The South Wales Male Choir

Wales’ only truly regional male choir was formed in 1982 to undertake a tour of the Eastern United States, as a result of Welsh-American promoters witnessing a Royal Albert Hall 1,000 Welsh Male Voice Concert. Performing with leading symphony orchestras under the baton of the BBC’s Alun John and patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales, the 530 choristers from 42 different choirs received rave reviews resulting from 5 sell-out concerts in Pittsburgh, with Baltimore, Washington, New York (where crowds queuing for tickets, at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, stopped the traffic on Broadway!) and finally Buffalo witnessing the Welsh Male Voice tradition at its best.
Success and enjoyment in the 1983 tour had been so great that back home at the ‘winding-up’ meeting, no fewer than 153 choristers (the number present!) unanimously voted to continue; the ‘raison d’etre’ being to continue to take abroad the traditions of the Welsh Male Choir.
To date, 24 tours have taken place – USA (4), Canada (3), France, Gibraltar, Eastern Europe, Australia, together with no fewer than seven Commemorative Tours to the WWI and WWII Battlefields of Flanders and Normandy performing often before Royalty, Government Leaders and most importantly Veterans. The choir has even travelled to Monaco for a one-off concert in the International Sporting Club, and cruised the Baltic with shore based concerts in Russia, Estonia, and Norway.
Regular concerts in the UK have been included since the late ‘80s with St David’s Day celebration concerts nearly always being performed outside Wales. These have included visits to Cheltenham Town Hall, Hereford Cathedral, Oxford Town Hall, and Wantage (which has proved extremely popular of late!!)