Members of the choir had a very entertaining evening on Zoom recently with our President, Llio Evans as our castaway choosing her favourite discs.  Our very own Marc Williams conducted the interview.  Llio found it hard to select eight pieces of music, but went on to give us a varied and interesting choice, ranging from music from Disney’s - Beauty and The Beast, Queen (Don’t stop Me Now), Whitney Houston (I have Nothing) and Mozart’s Overture from The Marriage of Figaro.  For her Welsh choice Llio selected Pan Fyddo’r Nos Yn Hir sung by Sir Bryn Terfel.

Llio gave us a fascinating insight into her extensive music career to date, explaining how as a child she was not keen to enter Eisteddfod’s, but was persuaded by her parents by the offer of a hamster!  Llio got her hamster and went on to do well in competitions.  She gained a place at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and studied for her degrees at Cardiff University, where she met her future husband, Eugene.

Her musical career took off after she stood in for Lesley Garrett, who became unwell, Llio finding herself promoted from the chorus to one of the principal parts in the opera.

Llio also reflected on her trips to Den Bosch.  We were fortunate to meet up with Llio in Den Bosch in the Netherlands in October 2019, where she had been asked to sing for the third time as part of the commemoration events to mark the liberation of the town by 53^rd Welsh Division in 1944.  It was at this time she agreed to become our choir’s President.

Llio told us she had been kept busy during lockdown (having lost a year’s worth of work), transforming a recently purchased house into a home via newly acquired DIY skills with Eugene.  Also doing craft videos and children’s Eisteddfods on line.

Llio is looking forward to performing to audiences soon, and believes that people will appreciate live music and opera more once lockdown is over.  We certainly look forward to the time when we can sing with Llio again.