A shared stage / Rhannu'r llwyfan gyda'r côr
Over the years Bridgend Male Choir has had the privilege of sharing the concert platform with both local and international choirs, musicians, singers and presenters including a few world famous artists.
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(2007 & 2013) Peter Karrie
born 10 August 1946, in Llanmaes, Llantwit Major and is an honorary fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He played the lead role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera in London, Toronto, Vancouver, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and on the UK Tour in Bradford, and Manchester. In 1994 and 1995 members of the Phantom of the Opera Appreciation Society voted him their favourite Phantom. Karrie was brought up in Wales, where he had radio and television shows on BBC Wales. He began his career as the lead singer of pop group Peter and the Wolves, and went on to star in several West End musical productions, including Les Misérables and Chess.
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Ann Fox (nee Humphreys)
daughter of Aldwyn Humphreys and niece of Gwynfor Humphreys (both founder members and previous musical directors of the choir), was originally a native of Caerau in the Llynfi Valley. Educated through the medium of Welsh at Ysgol Gymraeg Tŷ Derwen, Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen and Coleg Normal Bangor; where Ann studied Welsh, Music and Drama. A Soprano soloist with the Bridgend Male Choir for several years, Ann has many happy memories of concerts. Her fondest memory is of singing the solo part of Verdi’s “Virgin of the Angel Host” with the choir. Ann, a Cerdd Dant soloist and folk singing National Eisteddfod winner, was made an honorary vice president at the National Eisteddfod in Pen-coed (1998). Ann’s many other achievements have included Musical Directorship of Merched y Fro and Parti Bro Ogwr choirs In recent years Ann has served as a National adjudicator on a number of occasions and was chosen as president of the National Cerdd Dant society in 2008.
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(2005, 2007, 2008, 2011) The Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers
has appeared at numerous state occasions, Royal Tournaments, Edinburgh Military Tattoos and national sporting events. It has also played for the opening of some of this country's greatest engineering achievements; including The Channel Tunnel and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Despite various cutbacks, the Sappers have maintained an outstanding military band and also an excellent orchestra, and remains today one of the premier bands in the Army. It continually achieves wide public recognition through its many broadcasts, recordings and concert performances.
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(2007) Dafydd Iwan
has been at the forefront of the Welsh music scene since the early 60s, and came to prominence through his patriotic songs and his leading role in the Welsh language campaigns of the 60s and 70s. He was one of the founders of SAIN record company. Born in Brynaman, he graduated as an architect from The Welsh School of Architecture in 1968, but his political campaigning and singing has long overtaken his life as an architect. He has been a regular singer-composer since 1962, with 18 albums to his credit, plus videos and a DVD of his live performances, with his own Band and with folk-group Ar Log. He has composed over 200 songs, and has published several volumes of songs.
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(2009) Dennis O'Neill
born in Wales he can truly be called one of the operatic all-time greats. Since 1979, he's appeared in nearly every season at the Royal Opera House, and his distinguished career has included major appearances, particularly in the Verdi roles, at Munich, Vienna, the Met, Chicago, Berlin and Paris. He has retained a close and special relationship with the Welsh National Opera, for whom he has also served as a member of the board. His solo television series was enormously popular in the 1980s, his recordings remain leading examples of their kind, and in 2000 he was awarded the CBE for services to Opera and many other acknowledgment include the prestigious honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon.R.A.M) and the Order of St.John.
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(2007 & 2009) B T M Band
one of the most famous names in Welsh banding. The initials "BTM" stand for "Bedwas, Trethomas & Machen", three small mining villages in the South Wales valleys, and the BTM bandroom is located in Bedwas. As well as a busy contest schedule, the BTM Band undertakes a wide range of community-based performances such as hosting concerts at "The BTM Centre of Excellence", their own state-of-the-art facility. The band also places a strong emphasis on educational work, and ex-BTM Solo Euphonium player & British Open Solo Champion Mark Hutcherson has revived the Society's youth setup in the last few years, to great success.
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(2005 to 2008) Marcus Hopkin
BA(Hons), LRSM, ABSM started playing the piano at the late age of thirteen, and by the age of sixteen had achieved a distinction at Grade VIII. He then attended the Conservatoire in Birmingham where he studied singing and piano. Marcus has sung as a bass-baritone soloist in many oratorio works including Handel's Messiah, Schubert's Mass in E flat, and Haydn's Nelson Mass; and operas including Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Massenet's Manon. He is also a professional accompanist and a keen jazz pianist. Marcus is also a qualified secondary school teacher. He has been associated with many choirs as a soloist, accompanist and conductor; and previously worked as all three with the Choir.
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(2007) Joe Calzaghe, CBE
(born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, Ring magazine, and lineal super-middleweight titles, as well as the Ring light-heavyweight title. Calzaghe is the longest-reigning super-middleweight world champion in history, having held the WBO title for over 10 years and making 21 successful defences before moving up to light-heavyweight. The Choir were honoured to lead the singing of the Welsh National Anthem at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff when Joe beat Danish Champion, Mikkel Kessler. Calzaghe had put his WBO title on the line and Kessler his WBC & WBA titles. The fight was screened live to a World wide audience of millions of people on the Sky TV Network in the early hours of Sunday, 4th November.
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(2008) Monmouth Big Band's
sound is lively, upbeat and swinging. Big band repertoire spreads back nearly a hundred years, with so much variety of style and feel – all of it sizzling with that quintessential vibrant sound. A repertoire of around 200 tunes, gives the flexibility to select the right playlist for any event, includes scorching swing numbers, smooth Latin, ‘strictly’- style dance tunes, well-known vocal numbers and classic jazz numbers. The music cascades off the stage with all the vibrancy you’d expect from a 20-piece live band.
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(2005) Orange County Community Master Chorale
was founded in 1994 and is a non-profit community based choir located in the city of Orange, in Orange County, California, U.S.A.. The Orange Community Master Chorale is a choir of 80 – 90 singers with a reputation for being one of the finest community choral organisations in Southern California. Bridgend was the Welsh leg of the American choir’s tour of Great Britain in 2005, having already performed in Edinburgh, York and Stratford-upon-Avon