Côr y Penrhyn 

Has its roots in the slate quarrying village of Bethesda in the Ogwen Valley which lies on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park about 5 miles to the south east of the university city of Bangor. The choir can trace its origins back to the 1880’s when a united choir was formed from a number of smaller groups that existed on the various galleries or levels in the mighty Penrhyn Slate Quarry. Indeed, that choir travelled to Chicago for the World Trade Fair in 1893 under the name Penrhyn Male Choir and the present choir returned to “The Windy City” in 1993 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their forefathers’ visit.  

After the First World War, unfortunately, there is a gap in the story and the choir as we know it today was formed in 1935. 

When the choir was originally formed, most of the choir members were slate quarrymen, as a workforce of almost 3000 were employed at the quarry, but that number has now shrunk to under 200 and the choir has to draw its members these days from all walks of life including schoolteachers, local government officials, farmers and businessmen. A number are now retired and can therefore devote more of their time and energies to the choir.

The Penrhyn Male Choir is one of the busiest choirs in Wales with around 30 concerts a year.

The choir has sung, more than once, as part of the pre-match concert on the pitch at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to a capacity crowd of nearly 75,000.  

The choir was also honoured to have been part of a Welsh language TV programme which featured the choir with one of Wales’ best known actors, John Ogwen, who hails from the Bethesda area.

In 2016 the choir took part in two S4C productions, and has been featured as backing artists on several recordings by local recording artists.

Its latest CD called “Gwlad” contains a catholic and eclectic selection of songs from all over the world although the emphasis, naturally, is on native Welsh music.  

This choir has travelled extensively with performances over the last twenty years in Germany, Finland, Hungary, USA and Canada as well as nearer home in Wales, Ireland , England, and Scotland.  

Following a “sell-out” concerts at Venue Cymru with the Black Dyke Band in 2015 and 2017, the choir are again sharing the stage with this famous brass band in 2020, again in Venue Cymru.

The choir has recently had the privilege of recording and performing with the “supergroup” The Good, The Bad and the Queen, their lead singer is Damon Albarn who was also part of the Gorillaz and Blur, they sang with the band on the North Pier, Blackpool, at The London Palladium, Glastonbury Festival and the Somerset House Festival.

They have also been recording a television programme with Alan Titchmarsh at Penrhyn Castle to be part of a series of programmes for Channel 5 called “The Secrets of the National Trust”.


Also in 2015, the choir travelled to the East coast of America to perform in various venues including the Washington National Cathedral and at was the guest choir at the 2015 North American Festival of Wales in Columbus, Ohio. They have again been invited to the festival in 2020, this time in Philadelphia.

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