* Eisteddfod chairman Dr Rhys Davies and his wife Anne on either side of choir musical director Jo Williamson to whom they presented the trophy named in their son Owen's memory.
Picture by Barrie Potter.
Picture by Barrie Potter.
A children’s choir which accidentally
left Llangollen International Musial Eisteddfod without realising they had won
a prestigious competition prize now has its trophy at last.
A misunderstanding meant Cantabile Hereford Cathedral School packed up and left
the eisteddfod without realising they had been victorious in the
hotly-contested Children’s Choir of the World contest.
And it was only when they
were on their way home that they received a frantic phone call from festival
organisers to say they had been voted joint winners of the coveted Owen Davies
Trophy.
However, by then it was
too late to do anything about it.
But now, weeks after the
2018 eisteddfod ended, their leader has been back to Llangollen to pick up the
prize that was rightfully theirs.
The choir was founded
exactly 10 years ago by former professional
opera singer Jo Williamson who is its musical director.
She said: “On the Wednesday of the
eisteddfod we’d won the Children’s Folk Song
Choirs.
“We competed again the
day after in the Children’s Choir of the World contest but we obviously
misunderstood things and didn’t think we’d scored sufficiently highly to win
it.
“We left in various
vehicles to go home to Hereford but whilst my husband Phil and I were driving
along the A5 I received a phone call to say we had actually been voted joint
winners with the British Columbia Girls’ Choir from Canada. We both had the
scores of 89.7.
“This was great news,
especially as we are the first English choir to win this competition since it was
set up. However, by the time we found out we couldn’t go back to Llangollen as
we were all heading for home in different vehicles.”
The trophy they belatedly
picked up was donated by the eisteddfod chairman Dr Rhys Davies and his wife
Anne in memory of their son Owen who died at the age of just 33 in 2016.
“The fact that it’s known
as the Owen Davies Trophy makes it particularly poignant for us, so it’s
unfortunate that there was this misunderstanding,” said Dr Davies.
“As there were joint
winners this year we’ve had an extra trophy made, which I was delighted to hand
over to Jo Williamson. It’s great that they have their rightful prize even
though it’s just a few weeks late.”
The choir includes 22 members,
aged from 13-18, who are pupils at Hereford Cathedral School.
They have made regular Llangollen
Eisteddfod appearances and previously won the Children’s Folk Choir Competition
in 2015.
They went on to perform at the
Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the BBC Songs of Praise event, The Big
Sing.
Other glittering past
performances included one before the Duke of Kent alongside Hereford Cathedral
Junior School Chamber Choir.
In 2013 Cantabile won their
class at the Cheltenham Festival of Performing Arts and the previous year ended
with rapturous applause at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford.
They have also frequently taken part in
the BBC Songs of Praise Senior School Choir completion and hold the distinction
of winning the event in 2015.
