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The Rhymney Silurian Male Choir was formed
in 1951 and swiftly established a reputation for the quality of
its performance and variety of its repertoire. The desire to embrace
musical innovation has been its trademark throughout it history.
There have been three main areas of development for the choir, competition,
concert and international friendship and exchanges. Over its first 50 year history the Choir has never rested of its laurels, to do so would have resulted in a musical decline. On the competition stage the Choir has amassed no fewer than four National Eisteddfod five championships, Cheltenham Choral Gold Cup and Cornish open Champions to name but a few. The repertoire of Male choirs have been enhanced and enriched with the commissioning of music from composers such as Mervyn Burtch and the late William Mathias. Balanced against this strive for perfection through the musical disciple of competitions the choir has also channelled its energies into the promotion and support through concerts of various national and international charities, such as heart and cancer appeal funds. It had even been invited to support a Royal Gala concert at the theatre in Windsor and even a concert Eton College under the Chairmanship of a certain Terry Wogan. One of the choir’s major projects in the late1980’s was the support given following the Mexican Earth Quake disaster when it made a topical football record to coincide with the Mexican World Cup and donated all profits to the Children’s Orphanage fund headed by our ambassador and also the Placido Domingo Fund. During the last twenty-five years and not content to achieve mere national success the choir embarked on a vigorous international programme. Through this programme the choir has been carrying the flag of the “Welsh Male Choir Tradition”. It not only performed abroad (the latest count is 8 countries) but brought overseas choirs and their music to Wales. The Choir currently has links with choirs in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Norway Denmark and Finland. Its links are not only with Choirs for it has positively assisted a young Romanian Singer Adina Nitescu a competitor at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Adina Nitescu stated in a television interview that there was a dearth of operatic scores in the Rumania , so the choir sponsored her with a number of scores. Again as a result of its links with a choir from Finland it was able to take a young Finish soprano Soile Isokoski out from the pressures of the competition. Both are now internationally established with Soile Isokoski winning critical acclaim at Covent Garden and the Met. New York and even radios Classic fm with her recording of the Richard Strauss “Four Last songs” These all round qualities have been recognised with the Choir having been selected to sing for the President of the then Federal Republic of Germany during his state visit to the United Kingdom, together with being awarded with the W S Gwynn Williams (founder of Llangollen International Eisteddfod) Award for its achievements and contribution to Welsh Culture. Since the inception of the award the Silurians had for many years been the only Male Choir to have been so honoured. The Rhymney Silurians Male Choir is an active member of the South Wales Branch of the Welsh Association of Male Choirs www.welsh.association.male.choirs.ukgateway.net and The Welsh Amateur Music Federation, (WAMF) www.tycerdd.org (the amateur arm of the Arts Council of Wales). Although the Choir has been in existence for so long it was only in the last 15 or so years that it has committed its music to record and cassette. The Choir is now proud to announce that in addition to the two existing cassettes a CD entitled "The best of Rhymney Silurians" is available. The CD has been very well received and information on how to obtain the CD and cassettes is possible through the "Contact Us page" (see above) |
