Treorchy Male Choir

Treorchy Male Voice Choir is a choir based in Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley, Wales, United Kingdom.

Choirs have existed in the Rhondda Valley for more than a hundred and fifty years and Treorchy is one of the best known from the area. One of its first male choirs was formed in the Red Cow Hotel in the summer of 1883 and developed into a National Eisteddfod winner, culminating in a royal command performance for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle in 1895. The choir would later disband after the South Wales Valleys suffered during the massive economic downturn of the Great Depression in the United Kingdom and two World Wars, but they would later reform into a male voice choir that gained international recognition.

The present Treorchy Male Choir was reformed on October 16, 1946 under the baton of John Haydn Davies. Davies led for 20 years, transforming musical recruits into an international institution. They reached musical distinction in the national Eisteddfod by gaining a record eight national wins, making a total of twenty-two first prizes out of twenty seven entries. The Treorchy Male Voice Choir has been heard worldwide as they made regular radio broadcasts, television appearances, commercial recordings, two feature films and an overseas tour to Switzerland.

Treorchy was to become the first male choir to venture into the field of popular music and subsequently the choir has made more than fifty commercial recordings, making it one of the most recorded choirs in the world. In more recent years their radical attitude to music making included an album of music by Freddie Mercury and Queen, two recordings of music by Bob Marley and in contrast they also recorded more classical works and became the first British choir to perform Sibelius’ Kullervo Symphony in Finnish.

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Wikipedia