Which is Wales’ best choir? That’s the question that will be answered on S4C on Sunday evening as four choirs battle it out in the final round of the prestigious choral competition Côr Cymru 2007.
Broadcast live from Aberystwyth Arts Centre, and presented by Nia Roberts and Gareth Owen, the choirs will compete for a top prize of £5,000. Each choir in the final has already won £1,500 by winning their respective rounds.
The choirs that have made it through to the final are Côr y Drindod from Carmarthen (Youth Choir), Côr Meibion y Fflint (Flint Male Voice Choir), Côr Iau Glanaethwy from Anglesey and Gwynedd (Childen’s Choir) and Cywair from Newcastle Emlyn (Mixed Choir).
Three international adjudicators will have the difficult task of deciding on a winner in what is sure to be a closely fought contest. They are André Van der Merwe from South Africa, Vasily Petrenko from Russia and Huw Williams from Wales.
Sub-organist and Assistant Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral since 1998, Huw Williams, originally from the Swansea area and now living in London, has enjoyed being back in Wales for this competition. He’s also enjoyed meeting his fellow adjudicators and says that some of the competition’s rounds were a close run thing.
“I’m looking forward to the final. What is exciting is that the choirs will be singing new programmes which will be a challenge for them. It’ll be interesting to see which choir rises to the challenge.”
