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A
near capacity audience at St Mary's were treated to a great
evening's entertainment on Saturday night by the Moriston
RFC Male Voice Choir, the Ross-on-Wye Town Band and soprano,
Jennifer Walker.
Starting
as all public performances used to start with rousing national
anthems, audience and performers filled their their lungs
to The Queen and Cwm Rhondda. The Town Band kicked off with
a lively medley by John Miles followed by All I Ask of You
from the Phantom of the Opera, in which the solo arranged
for euphonium was beautifully played by Jo Handley. The
first set finished with an arrangement of the favourite
evensong hymn The Day Thou Gavest.
The
choir, in splendid voice, then treated us to Roman War Song
by Richard Wagner, Let there be Peace on Earth and the Soldier's
Chorus from Gounod's Faust.
Jennifer
Walker and her accompanist Jan Tubb then came on, and pausing
to allow the church clock to strike eight, gave us two lovely
arias: O Sleep from Handel's opera Semele followed by Mozart's
Una Donna a Quindici Anni from Cosi fan Tutte. This was
Jennifer's third appearance in Ross this year, having sung
in Ross Choral Society's summer concert A Night at the Opera
and a lunchtime recital in the Ross Live! Festival.
Coming
up to the interval, the choir's dead-pan compere Robert
Harwood, after making light of what must have been keenly-felt
regret at the events earlier in the day at The Millennium
Stadium, explained that their third number was the South
African anthem Sikele Africa to be sung in Welsh, Zulu and
Xhosa dialects, which could all have been Welsh as far as
most of the audience were concerned I suspect. I wonder
if the South African connection was entirely coincidental
in a week when England had received such a drubbing from
the Springboks.
After
the interval, the Town Band returned with the Brideshead
Theme and an arrangement of the well-known Concerto de Aranjuez
by Rodrigo where the guitar solo was played by Hazel Duncan
on the Flugelhorn. This instrument has a mellower voice
than its cousin the trumpet and Hazel gave an assured performance
where much nimbleness is required. It is good to know that
the band has two such accomplished performers as Hazel and
Jan.
Following
a set by the choir including I'm Gonna Walk and an arrangement
by their musical director D Huw Rees of the Perry Como hit
Nice 'n' Easy, Jennifer Walker moved into the twentieth
century with the well-known Summertime from Porgy and Bess
with its testing high C entry and I Could have Danced all
Night from My Fair Lady.
Band
and choir combined in the Chorus of Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco
and the concert finished with audience and choir singing
Cwm Rhondda from the English text provided in the programme
and a final Land of my Fathers in Welsh.
The
concert, which was hosted by the Town Band, reinforced the
friendly connection between choir and band which originated
in May last year when the choir first visited. They clearly
enjoy the welcome they receive and we can expect a very
enjoyable evening of music-making to become a regular event
in the town.
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