The trip of a lifetime has ended for Abertillery Orpheus Male Choir who have just returned from Canada, writes Eben Leonard.

There were many concert dates and the choir also sang their hearts out to tourists during an impromptu concert on the beautiful Athabasca Glacier.And their tour of the area also included a day on Sulphur Mountain where they enjoyed taking a dip in the springs before they again treated visitors to their repertoire. The choir, led by Martin Budd, performed at five official concerts , and the first and last were held at the 264 Canadian Legion hall in Calgary. Choir president Trevor Wilde, who has been with the choir for 65 years, said the tour was a resounding success. Mr. Wilde saide One gentleman come up to say he had seen many choirs over the years but ours was the best. Mr. Wilde, whose favorite song is the choir's finale song the Battle Hymn of the Republic, added 'The tour was absolutely thrilling.' Standing ovations regularly greeted the choir's performances, which also's included the singing talents of soprano Jill Padfield. Abertillery Orpheus was also a guest choir at the Edmonton Heritage Day's Festival where they sang in an amphitheater before a large audience.The choir was so popular the concert had to be extended. After just the first half of Abertillery's concert at Grace Church Calgary, the audience gave a standing ovation. During the second half the audience was told of a special guest, Paul Carter, who was among the crowd Paul's grandfather Isaac was a long-serving organist at Ebenezer Baptist Church and composed the Wit Sun

ORPHEUS HOME AFTER CANADIAN TOUR

Bow River

Many months of hard work and dedication by organizers on both sides of the world were drawn to conclusion and one more chapter was written into the history book of Abertillery Orpheus Male Choir when in July of this year they set out on one of the most adventurous period in the choirs history when they took the sounds that is the best of male voice singing to North America, with a 109 strong tour party embarked on a first concert tour of Alberta Canada.

Led by musical director Mr. Martin Budd the choir performed five eagerly awaited concerts in front of what were mainly capacity audiences made up of many Welsh exiles who still have a strong connection with the valleys and a passion for the music of their homeland ‘Wales’.

Rehearsing for many months the choir took with them a repertoire of traditional and modern music many of which were of a strong Welsh flavour including old favourite's such as Myfanwy, Men of Harlech, and Gwahoddiad, extra rehearsal time also being given to two new numbers specially learned for the tour the Canadian anthem ‘ O Canada’ and ‘They Call it Canada’ which were favourably received by the people of Canada.

The choir who are no strangers to foreign travel undertook their first continental tour in 1982 with a visit to Rome and have since had very successful overseas tours to Germany, Holland, Spain and France with home tours to Eastbourne / Hastings and Scotland.

Travelling as guest artist of the choir was the superb singing voice and vocal talent of soprano Jill Padfield. Locally born Jill has been a firm favourite with the choir having accompanied them as guest soloist on many occasions. Jill’s career to date has already taken her on tours of America, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, performing in venues such as the Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto and the Sydney Opera House, she has also been featured in a BBC Documentary called Wales Opera Factory with Robert Fear, and is the winner of the prestigious W Towyn Roberts Scholarship at the Royal National Eisteddfod, which together with a bursary from S4C has recently enabled her to complete a postgraduate performance course at the Royal Academy of Music.

Jill’s extensive repertoire of operatic and popular music combined with her natural talent and stage presence ensured that she was as popular in Canada as she is at home.

TOUR REPORT

Abertillery Orpheus Male Choir has undertaken many overseas tours but none can compare to there recently completed tour of the Canadian Province of Alberta, after experiencing what can only be described as the tour of a lifetime, amidst the majestic, awe-inspiring, Canadian Rockies which deserve every accolade they have ever inspired, no amount of description can adequately convey the beauty of Alberta's most prized geographical asset and only a tour through the Canadian Rockies as Orpheus have done will confirm what the guidebooks say.

Using the Stampede City of Calgary, the venue for the 1987 winter Olympics as there home base, enabled the choir to participate in day and overnight trips to many of the surrounding areas of natural beauty and interest, including The Athabasca Glacier a massive accumulation of ice and snow that remains from the last ice age extending down into the valley from the Columbia icefield were the landscape is of a proportion that must be seen to be believed. Not to miss out on the opportunity of singing in this unique and special place and with such a splendid backdrop the choir formed up and sang on the Glacier using the many excited visitors that had gathered as there audience.

The Picture Postcard Perfect Banff, the beautiful Bow Falls, the famous Lake Louise referred to as the jewel of the Canadian Rockies featuring turquoise waters, shimmering glaciers and towering peaks, and the Badlands of Drumheller ,a mysterious moon like landscape revealing more than 70 million years of geological history.

While travelling back from Banff the tour party stopped at the famous hot springs on where choir members took the opportunity after a long days travelling to soak in the soothing natural waters of the springs. The choir in high spirits after the experiences of the day performed an impromptu concert while in the springs, singing in four different languages at the requests of the many foreign tourists that had quickly gathered around, the reward for the choir rejuvenated bodies and an enthusiastic and an appreciative audience.

As well as leisure and sight seeing the choir led as usual by Mr. Martin Budd also had a musical side to the tour and performed a total of five very successful concerts the first and last of these being held at the 264 Canadian Legion Calgary. Both concerts being received with generous applause and standing ovations from well satisfied audiences some of which being so impressed with the first concert given that they immediately purchased tickets for the second one which were by this time in very short supply due to the enthusiasm shown by the people of Calgary to hear one of Wales premier male choirs.

Complimenting all five concerts was the superb vocal talent of Soprano Jill Padfield who was travelling as guest artiest of the choir, and once again as she had on many occasions before performed to the very high standards that she has set herself in recent years, once again n stealing the hearts of her captive audiences with her charm and vocal ability. Special thanks must also go to accompanist Penny Hughes who apart from accompanying the choir and playing piano recitals to a standard seldom heard, also singing with Jill Rossinie's The Cats Duet at each concert venue bringing the house down with hoots of laughter and spontaneous applause.

The choir have had the opportunity over the years of singing at many special venues and events but few can compare to performing as part of the Edmonton Heritage Days Festival. This festival celebrating its 25th anniversary bringing together over 50 ethnic pavilions, international singing and dancing crafts and cuisine. Singing on the main performance platform (an open air amphitheatre) and in the presence of many hundreds of spectators the choir were inspired to turn out one of there top performances, a performance that was indeed a very special one to the point where the concert had to be extended in order to satisfy the cheering public . A day that will long live on in the memories of all that were privilege to have been there.

Another significant event on the tour was the evening spent at Grace Church Calgary while performing there 2nd concert, where the near capacity audience were moved to give the choir a standing ovation at the conclusion of the first half of there programme. During the second half of the concert the audience was made aware of the presence Mr. Paul Carter who was sitting in the audience. Paul's Grandfather Isaac Carter being the long serving organist at Ebenezer Baptist Church and composer of the popular Wit Sunday School Walks March Brightly Gleams The Banner Unknown to Paul the choir had been rehearsing this song prior to the tour and added I t into the concert programme. A Presentation was then made to Paul by the choirs life president Mr. Trevor Wilde MBE containing the sheet music to Brightly Gleams The Banner and choir plaque.

Trevor Wilde who despite his advancing years rejected out of hand the suggestions that the tour might prove to be energetic for him and performed with the choir as he has been doing for the last 67 years. Once again enthralling audiences with his control of the spoken word, how pleasing it was for Trevor and the choir when during one such performance the audience were moved to giving him a standing ovation. A fitting accolade and testimony to a man who has given a lifetime to the services of the arts and for the benefit of others.

In the words of the song They All Call It Canada My country is my cathedral the northern sky its dome they call it Canada but I call it home that is now also a home to many Welsh exiles who were presented with a rare opportunity to revive past cherished memories of their time spent in Abertillery. A very special vote of thanks must go to them for the courteous manor in which they received the choir and also the major contribution they played in the setting up of this tour and concert arrangements. A highly successful tour that will long live on in the memories of both choristers and supporters alike together with the people of Canada who were privileged to have heard a fine choir at the top of there form.

Canadian photographs can be found in the choir's photo album