Welsh indie-folk band
Calan have come a long way since they began busking in Cardiff to help pay for university fees. Until the coronavirus pandemic halted live concerts, they had progressed to performing in venues and festivals all around the world, including Canada, USA, Borneo and Australia. World-famous bass-baritone
Sir Bryn Terfel has now invited them to join him for an online Christmas recital, screened from
Brecon Cathedral on December 12, 2020.
The event is part of the
New York's Metropolitan Opera House's
Stars Live In Concert series, an initiative to allowing music lovers starved of the theatre experience to enjoy live online performances by great artists.
Sir Bryn has asked Calan – Bethan Rhiannon (accordion, vocals, clog dancing), Patrick Rimes (fiddle, Welsh bagpipes), Angharad Jenkins (fiddle), Sam Humphreys (guitar) and Shelley Musker-Turner (harp) – to present their versions of the likes of
In The Bleak Midwinter and
Ar Hyd Y Nos (
All Through The Night) for a global audience.
"We feel privileged," says Patrick. "We come from a tradition very different from Sir Bryn's, but his artistry and that glorious voice – and The Met's huge tradition of excellence - demand that we're at our very best."
The band, whose latest album is
Kistvaen, see the concert as an opportunity to reintroduce themselves to an American audience. Their planned 2020 Stateside tour fell victim to COVID-19 and the band scrambled to get the last seats on one of the last flights back to the UK.
To access the recital online visit
www.metopera.org. Tickets cost $20 – about £15. The 75-minute show starts at 6pm GMT (1pm in New York) on December 12. It will be available to access on-demand until December 26.
Pictures: Richard P. Walton
Calan have rescheduled many of their UK shows to 2021 (COVID-permitting):
April 16: Folk House, Bristol;
April 17: Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea;
April 24: The Gate, Cardiff;
April 28: Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon;
April 30: Chapel Sessions, Southampton;
May 1: Arts Centre, Dorchester;
May 7: Backstage at Green Hotel, Kinross;
July 3: Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton;
August 29: Shrewsbury Folk Festival;
September 12: Bromyard Folk Festival;
September 16: The Greystones, Sheffield;
September 18: Galeri Caernarfon;
September 24: North Wales International Music Festival;
December 12: Acapela Studio, Cardiff;
December 15: Cecil Sharp House, London.
