Torfaen Choral Society was founded in February 1987 when like-minded men and women came together to demonstrate their interest in choral singing. All were amateurs, some with no musical training at all, but all had a tremendous enthusiasm to form a mixed choir that could perform a variety of musical styles to entertain a public audience. From 'raw' beginnings and coached with dedication by Musical Director Marie Charles, the choir quickly established itself on the musical scene in Gwent and was recognised as a happy company performing to a very high standard. They were invited to take part in many local concerts, achieved success at various eisteddfods and, from 1994, made triumphant concert tours to Belgium, Cork and Normandy. They were proud to celebrate their 10th anniversary by performing for the first time with orchestral accompaniment provided by the Welsh Sinfonia.

Distinguished musician Jeanette Massocchi joined the choir as Musical Director in 1999 and with the help of D Martyn Jones (assistant MD) and accompanists and tutors Mary Morris and Jackie Charles, has further honed performance and widened the choir’s repertoire. In the companionable atmosphere of the practice room, members work hard at polishing their performance of sometimes musically challenging works yet never fail to enjoy both the learning experience and the performance of all parts of their repertoire which includes classical music from the early renaissance Masters to composers of the twentieth century, as well as a selection of classic Musicals, choral settings of Folk Songs, traditional Nursery Rhymes, fun songs and Christmas songs and carols. The choir takes part in fundraising concerts for charitable organisations and performs regular choral concerts. Members now come from an extended area covering Cwmbran, Pontypool, Caerphilly, Goytre, Abergavenny and Newport.New members are always made welcome.

In May 2006 the choir was invited to make a return concert visit to Normandy receiving a very warm welcome from its hosts and in December 2007, as part of its 20th anniversary celebration, performed to a packed St. Nicholas’ Church in Prague. In March 2008, the choir won first place in the open choir competition at Llangynidr, Powys, Annual Eisteddfod.
Website http://torfaenchoral.free.fr