The first half of our 2014 season drew to a close with a fine Choral Evensong in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow on Saturday 14th June, following which a pleasingly high number of choir members moved along the road a little to Munro's Pub where despite the noisy (but good natured) crowd already there enjoying the soccer world cup on TV we took advantage of a couple of tables being booked for us (it's where St Mary's Cathedral choir members go on a Sunday after Choral Evensong so the staff are friendly and accommodating) and socialised happily for the next few hours.
The service was led by Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, who sang the Clucas responses for us, and we were directed by Frikki Walker and accompanied by Richard Walmsley.
The next time we meet will be for our annual residential rehearsal weekend in August but that doesn't involve any public performance, so the next time you can hear us sing is on Saturday 6th September 2014 when we will sing Choral Evensong at 4pm in St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee.
In the meantime our choir administrator and director of music will be meeting in the next few days to decide on the dates and venues for 2015 (yes, it really does need done this far in advance!) and that meeting will also involve the administrator of RSCM Young Scottish Voices. After singing with us for the first time very successfully and enjoyably in Paisley Abbey a couple of weeks ago it is the intention that while still taking part in their own events the youngsters will sing a bit more often with the adult choir, and this is the first step in making that happen. Watch this space for further details!
Sunday, 15 June 2014
Monday, 2 June 2014
Choral Evensong in Glasgow
The first half of our 2014 season draws to a close with our Choral Evensong at 4pm on Saturday 14th June in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, the home choir of our Musical Director Frikki Walker and where a fair number of our choir members sing on a weekly basis.
Do come along and join the congregation if you're in the area.
At the end of our short summer break we'll be getting together in early August for a residential rehearsal weekend prior to the second half of the year getting underway on 6th September when we will pay a return visit to sing in St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee at 4pm.
Introit:
Hymn to the
Trinity – Tchaikovsky
Responses: Humphrey Clucas
Psalms:
148, 149 (chants by Brown & Stanford)
Canticles:
Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in b
minor by Hugh Blair
Anthem:
Hail
Gladdening Light – Charles Wood
Do come along and join the congregation if you're in the area.
At the end of our short summer break we'll be getting together in early August for a residential rehearsal weekend prior to the second half of the year getting underway on 6th September when we will pay a return visit to sing in St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee at 4pm.
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Birthday Choral Evensong
On Saturday 31st May 2014 we celebrated five years as a choir by singing Choral Evensong in Paisley Abbey joined by RSCM Young Scottish Voices (the first time they juniors have sung with our adult choir, but not the last!) and members of our sister choirs from England, RSCM Voices North, RSCM Voices South and RSCM Voices West. We were glad too that the director of the RSCM, Andrew Reid, had accepted our invitation to come and celebrate with us, and he had a brief chat to the massed singers after the rehearsal (and for longer in the pub afterwards).
There were one or two last minute calloffs because of illness, but we still made up a choir of 83 singers under the direction of Frikki Walker, and accompanied on Paisley's majestic organ by Richard Walmsley, who have been respectively our Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director / Organist since we first tentatively met in summer 2008 (our fifth birthday has been calculated from our first actual service, which was in January 2009).
Rehearsals started at midday and right from the off it was obvious that we were going to be making some spectacular noises in the service, but to be honest any service that has Parry's wonderful anthem I was glad as the introit can't fail to be spectacular! The full music list was
The weather in the west of Scotland has been lovely and sunny over the past few days, which meant that the Abbey, and Paisley, were looking their best, and if you're going to be stuck indoors on such a lovely day there are many worse buildings to be stuck inside.
The Abbey staff were very welcoming, providing us with refreshments during our short break from rehearsals, and Rev Birss said afterwards he was looking forward to welcoming us back for our 10th anniversary! I suspect we'll be back sooner though.
The service itself lived up to its promise, and the wee bits during rehearsals where Frikki had been on at us to watch him while he played about with tempi (as he does so effectively) seemed perfect as everyone had clearly taken to heart his promise that he would be changing things on the spur of the moment. Afterwards we had the obligatory group photo in the sun outside the west door of the Abbey (see below, with the other photos taken by Gordon Smith).
So, to the pub! RSCM Scottish Voices are a sociable bunch, and took the opportunity of having new friends visiting from England to show them what we do after every service. Space for around 50 had been reserved in the local Wetherspoons pub, which allowed us to enjoy inexpensive Real Ale, and food on demand! Everyone seemed to have had a good day, judging by the smiles and laughter, and after several hours gradually we drifted away to our respective homes, hotels, boarding houses, and in at least one case another licenced premises!
The photos below were all taken by RSCM Scottish Voices tenor Gordon Smith (gordonrasmith if you want to look him up on Flickr) and are reproduced here with his kind permission. If any of the singers from the day would like to access downloadable high quality versions of any photos, contact RSCM Scottish Voices administrator by email and it'll be sorted.
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| Andrew Reid (r) chatting to the choir |
There were one or two last minute calloffs because of illness, but we still made up a choir of 83 singers under the direction of Frikki Walker, and accompanied on Paisley's majestic organ by Richard Walmsley, who have been respectively our Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director / Organist since we first tentatively met in summer 2008 (our fifth birthday has been calculated from our first actual service, which was in January 2009).
Rehearsals started at midday and right from the off it was obvious that we were going to be making some spectacular noises in the service, but to be honest any service that has Parry's wonderful anthem I was glad as the introit can't fail to be spectacular! The full music list was
- Introit: I was glad - Charles Hubert H Parry
- Responses: Bernard Rose (cantor: Gary Young)
- Psalm: 150 (chant by Charles Villiers Stanford)
- Canticles: Charles Dyson in D
- Anthems: This lovely lady sat and song - Bryan Kelly
Let all the world - Ralph Vaughan Williams - Voluntary: Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne
The weather in the west of Scotland has been lovely and sunny over the past few days, which meant that the Abbey, and Paisley, were looking their best, and if you're going to be stuck indoors on such a lovely day there are many worse buildings to be stuck inside.
The Abbey staff were very welcoming, providing us with refreshments during our short break from rehearsals, and Rev Birss said afterwards he was looking forward to welcoming us back for our 10th anniversary! I suspect we'll be back sooner though.
The service itself lived up to its promise, and the wee bits during rehearsals where Frikki had been on at us to watch him while he played about with tempi (as he does so effectively) seemed perfect as everyone had clearly taken to heart his promise that he would be changing things on the spur of the moment. Afterwards we had the obligatory group photo in the sun outside the west door of the Abbey (see below, with the other photos taken by Gordon Smith).
So, to the pub! RSCM Scottish Voices are a sociable bunch, and took the opportunity of having new friends visiting from England to show them what we do after every service. Space for around 50 had been reserved in the local Wetherspoons pub, which allowed us to enjoy inexpensive Real Ale, and food on demand! Everyone seemed to have had a good day, judging by the smiles and laughter, and after several hours gradually we drifted away to our respective homes, hotels, boarding houses, and in at least one case another licenced premises!
The photos below were all taken by RSCM Scottish Voices tenor Gordon Smith (gordonrasmith if you want to look him up on Flickr) and are reproduced here with his kind permission. If any of the singers from the day would like to access downloadable high quality versions of any photos, contact RSCM Scottish Voices administrator by email and it'll be sorted.
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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| photo by gordonrasmith |
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