Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir

The Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir (Welsh: Côr Meibion Froncysyllte), also known as the Fron Choir (Welsh: Côr Fron), is an award-winning amateur male voice choir based in the village of Froncysyllte (pronounced vron-cuss-ulth/ tay), near Llangollen in Denbighshire, Wales. The village is famous as the site of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. The village's choir became notable when the Universal Music Group album Voices of the Valley was released in November 2006, to be ranked at number 9 on the UK album chart. It became the fastest-selling classical record of all time, achieving gold status in three days and, by 2009, had sold over half a million copies. A second album, Voices of the Valley - Encore, was released in November 2007.

In 1946 the neighbouring town of Llangollen invited the village's participation in a traditional Welsh eisteddfod. Invitations went out for 1947 and the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod was born. Mr Gomer Powell called a public meeting which resulted in formation of the Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, with J. R. Jones ("Joe Jordan") as the first chairman. A local piano teacher, Mr Lloyd Edwards, was appointed as conductor and became the driving force behind the choir. Menna Hughes, daughter of Robert Hughes the foundation treasurer and one of Lloyd's pupils, was the inaugural accompanist. To compete in the Male Voice segment of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, 60 voices were needed, so Wilfred Jones, leader of the Froncysyllte Youth Club, persuaded the young men of the village to join what was, in 1947, the youngest membership of any Welsh male-voice choir. The choristers stayed together after the Eisteddfod with county councillor Watkin Williams as chairman. Lloyd Edwards went on to win major choral competitions and a reputation for excellence at home and abroad until his untimely death in 1970.

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