Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir
Draws Standing Ovations in Europe
By EIFION WILLIAMS
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PHOTO CREDIT: Curt Dickson
DURING their recent successful tour of Eastern Europe the Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir performed in the beautiful church of St. Simon and St.Juda in Prague. The choir's rendition of the Czech National Anthem brought some in the audience to tears.
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The Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir spent 12 days in June on a very successful three-country tour of Central Europe. According to VWMC President Donald Blake the choir, with Music Director Jonathan Quick, accompanist David Buchan and soprano soloist Jennifer Driscoll-Holmes, played to capacity crowds in several historic venues.
The tour began in Berlin's Hochmeisterkirche where the choir gave a joint concert with local mixed choir Berliner Singegemeinschaft, drawing several standing ovations from the audience.
The concert raised a significant amount for charity. The choir then travelled south to Dresden for a joint concert with the Bergsteiger Choir, an a capella male choir originally formed by a group of mountain climbers.
The VWMC's performance at the venerable Annenkirche again received a rousing reception from the audience.
The choir's next concert was in Prague's Concert Hall of St. Simon and St. Juda, home to the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
This was shared with a local women's choir, which Don Blake describes as having "lovely voices that fit perfectly with the baroque interior of the Hall."
He says the VWMC's singing of the Czech National Anthem reduced the choir's Czech guides to tears while the soaring soprano voice of Jennifer Driscoll-Holmes was particularly suited to this beautiful venue.
The highlight of the choir's visit to Austria was a 20-minute midday performance in Salzburg Cathedral, one of the most impressive cathedrals north of the Alps, where the choir performed a sacred repertoire that included Schubert's Sanctus, sung in German, and Eli Jenkins' Prayer from Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood.
Later that evening the choir performed to another packed audience in the parish church in the Alpine village of Abtenau.
The choir's last concert was in the little town of Ybbs am der Donau, sharing the stage with the local choir Mannergesanverein Ybbs in a benefit concert for the children of Chernobyl, a cause which the town has enthusiastically embraced. According to Don Blake the VWMC performance helped raise 6,000 euros for the children of Chernobyl.
The choir members rave about the exceptional hospitality they received from the people and council of Ybbs as well as the beautiful concert hall which boasted one wall of floor-to-ceiling windows through which they could view passing boats on the Danube.
The VWMC ended the tour with a relaxing two-day stay in Vienna. Choir members will long remember the warmth of their reception by their German, Czech and Austrian hosts.
The choir's next concert will be at St. Mary's Church in Chilliwack on September 27 at 2 PM. Information on this and all future VWMC concerts can be obtained from the choir's website www.vwmc.ca.
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