Joint concert with Dunvant MVC

The audience at Wigton Road Methodist Church in Carlisle was treated to a real celebration of Male Voice Choir singing.

Dalston Male Voice Choir was joined by the excellent Dunvant Male Choir from Dunvant near Swansea in South Wales for a concert entitled ‘Two Choirs, One Voice’ or in Welsh ‘Dau Gorau, Un Llais’.

Dalston Male Voice Choir began the evening very appropriately with a performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘It’s a Grand Night for Singing.’ They followed this with four more songs which included a very lively performance of an American traditional version of Old MacDonald and a moving tribute to Remembrance ‘When the Boys Come Home.’ The range of songs demonstrated the versatility of the choir and the songs were sung to the choir’s usual high standard.

After this, Dalston Male Voice Choir continued its tradition of supporting young, up and coming musicians from the local area. On this occasion the musician was the very talented young pianist David Shingler who delighted the audience by ably performing 5 pieces in very different styles from periods ranging from the 17th Century music of Frobisher to the 20th Century music of Ireland and Gershwin.

The Dunvant Male choir, comprising about 60 voices, then took to the stage and excellently performed a selection of five pieces. The power of this large choir filled the church but their range of pieces, which included the unaccompanied ‘Eli Jenkin’s Prayer’ by A.D.H. Troyte, ‘There’s Nothing Like a Dame’ by Rodgers and Hammerstein and, very appropriately for Rugby World Cup Finals Weekend, ‘World in Union’, allowed them to very ably demonstrate their ability to sing with the full range of dynamics and very clear diction in both Welsh and English.

The evening came to a climax with both choirs performing four pieces together, two expertly conducted by Dalston’s musical director Michael Deakin and two equally expertly conducted by Dunvant’s musical director Jonathan Rodgers. Both pianists very skilfully accompanied two pieces each for the massed choirs. This section of the concert included a very powerful performance of Benedictus from ‘The Armed Man’ by Karl Jenkins which really demonstrated the ability of so many voices to sing quietly as well as loudly.

The concert finished with a lovely performance of ‘Speed your Journey’ from ‘Nabucco’ by Verdi. The very well deserved enthusiastic applause of the large audience persuaded the choirs to perform a final Welsh hymn as an encore. Susan Kydd