STUART BURROWS OBE
1933-2025
President of Côr Meibion Morlais 1986-2025
It is with great sadness that Côr Meibion Morlais marks the passing of its President, Stuart Burrows OBE at the age of 92.
Stuart was born in Cilfynydd some twelve miles or so from the Morlais home, but as a young man he frequently rehearsed in Ferndale and so was well known in our locality. At the height of his long career he appeared regularly in leading roles at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan as well as with Welsh National Opera and other leading opera companies around the world, but we at Côr Meibion Morlais remember him as the man who was our President for nearly 40 years, and also our friend.
Even before becoming President, Stuart followed the Choir’s fortunes with interest. When our old rehearsal building burned down in 1978 he performed a benefit concert to raise funds towards the purchase of the current Morlais Hall, singing encore after encore to a packed Workmen’s Hall. Ten years later he was our guest artist at our 50th anniversary concert in the St David’s Hall in Cardiff and subsequently engaged us for several recordings.
There have been many memorable moments in the Choir’s long association with Stuart but one anecdote sums up Stuart’s sense of humour and easygoing amity with a local amateur choir. Arriving at the Morlais Hall one night many years ago to rehearse Richard Genée’s “Italian Salad” – a fairly long and complex piece – prior to a recording session, he was disconcerted to find that we had prepared the work a cappella, exactly as the score demanded. He bet us a pint of beer per man that we would lose the pitch and sing flat, and duly handed out sixty pounds when we didn’t!
Stuart kept in constant touch with Morlais Secretary (now Chairman) Byron Young and also gave valuable advice to conductor John Asquith but above all he will be remembered as the outstanding lyric tenor of his age. He will be greatly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know him, and our thoughts and sympathy go to his son Mark and to all his family.