Australian Welsh ladies choir sings out for a new accompanist

Video of Hallelujah, recorded in 2018 by the combined 3 choirs – Sydney Welsh Choir, Geelong Welsh Ladies Choir and Coryule Chorus at the Three Choir Concert at Drysdale.

If you’re handy on the piano and you fancy a complete change of scene, then the Geelong Welsh Ladies Choir in Australia may have just the thing.

The only female Welsh choir in Australia has put a call out for a new pianist to accompany them in rehearsal and join them on tour.

The 26 strong all-female choir sings a broad range of music in 2, 3 and 4-part harmony with a repertoire described as including traditional Welsh and Australian, sacred, musical theatre, popular, inspirational and upbeat music.

The repertoire of the choir reflects the diversity of its members choosing songs from different musical genres and always including Welsh music. They also sing in English, Latin, Spanish, Maori and Italian.

With two Welsh born members, one of whom is the musical director and one Welsh speaker, they offer help to their members on pronunciation, in a bid to have fun and keep the language thriving.

Welsh practice

President Bron Elford said the choir was excited to get back performing in 2022, after two pandemic years, during which the Choir has been limited in its ability to perform or to get together to practice.

Speaking in the Geelong Independent, Ms Elford said: “It hasn’t been an easy time, but we were able to do some in-person catch ups this year, as well as online catch ups.

“While we weren’t able to perform, we were able to use the time to practice the Welsh language for some of our songs … since only one of our members actually speaks Welsh.

“We’ve made the most of it, but we’re just really excited to back together and perform again.”

However, when accompanist Selmo Carreira returning to his native Portugal with his family, the choir found itself short an important member.

Ms Elford said: “Selmo was great for the choir and so it is sad to see him head back home, but we’re now on the lookout for a pianist to become the new accompanist,”.

“It’s a very important job to play with the choir and we’re keen to find someone to play with us and keep up the momentum we have.”

The Geelong Welsh Ladies choir was established in 1998 with a small group of Welsh women and has now grown to almost 30 members.

The choir practices each Wednesday for 2 hours to rehearse music, some of which is sung in Welsh, and performs several concerts each year.

Ms Elford said the choir prided itself on bringing together women of many backgrounds who were keen to share the tradition of Welsh singing.

The choir has travelled to Wales and New Zealand to be part of Welsh celebrations and to join in concert with other choirs, including the Victoria Male Voice Choir.

Anyone interested in joining the choir or becoming the accompanist could check their tours and performances link to see more details and contact the choir by email at [email protected].