were invited to make a donation to raise funds for some staging to be used in their hall.
RMC opened with two solid numbers, Let all men sing and Hodie! (soloist, Andy Jenkins). We achieved the contrasts and forward motion that Matt is looking for, and the final climaxes were full without being over loud.
The school choir (of around 35 students) then sang Banaha, a traditional Congolese song, accompanied by piano, bass guitar and percussion, followed by the first of several songs from the shows, Waiting on a miracle, from ‘Encanto’. A young soloist, Lacey Leadbetter, performed I’m here from ‘The Colour Purple’ with a very assured sense of style; we heard how Lacey is progressing through stages of a competition for music theatre. At times, I felt, the instrumental bass was a bit too loud, and threatened to overwhelm the sound of these young voices.
After a couple of familiar Welsh items, Anfonaf angel and Yma o hyd, from RMC, the school choir was back with two numbers from ‘Bugsy Malone’. Then the band performed the Pink Panther theme tune; the xylophone soloist appeared in a Pink Panther costume and made a great comic show of positioning his instrument and trying to hand his sticks to members of the audience. RMC closed the first half with I’m going up a yonder and World in union (soloist, Andy Jenkins).
After the interval, RMC was back with Dylan Thomas’ Sunset Poem (with Dave Tutton reading the poem) and O Gymru! Then the school choir sang Katey Day’s arrangement of Calon Lân during which I could definitely hear RMC choristers humming along! The band then played two more of her arrangements with great gusto, Thunderstruck by AC/DC and Cantina Band from ‘Star Wars’.
Next a first performance from RMC – Sing your way home by Joseph Martin. We had been working on this since January, but with interruptions from Côr Cymru and the Usk Choral Festival. It was good to feel that it was now ready to perform. We are finding the right flow and warmth for this to be a very effective addition to our repertoire. Hiraeth is one of our competition pieces and a real test of blend, balance and tuning, but we are getting there.
The school choir returned with two songs from ‘Annie’, It’s a hard knock life and Tomorrow. They are preparing to stage the whole show in the Newbridge Memo in July, so this was a preview of the energy and enthusiasm they will bring to that. Seated behind them we couldn’t see a lot, but there was clearly a lot of drama going on between the soloists out front! Lacey then sang Don’t rain on my parade, making a dramatic entrance from the back of the hall.
Two more competition pieces from RMC, Drunken Sailor and Gwinllan a roddwyd, closed our programme, followed by a joint rendition of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (with excellent soloists Trevor Baker, Dave Tutton and Ian Meredith).
The hall at Islwyn High School is a pleasant venue, but the acoustic is quite dry, so we had to make extra efforts to listen to one another, and to trust that however it sounded to us individually, the audience were getting a good sound.
A special mention must go to our accompanist for the evening, Dan Thomas, who stepped in at the last minute on just one rehearsal. He followed Matt’s direction very well, and gave the choir just the right energy and support so that we could sing with confidence.
A further special mention is needed for our stalwart Bass section, who held their own very well, though only four strong. Overall the result was ‘Supercalifragilistic …’!
A final note of thanks from Katey Day, who wrote afterwards: ‘It was an honour to share the stage with you, and for the children to experience the big sound from the choir was awesome!’
Robin Grayson- Baritone,
Concert Coordinator, Patrons’ Administrator
