Tenby Male Choir performed at St Mary’s Church on Thursday, September 6.

The church quickly filled with an international audience from many parts of the world including Australia, South Africa, USA, Austria, Spain, France and Pakistan.

Their performance was so good that choristers were swamped by members of the audience as they left the church congratulating them for a superb performance.

They were praised for their balance of musical parts, their beautifully clear diction and their precise clean end of phrases.

A visitor from Arizona said he had never heard anything like this before and a visitor from Pontypridd, a life long fan of male choirs, said that their performance was the best he had ever heard.

Credit must go to our MD Ian Williams and our accompanist Jill (no relation) Williams for all of their hard work. It was the final performance for one of our choristers who is moving back up to the Midlands.

Maurice Trenfield, better known as Big Mo as he was the tallest in the choir, has been a stalwart member of the basses since he joined in 2001.

He will be greatly missed by his colleagues in Tenby and I hope that he decides to join another choir to share his talents.

Audience participation was enthusiastic and received a round of applause from Ian before he admitted that he would tell next week’s audience that they had been dire. The choir started their second set with Hiraeth.

This was unaccompanied and Ian once again joined the bass section of the choir.

Their very moving performance of Bring Him Home, arranged by Ian Williams, brought tears to many eyes before their light hearted Grandfather’s Clock, also arranged by Ian, lifted spirits once more.

Our soloist for the evening was Welsh opera singer Phil Gault who is now based in Glasgow. He was accompanied by his equally talented wife Claire. Phil has performed many roles in the UK and abroad and his varied career includes a spell in the UK’s largest Burlesque club.

Claire has an equally colourful career performing and holding various posts including accompaniment and teaching at the Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland.

Phil’s performance was simply stunning and earned him a standing ovation from many of the audience.

The audience was mesmerised as soon as he started to sing his opening number from Il Barbiere Di Siviglia. His final number was Stars from Les Miserables which he performed flawlessly. Phil competed in Ironman Wales to raise money for Parkinson’s UK.

If you would like to sponsor him his fundraising page is justgiving.com/fundraising/phil-gault. At the moment he has raised £1813.98. Phil beat his projected time on Sunday and was happy with the way that the race went, despite suffering a jellyfish sting on his face!

Many thanks to all performers for an unforgettable evening.

The choir will perform at St Mary’s Church on Thursday, September 27 as part of the Tenby Arts Festival week. They will be joined by young talented pianist Elizabeth Morgan.

Elizabeth has performed with the choir on several occasions and it is always a pleasure to hear her play. Doors will open at 7.30 for an 8 pm start.

You can view photos and videos of the choir on their website tenbymalechoir.org.

Di Mumford