50 Entertainment Elin Manahan Tomas celebrates St David’s A HUGE concert celebrating


the patron saint of Wales will be staged at Ffwrnes Theatre, Llanelli next month by Loud Applause Productions. The St David’s Celebration


Concert, featuring more than 100 male voices, will take place on Saturday, March 11 from 7pm. The combined choirs of Burry


Port, Dyffryn Amman, Dyffryn Tywi and Mynydd Mawr will take the stage under the skilful baton of renowned maestro Alwyn Humphreys. The soloist will be soprano Elin


Manahan Thomas and the guest accompanist will be Jeff Howard. Popular host Garry Owen, of


television and radio fame, will be the compere for the evening. The event will mark a rare Llanelli appearance for Elin Manahan Thomas. Thomas was born in 1977 in


Gorseinon, the daughter of M. Wynn Thomas OBE, a Professor of Literature at Swansea University, and Karen Thomas. She was educated at the Welsh-


speaking Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr in Gowerton and by the time she was 15 was singing in the Swansea Bach Choir. Elin Manahan Thomas is one of


the most exceptional sopranos of her generation. Since releasing her début album


‘Eternal Light’ in 2007, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, she has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals, and with leading orchestras and conductors. Perhaps most famously known


for her performances of baroque masterpieces - such as Handel’s Eternal Source of Light Divine at the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony - Elin is equally at home performing classical and contemporary works. Elin has performed across Europe


at major venues and festivals, including theEdinburgh, Canterbury, Three Choirs, Llangollen, Mostly Mozart


Elin Manahan Thomas: Performing at The Ffwrnes in March


and Lufthansa festivals, St John’s Smith Square, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Casa de Musica in Porto, Zurich Tonhalle, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In 2008, Elin gave the World Premiere of Sir John Tavener’s Requiem in Liverpool Cathedral (also recorded for EMI), and later premiered his Love Duet at the Manchester International Festival in 2013. Orchestras she has worked with


include the Halle, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic, Academy of Ancient Music, BBC NOW, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, City of London Sinfonia, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. She has performed for many of


the world’s leading conductors, among them Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Andrew Davis, Harry Christophers, Paul McCreesh, Stephen Layton, Sir Roger Norrington, Vasily Petrenko, Thierry Fischer and the late Richard Hickox. Equally comfortable performing


contemporary music, Elin has been fortunate to work with Sir John Tavener, John Rutter, Sir Karl Jenkins, James Macmillan, Judith Weir and Eric Whitacre, among others. Alongside concert performances,


Elin is also known for her presenting work. She has been twice nominated for a BAFTA Cymru (Best Newcomer, Best


Presenter) and has presented for BBC 4 (The Proms) and BBC 2 Wales (Proms in the Park). Elin regularly presents for Radio Cymru, and is presenter on Radio Three’s Early Music Late on Sunday evenings. Elin has released five solo albums,


and appeared as featured soloist on innumerable discs, for labels such as Universal, Naxos, Chandos, Hyperion, Coro, Signum, Collegium and Sain. In 2012, her ‘Vivaldi’ recording


with Florilegium was Radio 3’s CD of the Week; BBC Music Magazine awarded the disc five stars; while International Record Review placed it in their ‘Outstanding’ category. Her recordings range from the


renaissance to Handel to Elgar and beyond, and 2016 sees the release of a CD of songs by Morfydd Llwyn Owen (previously unrecorded) for Ty Cerdd, and Karl Jenkins’ Cantata Aberfan for Deutsche Gramophon, alongside Bryn Terfel. In April 2016, she was Classic


FM’s Artist of the Week. In addition to her singing and


presenting, Elin is a passionate advocate of music education, and has led choral workshops with Eric Whitacre, masterclasses at RWCMD, University of Oxford, children’s concerts with LPO and OAE, and children’s operas with Children’s Music Workshop. She is an Honorary Fellow at RWCMD, and at the Universities of Swansea and Bangor, and is currently Artist in Residence at Bangor Music Festival.


WE HAD some new faces in


town for the Masons’ first gig of the year. First up were Cardiff band Nigel. This four-piece band of youngsters were quite raw to start but got tighter as the gig went on. I won’t say that they got better after their singer took his shirt off, as that may give the wrong impression, but they did seem to relax into the set as the night went on. After speaking to the band, I could tell that they were very ambitious and enthusiastic and I look forward to hearing how they develop. Next up were Masons regulars


Zed Motel. The band have played in town numerous times as a two-piece band but this time there were three of them as a female vocalist joined them. This was only her third gig ever, the second being that afternoon in Cardiff, but her talent did manage to come through in a number of songs, particularly ‘Scratch’, which reminded me of female-fronted rock bands of the 90s such as Whale and Boss Hogg. Maybe it was because guitarist


Chris was wearing a Pixies t-shirt that he bought at their gig in Cardiff at the end of last year, but I thought that the band had a more Pixies-


esque grunge vibe compared to when I have previously seen the band. Again, this is another band which has evolved since I first saw them. Headlining the night were


Swansea-based indie band Wind Shake. Again, this band reminded me of the early 90s despite the fact that this was also about the time that the members of the band were born. However, unlike the American


grunge sound of the first two bands, Wind Shake were more reminiscent of the Britpop era indie bands. I enjoyed talking to the band before the gig due to their exuberance but this actually turned into a cool confidence on stage. In fact, one member of the audience even told me that he thought that the bassist was the coolest bass player that he had ever seen live. This was another good new young band who, I believe, are destined to develop into an excellent band over time. (Fosta) This Friday (Jan 27), check


out Tsarbomba Tsarbomba, State of Decay and Holoson live at the Masons Arms. Doors open at 7.30pm and entry is free. Check out our website - llanellirockscene.co.uk.


THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 27 2017


Follow us on Twitter @carmsherald


Te Rock Scene


with Trudi Goldsmith and Mark Foster


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48