Since 2006, the choir has grown and has been competing as a mixed choir rather than a youth choir.The choir has developed its musical repertoire to the full by taking part in a wide variety of activities (e.g. singing in the opening concert at the Wales Millennium Centre) and in competitions. They are more than a choir, however and members have achieved successes in fields such as folk dancing, recitation, acting and creative writing. More than anything, CF1 is a group of people who enjoy each others company, fun and entertaining others. They hope that this enjoyment results in unique performances which give audiences enjoyment as well.More information about CF1 is available on their website: www.aelwydcf1.com
 

Dr. Fflur Dafydd ~ Lecturer
Fflur Dafydd is a prominent Welsh singer and songwriter who performed in Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Finland and the USA. She released two albums, one as part of the psychotic girl band Y Panics, "Pethau Rhyfedd", and the second as a solo artist "Coch am Weddill fy Oes." (Red For The Rest Of My Days.) Having released two singles with the Rasal label, her second solo album, Un Ffordd Mas, with her backing band "Y Barf" (The Beard) was released late last year with the Rasal label. She is also an academic and award-winning fiction writer who writes in both Welsh and English. Her novel “Atyniad” was recently awarded the prestigious prose medal at the 2006 National Eisteddfod, and she is currently working on a number of creative and academic projects, including adapting her doctoral thesis, entitled “The Uncanny And The Unhomely In The Writing of R.S. Thomas” for publication. Dr. Dayfdd is also completing a book on “Welsh Icons” for Gomer Press, and working on her third Welsh language novel, “Ffordd o Fyw” ( A Way Of Life.) She publishes widely in a variety of publications, New Welsh Review, Welsh Writing in English Yearbook, Barn, Golwg and Planet, and is the Editor of the periodical Tu Chwith. She has also worked for stage and screen, and was nominated for a D.M. Davies award at the Cardiff International Film Festival for her short film “Bathtime.” She has taught film theory and scriptwriting at the University of Aberystwyth and Trinity College Carmarthen, and is currently scriptwriting for the popular S4C series, “Pobol y Cwm.” She has undertaken literary residencies in Helsinki (2006) and on Bardsey Island (2002) and has performed at literary festivals in Italy, Germany, Norway, Croatia, Finland, and the United States. The Hay Festival chose her as Wales’s representative in the Scritture Giovani Short Story project for Europe’s most promising young writers in 2005. Her work has been translated into German, Italian and Norwegian.
 

Aled Wyn Davies ~ Banquet Performer
Aled Wyn Davies, a sheep farmer near Llanbrymair, started his vocal career as a folk-singer, but after winning all the important prizes in folk singing at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 1999 and the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2001, he started to broaden his horizons as a tenor soloist. He won the National Eisteddfod of Wales tenor solo competition in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and the ultimate accolade at the Swansea National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2006 - the famous Blue Riband vocal prize (Y Rhuban Glas), for his special rendition of the famous aria "Che Gelida Manina" from the opera La Bohème. Aled had considerable success at all major eisteddfodau including "International Singer of the Year" at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 2005, and the prestigious Blue Riband at the Cardigan Musical Festival in July 2006.

In 2006 he was the tenor soloist in the "Last Night of the Proms" series of concerts, performing in Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. In 2007, he was invited by the National Eisteddfod of Wales to perform in one of the prestigious evening concerts where he shared the stage with the Eisteddfod choir, Ensemble Cymru, and other notable performers in an evening of Oratorio works. He has performed in the USA as well as many other countries.
 
 

John & Karen Ellis ~ NWAF Honorees
 
 

Eilir Owen Griffiths ~ Conductor  for Côr Aelwyd CF1
Eilir Owen Griffiths is the founder and Artistic Director of the Trinity Arts Festival, which has the Stuart Burrows International Voice Award as its main event.  He is also the Cultural Organiser at Trinity College Carmarthen, where he lectures in music in the School of Theatre, Music and Media. He is the conductor of Côr Aelwyd CF1. After gaining his Bachelor degree from Trinity College, he obtained his Master’s degree in Composition at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. His composition work has brought him many accolades. Amongst these are The Welsh Livery Guild Prize (2004), The Barry Choral Society Prize (2004), The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) Composers’ Prize (2005) and The Worshipful Company of Musicians Award (2005).

Only 26 years old, Eilir has already established himself as one of Wales’ most dynamic conductors. He has won many of the top competition prizes with his choirs - Côr Aelwyd CF1, Côr Godre’r Garth, Côr y Drindod and The Blues Choir. He is a regular conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Wales and contributes regularly to concert platforms and musical events in the UK and abroad. Eilir also appears on television programmes as a performer and commentator.

Anthony (Tony) Jones ~ Lecturer
Anthony Jones, President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Co-CEO of the Art Institute of Chicago, is internationally known as an arts administrator, broadcaster, writer and historian of art and design. He studied at the University of London and the Newport College of Art, was a Fulbright Scholar to the USA and has a graduate degree from Tulane University, New Orleans. He was appointed Honorary Professor of the University of Wales and the Osaka University of the Arts, Japan. Jones has published several books and many essays on art and design, broadcasts often on radio and television, created numerous exhibitions, and hosted three television series for BBC in Britain. He is a recognized authority on the development of art, design and architecture in the Modern Age, especially on the work of the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and the Celtic Revival movement designer Archibald Knox. He has received many awards, including the US National Council of Arts Administrators Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts, 2001. He authored the exhibition catalog for Painting the Dragon, for the National Museum of Wales following the BBC broadcast of art and artists living in Wales, 2000, and Welsh Chapels published by National Museum of Wales 1996, and reprinted twice.
 

Fred Jones~ Artist and Lecturer
Fred Jones will speak on his paintings of the Welsh landscape. Jones first came to the U.S. from his home country of Wales in 1964 as a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. He joined the Western Illinois University faculty in 1968 after teaching two years at Chester College of Art in England. He integrated computer graphics technology and interdisciplinary mixed media into the art curriculum at WIU, and in 1995 he was named the WIU Faculty Lecturer for his scholarly achievements and contributions to the University. In April 2000, the WIU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi honor society recognized Jones with its Distinguished Artist Award.  In December 2002, he became art professor emeritus.

A significant part of Jones' artistic production at WIU was through the WIU Folio Press, which he founded in 1980. He has produced five including two previous trans-Atlantic projects: “The Welsh American Portfolio,” (1984) featuring Welsh American artists and Welsh poets in bilingual form; and “Village Memories,” (1992) featuring tape recorded interviews and photographs of 12 older people in Jones’ home village Llanymynech. The portfolio created a “time capsule” of their lives and the last eighty years of village life. Both of these portfolios are in the rare documents collection in the British Library in London.

Journey to Wales was a three-year journey of discovery from 2003-2006 resulting in a collection of 60 landscape acrylic paintings on exhibit at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth in 2006.  By exploring dynamic themes, such as seasonal changes, light fluctuations, weather patterns and plant cycles, he tries to reflect a sense of time and sacred reality that was part of human life for thousands of years before the conventions of calendar and clock. Although the country is small compared with the USA, he discovered an amazing variety of scenes. The journal, the paintings, the digital photographs, and the global positions, make up an incomplete record of what is available, however, the three-year journey of discovery did much to increase his reverence for the landscape of Wales.
 

Keith Davies Jones ~ Ysgol Gan Instructor
Keith Davies Jones was born in north Wales, grew up in mid-Wales and attended university in south Wales. He has lived in Winnipeg for more than 20 years, and has returned at least once every year since then to Wales to visit family and friends and the beautiful Welsh countryside. Several orchestral and choral compositions drawing their inspiration from this source have been premiered in recent years. He has some experience of orchestral and choir conducting and has for a number of years enjoyed directing informal singing at the Gymanfa Ganu. He is married with three adult children and one grandchild.
 

Jan Kieckhefer ~ Lecturer
Jan Kieckhefer, Director of Education at the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, has over 30 years’ experience as an educator with strong background in the arts and humanities.  She is the recipient of several competitive study grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  She holds an A.B. from St. Louis University and a M.A.T. from the University of Chicago. At the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, Jan is responsible for content development and implementation of all youth and adult programming, including Froebel Blocks workshops, lecture series, study trips, Youth Architecture Workshops, Architecture Fantasy Camp for adults, and the Junior Interpreter Program. She is a member of the Museum Education Roundtable, the National Art Education Association, and the Chicago Cultural Network. 

Dianne McCarty~ Sunday Service Organist, Ysgol Gan Accompanist
Dianne McCarty is a native of southern Indiana, currently living in the Chicago area. She has studied music since elementary school and earned degrees in piano and organ performance from the University of Evansville and Northwestern University. She has served as organist and director of choirs for several churches in the United States, and has held the position of Organist/Director of Music and Liturgy at Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Aurora, Illinois since 1983. Dianne taught music and served as College Organist in colleges in Georgia and Indiana, and currently teaches piano, organ, and harpsichord in her private studio. She performs in recitals as soloist, accompanist, and in chamber ensembles. While working as an engineer for Motorola in the United Kingdom, she travelled frequently to Wales and her passion for the Welsh culture, language, history, and music was nurtured. Dianne is active in Welsh societies in the Chicago area and has participated in several annual Cymdeithas Madog Welsh language courses. Her special musical interests are hymnody and ensemble performance.
 
 

Mari Morgan ~ Gymanfa Conductor
Founder and first artistic director and conductor of Côr Cymry Gogledd America, Mari Morgan grew up in Llanelli, South Wales. At age 15 she received a scholarship to study at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. She furthered her music studies at the University of Wales in Cardiff, graduating with honors. Ms. Morgan then traveled to London for a post-graduate vocal studies course at Trinity College of Music, which she completed in 1989. She moved to the United States in 1996, awarded her green card and permanent residency for her musical expertise and accomplishments. She has now made her home in New Jersey. 

Her professional resume as a mezzo-soprano spans two continents and six countries and includes concerts, festivals, master classes, and workshops, as well as recitals and opera roles. As a conductor, she is well known to Welsh audiences across North America, having directed cymanfaoedd canu in cities from New York to Los Angeles. Dedicated to the presentation of new music, Ms. Morgan is deeply committed to the creation of new music and of a North American Welsh choral music experience and genre.
 

Mady Newfield ~ Welsh Folk Dance Instructor
Mady Newfield, Director of the Fremilab International Folk Dancers, has been teaching and performing dance in the Chicago area for 20 years, running a weekly folk dance group at Fermilab and presenting programs at schools and community events. She is well versed in international folk dance, such as Scottish country-dance and English country-dance and Welsh folk dances. She especially enjoys fun and easy Welsh barn dances for the recreational groups and fascinating, more complex choreographies for the performing group. An enthusiastic and encouraging teacher, Mady loves to bring newcomers into the joys of the dance with her clear basic instruction and musician's sense of rhythm and phrasing.  When not dancing, she teaches French and English as a second language, and organizes dance events.
 

Hefina Phillips ~ Welsh Language Instructor
I never ask people why they want to learn Welsh.  To me it the most natural thing in the world!  To have been born Welsh is the utmost privilege, and I do all that I can here in North America to share my passion and love of Wales and its beautiful language. Welsh was the only language spoken in my home in Cwmgiedd, in the Swansea Valley. I was educated at Cardiff University's Welsh Department and was fortunate to have Saunders Lewis as one of my professors.  Since moving to North America I have taught on the annual Cymdeithas Madog Immersion courses as well as being responsible for starting Welsh language classes in Toronto.  We are blessed in the Toronto area to have a vibrant Welsh community.  The other passions of my life?  My grandchildren, of course. 
 

Alan Thomas ~ Organist for Gymanfa Ganu, Eisteddfod Accompanist
Alan Thomas was born in Neath, South Wales and studied in Manchester University where he received a Bachelor of Music degree.  H went to Reading University for a degree in Education.   As well as being Director of Music in two large boarding schools in England, Alan was very active in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, Granada Television and many community choral societies and orchestras.  In 1974, he became Director of Music at Ashbury College in Ottawa, a post he held for ten years before becoming a free-lance musician and teacher, but still remaining at the College as Chapel Organist until 1996.  In 1977, Alan was appointed Organist and Choir Director of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Ottawa.  Alan has been involved in many musical activities in Ottawa including conducting the Parkdale Symphony Orchestra.  He has maintained a strong connection with the Ottawa Welsh Society and has played for numerous Cymanfaoedd in recent years, including the National Gymanfa Ganu in Ottawa in 2000, Buffalo in 2004, Orlando in 2005, Cincinnati in 2006, and Alexandria, VA, in 2007
 

Gareth Williams ~ Lecturer
Gareth Williams is a native of Barry, South Wales and a graduate of the universities of Oxford, London and Chicago. After teaching for several years at Aberystwyth University he is now Professor of History and Director of the Centre for Modern and Contemporary Wales at the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd, in the heart of what was once the Welsh coalfield. He is one of Wales’ leading historians of popular culture, especially sport and music, and his books include Fields of Praise, a social history of Welsh rugby; 1905 and all that: essays on Welsh sport and society; and Valleys of Song: Music and society in Wales 1840-1914. His most recent book, Sport, is an anthology of Welsh sports writing He is a member of one of the Rhondda’s most famous male choirs, Côr Meibion Pendyrus, and broadcasts frequently on television and radio in Welsh and English. 
 

David Williams ~ Presiding Minister, Sunday Morning Worship Service
David Williams is a minister of the Presbyterian Church, currently living in the Chicago area.  His Welsh roots are from both parents; his father's family was from Sir Fon (Angelsey) and mother's family from Llandudno and Blaenau FFestiniog.  In preparation for ministry David spent one year at the University of Wales in Bangor.  He completed work for the Bachelor of Arts degree at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.  Post-graduate studies in Religion and History  followed at Oxford University (Christ Church and Mansfield Colleges). His Doctor of Ministry degree is from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  David has pastored churches in Pittsburgh and in Chicago.  In 2005 he was appointed Pastor to Pastors for the Presbyterian churches of the Chicago area.  He mentors pastors, counsels churches in difficulty, and serves as Minister for the Interim when needed.  He is presently at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Elgin, Illinois. David has been active in Chicago Welsh organizations.