Loud Applause 'summer soiree' is a success at Stradey Castle
Summer
Soiree at Stradey Castle, Llanelli, featuring Loud Applause ‘Rising Stars’,
including Samuel Morris, Keely Morgan, Nia Rees, Jordan Williams, Liam Reilly,
Sophie Maliphant, Angharad Elise Thomas, Daniella Difede and ‘Perfect Harmony’.
There was a touch of class
about this summer showcase for young musical talent from West Wales.
As intimate concert venues
go, you cannot get much better than the Great Hall at Stradey Castle in
Llanelli.
And, with a dozen ‘Rising
Stars’ taking the stage on the magnificent staircase, this was a musical soiree
with something for everyone.
Cerith Owens, the director
of Loud Applause Productions, has set up the ‘Rising Stars’ platform in an
effort to encourage and mentor up-and-coming youngsters and give them
much-needed exposure on concert stages.
Ysgol y Strade head boy
Samuel Morris and Coedcae school pupil Daniella Difede are already familiar
figures on concert stages throughout West Wales, but this was an event designed
to also showcase the talents of other ‘Rising Stars’ members.
Swansea soprano Angharad
Elise Thomas set the scene for the evening with delightful renditions of Green
Finch and Linnet Bird and the ever-popular Someone like you.
Ysgol y Strade 16-year-old
Sophie Maliphant performed Love never dies and I don't know how to love him.
And another Strade pupil,
17-year-old Jordan Williams, gave tender and emotional performances of Anfonaf
Angel and Music of the Night.
Daniella Difede was at her
dramatic best for I'm not afraid of anything from Songs for a New World and the
classic I dreamed a dream.
Gower College student Liam
Reilly displayed a maturity beyond his 19 years with If I can’t love her from
Beauty and the Beast and Stars from Les Miserables.
Strade pupil Nia Rees
brought a gear-change to proceedings with very distinctive performances of
Dream a little dream of me and Feeling Good from the Michael Buble songbook.
Bishopston Comprehensive
School’s Keely Morgan was at her best for Summertime and Puccini’s O Mio babbino
Caro.
Samuel Morris weighed in
with another performance which suggests he has a great future in musical
theatre. He performed Anthem from Chess and Buo Doi from Miss Saigon before joining Keely for
a duet of All I ask of you from Phantom of the Opera.
Close harmonies with a
swing theme were the order of the day for the Perfect Harmony quartet, who
performed a medley of Ar Lan Y Mor and Suo Gan and finished with a rousing Lean
on Me.
As musical showcases go,
the evening was a big hit with the specially-invited audience at Stradey
Castle.
Only one member of the
Rising Stars team was unable to attend. Johnny Mansel Lewis, the one singer who
can call Stradey Castle ‘home’ was away on holiday.
The
evening was organised by Llanelli-based concert promoter and impresario Cerith
Owens and his Loud Applause Productions company.
It was
staged at Stradey Castle by kind permission of Patrick and Claire Mansel Lewis.
The compere
for the evening was Huw Tregelles Williams OBE.
Weblinks
–
Comments