Risca Male Choir - Blog #24
Almost a full 2 years since I began with these monthly blogs and I am still going strong!
I’d like to thank you for taking time out of your months to read these – we at Risca Male Choir fully appreciate your responses to the blogs. Please do keep the engagements going as it really helps us boost our profile!
We held our two open rehearsals in March – unfortunately, the attendance was not what we had hoped for, but we still had an enjoyable couple of evenings spent having tea and biscuits (thank you to the Ladies’ section for helping out with that).
If you wanted to come, but could not attend, fear not! For we always welcome new members whatever the day, month, weather, anything! Please contact our committee to express interest in joining our choir and we will provide full details of how to do so. You can find more information throughout our brilliant website: riscamalechoir.co.uk
We have missed performing to audiences the last couple of years, but the coming months look particularly busy. We are working hard on our repertoire and very much looking forward to presenting our work at events, concerts and any other performance situation we have coming up.
Welsh Musicians of the Month - Cerddorion Cymreig y Mis
We continue with this new section by introducing two new artists.
Bryan Davies (1934-2011)
Mr Davies, who was from Ferndale, Rhondda, was vice-president of the Welsh Music Guild. He spent more than 30 years working as a teacher before taking early retirement in 1998.
In 1989 he was contracted to RWCMD as a vocal and instrumental coach. He would accompany masterclasses by stars like Dennis O’Neill, Brigitte Fassbänder, Wen Zhou Li and Raphael Wallfisch.
During a long and distinguished career as an accompanist, he played for Dame Gwyneth Jones, Stuart Burrows, Sir Bryn Terfel, Gail Pearson, Rebecca Evans, Gwyn Hughes Jones, Jason Howard, Robert Lloyd and Donald McIntyre, as well as for Wales’ leading choirs.
He made a notable contribution to the repertoire of the Welsh male voice choir. More recently he provided CD booklet notes for recording labels like Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos and Universal.
Catatonia
Comprised of vocalist Cerys Matthews,
guitarist/vocalist Mark Roberts,
guitarist Owen Bradley,
bassist Paul Jones,
and drummer Aled Richards,
Catatonia was formed in Cardiff, Wales in the early 90s. Matthews and Roberts used to busk together in Cardiff before officially forming the band.
4 studio albums, with International Velvet (1998) and Equally Cursed and Blessed (1999) reaching number 1 in the UK album charts.
In September, frontwoman Cerys Matthews announced her departure from Catatonia. She had bouts with exhaustion and anxiety in recent months and a well-deserved break was in order. The remaining members of the band continued their career, but not under the Catatonia name.