It's time to Celebrate!

Our wee sister choir RSCM Young Scottish Voices, which is aimed at those in the 9-15 age range and which since its inception has been directed by Matthew Beetschen who has recently moved back to England, will be directed by our very own Musical Director Frikki Walker from January 2015, at which point the upper age limit will change to 18.  There are going to be even closer links between the adults and juniors than ever before as we build on the successful platform already put in place by Matthew.

In the meantime you can next hear them sing under the direction of Keith Roberts, head of choral music at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow, on Saturday 20th September 2014 when they take part in an afternoon of rehearsals culminating in a service at 4.30pm in the stunning acoustic of the beautiful St Aloysius RC Church, 25 Rose St, Glasgow G3 6RE where the adult choir has enjoyed singing in the past.  The anticipated finish time will be 5.15pm.

The music will include an uplifting mix from many traditions including American Spirituals, plainsong, African, Scottish, English and Russian music, so there's something for everyone.

All are welcome to come and listen at 4.30pm to support the youngsters who are the future of church music in Scotland, but if you have a child who is aged 9-15 who might want to come to SING with Young Scottish Voices at this event (which starts at 1pm, and finishes with the service at 4.30pm), please contact Sue Gardner for further details on YoungVoicesAdministrator@rscmscottishvoices.org.uk and she will let you know how to go about getting involved.

For anyone aged 16-19, please also get in touch to register your interest in joining this dynamic young group from 2015 onwards under Frikki.  As well as providing an opportunity for good music making and wonderful training, it's also loads of fun!

Follow the youngsters on Twitter @RSCMYoungVoices

The picture below, which was taken at the RSCM Celebration day in May 2013 in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, is of RSCM Young Scottish Voices members and Matthew Beetschen.

photo courtesy of RSCM/Chris Scott

St Giles

On Saturday 4th October 2014 we will be singing Choral Evensong in St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, directed by Richard Walmsley and accompanied by Pater Backhouse, assistant organist at St Giles' Cathedral.

Introit: O Virum Mirabilem (Peter Philips)
Responses: Humphrey Clucas
Psalm: 65 (chant by Percy Buck)
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis "St Paul's Service" (Herbert Howells)
Anthem: The heavens are telling (Franz Josef Haydn)
Vesper: Prayer for Peace (Frikki Walker)

This is our first visit to St Giles, one of the most significant churchs in Scotland, and we're very much looking forward to it!

Dundee

After a successful and enjoyable rehearsal weekend in Stirling University recently, we're all raring to get the second half of our 2014 season underway with a second visit to St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Dundee on Saturday 6th September when we will be singing Choral Evensong at 4pm.

The music will be

• Introit: The Spirit of the Lord (Sir Edward Elgar)
• Responses: Richard Shephard
• Psalm: 32
• Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in A flat (Basil Harwood)
• Anthem: Let the people praise thee O Lord (William Mathias)

As ever, we will be directed by our Musical Director Frikki Walker and accompanied by our Assistant Musical Director Richard Walmsley.

The last time we visited Dundee the people at St Paul's Cathedral gave us a truly outstanding welcome, and we're very much looking forward to this return visit.

2015 season announced

The dates and venues for our 2015 season have just been announced to the choir at our residential rehearsal weekend at Stirling University, so the wider world can now know!

All of our future events are listed below, including those still to come in the second half of our 2014 season:

Saturday 6th September 2014
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, High St, Dundee

Saturday 4th October 2014
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

Saturday 1st November 2014
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, Perth


Saturday 17th January 2015
Epiphany Carol Service by Candlelight at 4pm
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh

Saturday 7th March 2015
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington

Saturday 9th May 2015
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St Margaret's former Episcopal Church, Braemar, Royal Deeside

Having been recently saved from a perilous condition, St Margaret's is now becoming the base for all sorts of musical events in the beautiful village of Braemar which is just along from Balmoral Castle, the home of Her Majesty the Queen (Royal Patron of the Royal School of Church Music). Although not operating as a church now, the team looking after the building agree with us that this would be a nice opportunity to hark back to former times whilst still firmly looking forward to what the future holds for the building.

Saturday 6th June 2015
RSCM Scotland Triennial Festival
Directed by Frikki Walker, accompanied by Richard Walmsley
St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow

Friday 7th to Sunday 9th August 2015
Annual residential rehearsal weekend
This does not involve any public performance or access

Saturday 5th September 2015
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St John's Episcopal Cathedral, Oban

This will be a first visit to Oban for the choir, and we're very much looking forward to visiting this glorious part of Scotland where the RSCM is very much supported.

Saturday 3rd October 2015
Choral Evensong at 4pm
St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, Perth
*NB for reasons outwith our control this is a different venue to that originally advertised here

Saturday 14th November 2015
Choral Evensong at 4pm
Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh

This will be a joint service with Young Scottish Voices

Moons and Junes

Our choristers are an undeniably talented bunch, and there are a couple of performances of a concert coming up which feature our very own Sadie Maskery on vocals which are well worth checking out if you can get to either.

The first performance is on Wednesday 6th August 2014 at 7.30pm in the Masonic Halls in North Berwick, and you can find details and buy tickets (from only £6) on the Fringe by the Sea website.

The other, for which the poster is reproduced here, is free (but donations would be very welcome) and is at 7.05pm on Tuesday 12th August in the tiny intimate venue of Ciao Roma, 64 South Bridge, Edinburgh.

Moons and Junes - Romantic songs from Gershwin to the Summer of Love

As part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (PBH Free Fringe) Graham Cumberland, classical guitarist, and Sadie Maskery, mezzo soprano, take you on a journey from the first kiss to the bitter (but oh so interesting) ends of love in (nearly) an hour of mellow jazz and popular music.

Thus ends the first half

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!

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.

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.

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).

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.

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

photo by gordonrasmith

We are five!

 

After a lovely time in Peebles, our next outing is on Saturday 31st May 2014 when to celebrate the fifth year of our choir's existence, we will be joined by RSCM Young Scottish Voices, and members of our English sister choirs RSCM Voices North, RSCM Voices West, and RSCM Voices South in a celebratory Choral Evensong in Paisley Abbey at 4pm

Introit:          I was Glad – Parry

Responses:    Rose

Psalm:          150

Canticles:     Dyson in D

Anthems:      This Lovely Lady – Kelly

                     Let all the world – Vaughan Williams

Voluntary:     Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne

Do you want to sing in a Cathedral Choir?

The following is from our Musical Director Frikki Walker, who is also Director of Music at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, in which a fair number of RSCM Scottish Voices members also sing:


The famous choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow has vacancies for TWO TENORS.

Requirements are: a good voice, some choral experience, a reasonable standard of musicianship and a sense of humour!

Coming up in the next few months is a week’s residency at Lincoln Cathedral, a Choir Concert, and the recording of a CD of music written for St Mary’s.

We are a voluntary choir currently comprising 20 choristers (boys and girls) and about 30 or so adults. We sing two services on Sundays and have a rehearsal on Thursday evenings. Music covers a huge range, from Medieval to present day, and we do regular broadcasts, concerts and recordings, all to a very high standard.

We are also a very sociable group, and there is much merriment and socialising to be had, too!

Recently we have had several young singers going on to study music at University, many gaining Choral Scholarships to Cambridge, Durham, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow Universities, and others have gained places to Music College or Conservatoires.

You can read more about the choir and the cathedral on our web-site: www.thecathedral.org.uk

Anyone interested is asked to email the Director of Music, Frikki Walker on
music @ thecathedral.org.uk

Peebles

Our next event is a first visit to the lovely borders town of Peebles where at 4pm on Saturday 5th April 2014 we will sing Choral Evensong in The Old Parish Church of Peebles which is right at the end of the High Street.

The music will be:

Introit: Christ has no body now but yours (Ogden)
Responses: Ayleward
Psalms: 42 & 43
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in d minor (Walmisley)
Anthem: Salvator Mundi (Blow)

Our musical director Frikki Walker is unavailable that day, but we're delighted to be under the control of our assistant musical director Richard Walmsley.

Many thanks are due to Kim D Smith for permission to use the striking background image on our poster.

Linlithgow

On Saturday 15th February 2014 at 4pm we commence our 2014 season with a first visit to the lovely St Michael's Parish Church in Linlithgow, right next door to the historic Linlithgow Palace, where we will sing Choral Evensong directed by Frikki Walker and accompanied by Richard Walmsley.

Music includes:

Introit: Small wonder the star (Paul Edwards)
Responses: John Bertalot
Psalm: 147 (chant: Sir Charles Villiers Stanford)
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in F (Sir John Ireland)
Anthem: Sing Joyfully (William Byrd)

Do come along and hear us if you're in the area, it'll be a beautiful service in a lovely church.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from RSCM Scottish Voices!

 

As soon as all of the above symptoms have disappeared, why not  get your diary open and make sure you mark up all of our 2014 dates and venues?  The first time you can hear us is in St Michael's Church,  Linlithgow on Saturday 15th February at 4pm.

Happy Christmas

A very happy Christmas from all members of

RSCM Scottish Voices

error in CMQ

For those who subscribe to the splendid RSCM magazine Church Music Quarterly (CMQ), please note that there is an unfortunate error in the latest edition of the accompanying events magazine The Network, which is landing on doormats around now.

RSCM Scottish Voices are not, and have never intended, singing in Dundee on Monday January 6th 2014, the correct date for our much anticipated return visit to St Paul's cathedral in that fine city is Saturday 6th September 2014.

Whilst I'd urge you to visit Dundee don't do so in January expecting to hear us sing, but please do join us in the hopefully much less wintry weather in September!

Our next meeting, the first of 2014, is on Saturday 15th February in Linlithgow, and all the correct dates, times, venues and information for all our events is contained on the Future Services and Events page of this site.

Hear us sing

Our 2013 season has drawn to a close as our members now concentrate on their own church choirs through Advent and into the Christmas season.  We next meet on Saturday 15th February 2014 when we will be singing Choral Evensong in the beautiful St Michael's Church in Linlithgow, right next door to historic Linlithgow Palace.

In the meantime though you can have a listen to RSCM Scottish Voices singing the Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in D by Sir George Dyson during our recent recital in Dunfermline Abbey for the Carnegie UK Trust by clicking this link which should take you to SoundCloud.  This is the first time any recording by RSCM Scottish Voices has been made available, we hope you enjoy it and come and hear us sing live at some point.

St Aloysius' Vigil Mass

Our last meeting of 2013 took place on Saturday when we were delighted to make a return visit to the wonderful acoustic of St Aloysius' RC church in Glasgow city centre, where we provided the music for their Saturday evening Vigil Mass, and followed it with some most enjoyable socialising.

Byrd's lovely Mass for four voices was the setting, and Sir Edward Bairstow's Let all mortal flesh keep silence was the post communion motet with the solo Bass and Tenor parts being performed by Neil Parker and Gary Young respectively, and the glorious echo provided by the church between the alleluias in that piece showed what Bairstow must have had in mind when he wrote it while organist of York Minster. Stunning!


Sadly, at short notice one of our members, Angela, was unable to join us on Saturday as her father-in-law had passed away unexpectedly, but Fr Smith kindly agreed to remember him during the service and so we prayed for Donald Brown together.

Rest eternal grant unto him O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.  May he rest in peace and rise in Glory. Amen


The next time you can hear RSCM Scottish Voices sing will be on Saturday 15th February 2014 in St Michael's Church, Linlithgow (right next door to Linlithgow Palace) when we shall sing Choral Evensong at 4pm. Full details of dates and venues for all of our 2014 season are contained on our "future services and events" page which can be accessed from the sidebar at the top right.

Glasgow Vigil Mass

After our recent triumphant and most enjoyable concert in Dunfermline Abbey, we now look forward to a return to one of the most spectacular acoustics in which we've sung, that of St Aloysius' RC Church, Rose Street, Glasgow, where we shall be bringing our 2013 season to a close by singing in the Vigil Mass on the eve of the Feast of Christ the King at 5.45pm on Saturday 23rd November 2013.

Music will include the beautiful Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd (c.1540-1623) and the equally ethereal Let all mortal flesh keep silent by Sir Edward Cuthbert Bairstow (1874-1946).

If you haven't ever visited St Aloysius' you really should consider it, it's a lovely building, so why not combine the visit with the chance to hear gorgeous music sung by a very good choir!

Andrew Carnegie concert

As part of the celebration of the legacy of Andrew Carnegie, RSCM Scottish Voices in conjunction with the Carnegie UK Trust and Carnegie Corporation of New York are delighted to present an organ and choir recital on Saturday 12th October 2013 at 7.30pm in Dunfermline Abbey entitled

'Most Elevating of Voices'
The musical legacy of Andrew Carnegie: a transatlantic celebration

Entry is free, but a ticket must be presented (see below for details).

As well as the singing of RSCM Scottish Voices, directed by Frikki Walker, you can hear the internationally renowned organist Michael Bawtree demonstrating some of the finest organ music in existence.

The programme will commence in the mediaeval nave of the Abbey with:

• Hosanna to the Son of David (Thomas Weelkes)
• O sacrum convivium (Thomas Tallis)
• Sing joyfully (William Byrd)
• Ascendit Deus (Peter Philips)

and then continue in the Abbey church with:

• Prelude and Fugue in E flat, "St Anne" (JS Bach)
• Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D (Sir George Dyson)
• Master Tallis' Testament (Herbert Howells)
• O pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Herbert Howells)
• Sonata IV: Allegro (Felix Mendelssohn)
• And I saw a new heaven (Edgar Bainton)
• Ye choirs of new jerusalem (CV Stanford)
• Worthy is the Lamb (GF Handel)

The following is from the Carnegie UK Trust's own publicity:


Background
The Carnegie UK Trust and the Carnegie Corporation of New York are jointly promoting two concerts to celebrate Andrew Carnegie’s support for church organs, and the Carnegie UK Trust’s historic role in the revival of Tudor church music and support for British music in the 1920s. This transatlantic collaboration will take place in Dunfermline Abbey, Scotland on 12 October 2013, and in the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York City on 20 November 2013. The concerts will include some of the finest organ and choral music, as well as choral music from the Tudor Church Music collection and by other composers associated with the Carnegie UK Trust, which celebrates its centenary in 2013.


Celebrating the centenary of Carnegie UK Trust
Tudor church music was rediscovered, edited and published with support from the Carnegie UK Trust in the 1920s. The English composers in the programme include Sir George Dyson, who was a chair of the Trust and a life trustee and Herbert Howells, who worked on the Tudor music project as a research assistant, and was an early recipient of support from the Trust for his own compositions. English composer Edgar Bainton worked with the Trust as a judge on its music publication scheme in the 1920s.


Booking
To book your place, please contact Georgina Bowyer (centenary@carnegieuk.org, 01383 721445). Tickets are also available from the Dunfermline Abbey shop. The concert begins with some Tudor motets sung in the mediaeval nave at 7.30pm. The remainder of the programme takes place in the modern part of the church from 7.45pm. There is a limit on the numbers we can have in the mediaeval nave so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. It will also be possible to hear the first part of the concert from the church. Once the mediaeval nave is full, we will ask any additional members of the audience to move to the church. The event is free but a ticket must be shown.

Andrew Carnegie’s International Legacy: Shaping the Future festival
This concert is the first event in a week of events concluding on Saturday 19 October. The highlight of the week is the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy 2013 which will be presented on Thursday 17 October at the Scottish Parliament. For more information please visit www.andrewcarnegiesinternationallegacy.org



Cathedral of St John the Divine Concert, New York, 20 November 2013
The concert in Dunfermline is twinned with an almost identical programme in New York, in the magnificent Cathedral of St John the Divine, one of the largest cathedrals in the world. The organist will be Kent Tritle, Director of Cathedral Music and Organist, and the choirs will be the Cathedral Choir, Cathedral Choristers and the Oratorio Society of New York.

Inverness

On Saturday 14th September 2013 RSCM Scottish Voices visit for the first time the beautiful city of Inverness where at 4pm we shall be singing Choral Evensong on the Feast of the Holy Cross in St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral, in Ardross Street.

We will be directed by our Assistant Musical Director, Richard Walmsley, and accompanied by Peter Wakeford, who as well as being a member of RSCM Scottish Voices is the Assistant Organist at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow.

Music will include Crux Fidelis (King John of Portugal), Preces and Responses by Bernard Rose, Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in D (George Dyson), Worthy is the Lamb (from Messiah by George Frideric Handel), and the hauntingly beautiful O pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Herbert Howells).

Inverness is a lovely city, and if you're in the area why not come and enjoy the tranquility of a peaceful Choral Evensong to round off your day.  We'd love to see you there, it lasts a bit less than an hour, so why not give it a go!