Final preparations are underway for a special Spring concert to be staged by one of Chester’s top choirs which will showcase the talents of students from one of the UK’s leading Performing Arts schools.
The concert “A Festival of Song”, will be staged by The City of Chester Male Voice Choir on Saturday 13th April at The Hammond School, Hoole Bank House in Chester at 7.30pm. The choir will be joined by students from the School as well as special guest, popular Chester based violinist Phillip Chidell.
With a theme for their own programme of “love” the choir will showcase several exceptional undergraduate students from the School’s Musical Theatre degree course. Violinist Philip Chidell is well known for his performances in Chester city centre where he entertains local residents and visitors alike. A graduate of The Royal Northern College of Music, Phillip was the youngest pupil of the illustrious Chethams School of Music in Manchester when he joined at just 8 years of age. Philip will accompany the choir in one of its new pieces, a song from the American Musical, “The Civil War”, called Tell My Father which organisers promise will be a real tear jerker.
The concert at The Hammond School is the first major event of 2019 for the choir in what will be another busy year which will include competing in the prestigious North Wales Choral Festival Competition in Llandudno, hopefully building on their successes of 2013 and 2017. The choir is also looking foward to staging its Autumn Festival concert at Chester Town on Saturday 19th October with special guest the renowned Welsh Tenor Rhys Meirion. Originally from Tremdog in Gwynedd, Ruthin based Rhys Meirion has sung with English National Opera and performed for many illustrious opera companies and at venues around the World including West Australian Opera and Stadische Buhnen in Germany, as well as appearing in concert in Barbados and Ottawa. Rhys has appeared regularly at The Royal Albert Hall in London including the opening night of the BBC Proms in 2001 and several televised concerts from venues including the Royal Festival Hall.
Always keen to welcome new members, the choir has recently been successful in gaining some new voices to join its ranks and the new recruits were recently formally welcomed by outgoing Chairman Ron Webster as he completed his two year term of office. Incoming Chairman John Walsh paid tribute to the work carried out by Ron saying ‘We’ve had a great two years under Ron’s Chairmanship and have developed the choir in so many ways in collaboration with our MD and with the support of a hard working Committee. We are now looking forward to building on that success with another busy year ahead”. Full details of The City Of Chester Male Voice Choir and how to get involved can be found at chestermalevoice.com
Tickets for “A Festival of Song” are priced to include interval refreshments and concert programme at £12.50 for adults and £8.50 for under 18’s and full time students. Tickets can be bought on line at your box office or by telephone on 07894 509529. Tickets are also available from the Visitor Information Centre at Chester Town Hall.