Violin virtuoso Nova Wang will perform Sunday, June 25, 2017 during a Gymanfa Ganu (a traditional non-denominational Welsh hymn sing) event in Castleton at 3:00 p.m. A Rutland High School student, Nova performed at Carnegie Hall earlier this year. He is a three-time leader of the Vermont All State Orchestra and twice a member of the All-National Symphony Orchestra. Nova will head to Boston College next year, where he will major in business and violin performance. He hopes to someday pursue a future in film composition.
On June 25, Nova will join with soprano soloist Angela Champine, and Rev. Robert A. Noble, III, organ accompanist, in sharing special music during this cymanfa event. This Gymanfa Ganu event will be conducted by Jay G. Williams, III, conductor of cymanfoedd across the country.
Additionally, Reverend Dr. Steven E. Berry will participate. The Rev. Dr. Berry has served Congregational churches in St. Louis, in New York, in Vermont, and in Los Angeles. When he served at the 1st Congregational Church in Los Angeles, that church hosted an all-male international Welsh chorus concert event. Dr. Berry has a great appreciation for the Welsh music tradition.
This Gymanfa Ganu event is sponsored by the Poultney Area St. David’s Society and is hosted by the historic (1833) Federated Church of Castleton. Te Bach (tea social) will follow the sing in the fellowship hall of the Federated Church. As a charity event, the free will offering will be designated for the building restoration fund of Federated Church. ALL are welcome.
Angela Champine, Gymanfa Soloist, is the director of the Junior Choir and Handbell Choir at the Federated Church of Castleton. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Castleton Univ. earning her B.A. in Music Education and Theater Arts. Angela sings for Tinmouth Community and Castleton Federated churches. Her early music endeavors include percussion in Concert Band, guitar, Jazz Band, Rock Band, talent shows, voice at St. Dominic Parish and School Chorus.
Rev. Robert A. Noble, III, the Sr. Pastor of the Federated Church of Castleton, will be Gymanfa Accompanist. Rev. Noble, a graduate of Hamilton College, received his Masters of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary where he met his wife, Holly. She pastors the United Church of Benson. Rob and Holly have served as co-pastors for Presbyterian churches in NY State, and in Vermont & New Hampshire for Congregational churches. Rob is organist/accompanist for the Tinmouth Community Church.
Jay G. Williams, III will be welcomed back by the St. David’s Society to the Vermont / New York Slate Valley for a third time for this June 25 event. In the 1990s, Jay conducted gymanfa ganu events in the slate valley in Middle Granville NY and in Poultney. Involved in Welsh activities in central New York for many years, Jay is a past director of the National Welsh American Foundation and has written two books on Welsh-Americans, one of which includes history about the Welsh in our Slate Valley region. Jay practices the law in Clinton. Jay received his A.B. from Hamilton College and his J.D. from Albany Law School. Jay and his wife Kim reside in Clinton NY, a region rich in Welsh-American history.
Meredith Rehbach will be the Welsh language reader at this cymanfa. The great-granddaughter of a slate quarryman from Bethesda, North Wales, Meredith’s late father, Gwilym R. Roberts, authored “New Lives in the Valley: Slate Quarries and Quarry Villages in North Wales, New York, and Vermont, 1850- 1920.” Meredith was raised with a strong sense of Welsh heritage. She has been Welsh language speaker at many cymanfa events and has taught Welsh language classes for Cymdeithas Madog (a week-long intensive Welsh course), the National Festival of Wales, as well as in Vermont, where she and her husband Jeff live. Hymn verses will be sung in both the Welsh and English languages. Meredith will provide pronunciation assistance for the verses to be sung in the Welsh language.
Rev. Dr. Steven E. Berry, Associate Minister, is a graduate of Yale University Divinity. He was ordained in the UCC in 1979. Having served as Senior Minister of the Manchester VT church, Dr. Berry authored articles and wrote a book with theologian Walter Wink. Today he serves FCC by supply preaching. He has an earned doctorate in Religion and the Arts.
Some gymanfa hymnals will be available. If you have your own cymanfa hymnal, please bring it with you. Te Bach (tea social) will follow the sing in the downstairs fellowship hall of the Federated Church. The venue is a handicap accessible structure, located at 504 Main Street, Castleton VT. The wheelchair entrance is accessed from the back of the church building. For more information about the cymanfa event, contact the Poultney Area St. David’s Society, c/o 60 Norton Avenue, Poultney VT; pasds1988@gmail.com or visit its Facebook page or its website: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtpasds/