Cantorion Llandeilo Singers will perform a Charity Memorial Concert at St Teilo’s Church in Llandeilo on Saturday, 23 February, 2019, in memory of one of the choir’s founding members.

Tom Williams, who farmed at Tygwyn in Llandeilo, died in October 2018. Mr Williams was a key member of the choir from its inception in 1989, and his family have chosen to sponsor the concert in his memory. Works which he loved – Fauré’s Requiem and Cantique de Jean Racine – will be the main focus of the concert, plus the Requiem by the French composer Duruflé. Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to Parkinson’s UK and to the Llandeilo mayor’s charity of the year, Tenovus.

Some fine soloists have been engaged for the concert: Flora York Skinner (mezzo-soprano) will sing in the Duruflé accompanied by Dr William Reynolds (organ). Robert Glyndwr Garland (baritone) who trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and is currently a member of the Royal Academy of Music Opera School, will sing in the Duruflé and in Fauré’s Requiem along with Llandeilo’s own Helen Pugh (soprano). The Tywi Chamber Orchestra will include Llywelyn Ifan Jones (harp) and Kirsten Miller (cello).

The choir started in 1989 when singers from Llandeilo Parish Church Choir and the Llandovery-based Brianne Singers got together to form a four-part chamber choir, initially called the St Teilo Singers. The choir’s present musical director, Gordon Kilby, renamed the choir Cantorion Llandeilo Singers, and it now has a membership of 60 voices including several original members. He has taken the choir through some challenging and exciting works including Brahms’ German Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, and John Rutter’s Requiem. Later in 2019 he will be seeking collaboration with other choirs to perform Puccini’s Messe di Gloria and Sullivan’s Festival Te Deum.

As well as long-standing members, the choir has attracted new voices from Llandeilo and further afield, and always welcomes new singers. If you would like to join this vibrant choir, then phone 01558 685542, or just turn up for a rehearsal on a Monday night at 7.30 p.m. at St Teilo’s Church, SA19 6BH. There are no auditions.

‘What makes a choir is a group of people who blend together well – you don’t want a choir of soloists,’ says conductor Gordon Kilby. ‘It’s not about having the best voice, or being able to read music, all we ask is that you want to sing – and learn.’

Tickets £12 are available from Peppercorn in King Street, Llandeilo, from choir members, by phoning 01558 685542, or at the door. The concert starts at 7.30 p.m. There will be a licensed wine bar.