Four years ago, when the Glee Club was on tour in England & Wales, this choir hosted us in their mountain village. It turned out to be the highlight of our tour. Rhos was a coal mining town, as so many of the Welsh towns were - with the mine shaft at the bottom of the hill and the town on the top. Singing, and music in general, is the Welsh national pastime in which they take great pride - football and singing. The men from WPI were put up in their homes, and toured through Wales, including a reception with the Lord Mayor of Wrexham, where Elija Yale is buried. To Prof. Curran, Yale Class of '56, this was of special interest. The concert the Orpheus Choir presented could only be described as staggering. Don Pitman '94, the first WPI man out to the stage was quoted as saying "Oh, s___" upon seeing four hundred Welsh men and their wives sitting in the balconies of the Bethlehem Chapel ready to sing, and another six hundred in the main church. What a night and the pub party afterwards was spectacular.
Seventy-five of the best of the Orpheus choice will be here on April 1, as we have retained their friendship and goodwill. They are on tour through North America - from New York to Toronto. Internationally famous from Jerusalem to Tokyo, they have spread the art of chord music to Television and concert hall. From their ranks have come many famous opera stars, including the now rated leading baritone in Europe, Bryn Terfel.
On the same program, the WPI Glee Club will perform with Jean Pierre Trevisani, '89, winner of the 1995 Metropolitan Opera Northeast auditions (New York to Quebec). The concert will end in a traditional Welsh manner - everyone, everyone will sing a hymn and raise a bit of the roof of Wesley Church. There will be a WPI minimal student charge of $2.