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Annual Concert - 8th June 2013
 The Choir are delighted to announce that the guest soloist for their 2013 Annual Summer Concert will be Welsh soprano
Catrin Aur.
Catrin hails from West Wales. She studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Royal Academy of Music, London and most recently at the prestigious International Academy of Voice in Cardiff with Dennis O'Neill supported by the Retreats Foundation Grant. Whilst at the Royal Academy she was the recipient of the RAM English Song Prize, Sir Geraint Evans Scholarship, Elias Soprano Prize and the first Dame Shirley Bassey Vocal Award. In 2009, she won the Towyn Roberts Scholarship at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, represented the UK in the final rounds of the Montreal International Singing Competition and was named MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year. Other awards include the DISS Advanced Opera Scholarship. Catrin was a finalist in the BBC Welsh Singer Competition in 2010. Her operatic roles include title-role Aida, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, title-role in Madama Butterfly, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, title role in The Merry Widow, Elisetta in Il Matrimonio Segreto, Danubia in ‘Ten Belles’. She has also understudied the role of Dew Fairy in Hansel & Gretel for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She has an extensive oratorio repertoire including Verdi’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and Nelson Mass, Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Schubert’s Mass in G. Concert highlights include performances at Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva, in Kyoto, Japan for Japanese Royalty and a St David’s Day reception held at the Foreign Office, London. She recently embarked on a UK wide Strauss Gala tour and has also performed in America, Italy and Canada. She has performed numerous Lieder and Welsh song recitals and has taken part in masterclasses with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Ileana Contrubas, Sir Jonathan Miller, David Syrus, Malcolm Martineau and Roger Nichols. Engagements last season included understudy
Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and understudy Helena in
A Midsummer Night's Dream for English National Opera. This season, she sang Musetta in La Boheme
for Opera Project, Aida and High Priestess in Aida at the Royal Albert
Hall in London and gave concerts in Hong Kong with the City Chamber Orchestra Hong Kong conducted by Gareth Jones. Future
plans include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Mid Wales Opera and concerts at the Royal Albert Hall,
Cadogan Hall, London, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and St David’s Hall in Cardiff. 'Charities of the Year' Cheque Presentation
- February 2013
 On February 12th prior to a concert at St Michael’s Church, Workington, Whitehaven
Male Voice Choir presented cheques totalling £2500 to their 2012 ‘Charities of the Year’ - Hospice at Home
West Cumbria and The West Cumberland Hospital’s Urology Department. This money was from the proceeds of their Annual
Christmas Concert, which took place in St James’ Church, Whitehaven and carol singing in Workington’s Dunmail
Park and Whitehaven’s Tesco store. Every year the choir nominate a local charity or charities to benefit from their
Christmas singing.
Hospice at Home were chosen as they celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2012. Hospice at Home West Cumbria exists to ensure that the people of West Cumbria receive the best possible palliative and end of life care. It aims to be a ‘hospice without walls’ providing all the services found in a traditional hospice building but delivering those services in people’s homes and in community locations. Services comprise home nursing, lymphoedema treatment and hospice support. It costs £10,000 a week just to maintain their current level of service. West Cumberland Hospital’s Urology Department provide an extensive range of diagnostics, treatment and care for patients with disorders of the kidneys, ureters, bladder and prostate in both male and female patients. The money donated will help to buy new equipment, enabling the department to continue to provide this vital service in West Cumbria. This is just a small part of the money the choir raise for charities and other worthy causes each and every year throughout Cumbria and beyond. They provide their services entirely free of charge, allowing all monies raised to benefit the chosen charities. |
