Choral Society ready for The Creation

Llanelli choristers are in the final stages of rehearsing for a grand performance of one of the world’s great choral works to be given to local audiences.
Haydn’s grand choral masterpiece, The Creation, will be performed on Friday 11th March by the mighty choral force of the Llanelli Choral Society.
The landmark work will be under the direction of conductor John Hywel Williams MBE who will unite the mass voices of the Llanelli Choral Society, acclaimed singers – soprano Kathryn McGuckin, bass Paul Gibson, tenor Jung Soo Yun with accompaniment by The Celtic Orchestra, organist Huw Tregelles Williams OBE and pianist Jean Hywel.
The Creation is considered by many to be one of the world’s great choral masterpieces which depicts and celebrates the creation of the world as described in the biblical book of Genesis and Milton’s Paradise Lost.

To celebrate the Llanelli Choral Society’s performance of The Creation, a unique and exclusive art design has been commissioned by the Hywel Williams Foundation in partnership with an award winning London Design Agency as an identity for the exciting performance.
Titled “Praise the Creation”, the art captures the essence of the historic illustration style of the 17th century illustrations of Paradise Lost, harmonizing, with a contemporary hand, a rich tableaux of visual icons from the three core sources of The Creation’s libretto – namely Genesis, the biblical book of Psalms and Milton’s epic Paradise Lost.
The illustration captures the subliminal representation of the temptation of evil, the creation of land and sea, the prevalence of darkness, the explosion of light, the all seeing God and the earliest Linnaeus taxonomy of the natural world of zoology, geology and botany, all integrated with a subtle illustrated reference to the natural world order through the food chain of bird-insect-plant-water.
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Stepping away from a hard rehearsal schedule in the lead up to the grand performance, Director of Music John Hywel Williams shares his thoughts and experiences.
Why The Creation?
“The Creation is a remarkable work for both audiences and performers alike”, explains maestro John Hywel Williams. “Haydn was adventurous in his harmony, bold in his use of orchestral colour and very inventive in his melodies and rhythms when creating The Creation.”
Are you excited?
The Creation definitely creates an adrenaline rush and I am excited at the great effort and results being seen by my choristers. It is very rewarding to see choristers learn and master such a comprehensive, dynamic and challenging work. It is a reflection of great effort, determination and also great team work as a chorus as no single singer is a chorus and the true beauty of the work is the combined and interweaving voices of the sopranos, altos, tenors and basses.”
What is your inspiration and driving factor for such tasks?
“Perfection is always an honourable goal and we are only as good as our next performance”, explains John Hywel Williams. “But the true inspiration comes from watching new choristers to the work build and develop in both their musical knowledge but also their self confidence in performing the work with belief, poise, sensitivity and technical correctness. This is the true reward of my role.”
John Hywel is no stranger to teaching and performing great works – with the list of great choral works he has performed match only in length by the famous world concert halls he performed in around the world.
Audiences will be able to reap the benefits of all the hard work of the Llanelli Choral Society when The Creation will be held at 7.30pm on Friday 11th March at All Saints Church, Llanelli. Tickets £9 and available from Cadno Music, 16 John Street, Llanelli (01554 771772), Llyfrau'r Ddraig, 2 The Arcade, Stepney Street, Llanelli (01554 759894) or Daryll Adams, Ticket Officer (01554 752283). For further information, please contact Info@llanellichoralsociety.com.