22nd October 2022, 7.30pm,
City United Reformed Church
Windsor Place, Cardiff, CF10 3BZ
Created and composed by the celebrated Welsh pianist Geoff Eales, Spirit of the Mine is a powerful multi-media musical-drama that tells the epic story of the rise and fall of the Welsh coal-mining industry, an industry that created the wealth of a nation. It is a tale of unbearable hardship, tragedy, bitter social conflict, greed and exploitation. But it is also a story of immense courage, self- sacrifice, comradeship, camaraderie and unwavering community spirit. There are many tears. But there is laughter too. Ultimately, it is the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity that prevails.
Local singing sensation Leighton Jones plays the leading role of fictitious miner Phil Price as well as the historical characters Lewis Lewis and Zephaniah Williams. Cardiff opera singer Hollie-Ann Clark plays Phil’s wife Sian while renowned Welsh actor-singer Boyd Clack plays the preacher Evan Evans Nantyglo and miner leader Tyrone O’Sullivan as well acting as the narrator. Cardiff’s young tenor Ethan Hartley is Phil’s side-kick Tom Twt Twt and soprano Mandy Watsham Dunstall is Ann Clwyd. Swansea’s Ray Roughler Jones is the emcee and poetry reader. There are supporting roles from Jenny Howe, Brenda Ford and Mollie and Monty Dunstall. The cast is completed by children from Cardiff-based Hazel’s School of Dance.
Geoff Eales Brief Biography:
Geoff Eales is one of those rare breeds of musicians who are at ease in any number of musical situations. A master of many disciplines, he swapped a career in academia for the hurly burly of a jobbing musician many years ago. Though jazz is his first love, he is very much at home accompanying opera stars such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras and Lesley Garrett, playing on film soundtracks by Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein and Lalo Schifrin, or touring with the likes of Dame Shirley Bassey, Michael Crawford and Michael Ball. However, he is at his happiest when playing jazz. Jazz is the perfect place for him to delve into his own soul and for his imagination to take flight.
Throughout his long and distinguished career Geoff has performed at many of the world’s leading concert halls, festivals and clubs including the Royal Festival Hall, Ronnie Scott’s, the Blue Note Clubs of Osaka and Fukuoka, New York’s Birdland, The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, Louisville’s Jazz Factory and festivals in Belgrade, Zagreb, Edinburgh and Cork.
