Season's end, brrrr!

Our 2015 season has now drawn to a close, after our very successful and enjoyable Choral Evensong yesterday with members of our wee sister choir RSCM Young Scottish Voices in Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh's Old Town.

Around 40 adults and 15 youngsters braved the rather low temperatures of the church (despite the heating being on, it had a battle on its hands against the cold Edinburgh chill!) and sang to a very appreciative congregation of almost 40 hardy souls.

Despite the temperature we enjoyed a warm welcome from Old Saint Paul's, and we're looking forward to returning there in the future.  Perhaps we'll schedule it for summer next time though!

The next time we meet as a choir is on February 6th 2016, when we make the journey south to Carlisle Cathedral to sing Choral Evensong at 5.30pm.  Several choir members have already booked overnight accommodation in Carlisle, so it looks like it's going to be a great social occasion as well as a musical one.  Will it be warmer? Here's hoping!

Old Saint Paul's 2015

After a great sing yesterday in Perth our 2015 season draws to a close with a collaboration between the adults of RSCM Scottish Voices, and the youngsters of our wee sister choir Young Scottish Voices, when at 4pm on Saturday 14th November we will join forces to sing a splendid Choral Evensong in the delightfully atmospheric Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, directed by Frikki Walker and accompanied by Richard Walmsley.

• Introit: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (S S Wesley)
• Responses: Richard Seal
• Psalms: 123, 124, 125 (chants by George Thalben-Ball, Samuel Wesley, and Charles H Lloyd)
• Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in A (Herbert Sumsion)
• Anthem: Love Divine (Howard Goodall)

Looking ahead, our 2016 season will kick off on 6th February next year when we are delighted to be making a first foray across Hadrian's Wall to sing Choral Evensong at 5.30pm in Carlisle Cathedral. 

Watch this space for more details, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter @RSCMScotVoices

Perth 2015

Our next outing is a very welcome return visit to St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral in Perth on Saturday 3rd October 2015, where at 4pm we will sing Choral Evensong directed by Richard Walmsley and accompanied by Matthew Beetschen (former chair of RSCM Scotland).

Introit: God be in my head (John Rutter)
Responses: William Smith of Durham
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis Fauxbourdon (John Bertalot)
Anthem: The Canticle of Brother Sun (Grayston Ives)

All are welcome at the service which will last under an hour.

Oban

On Saturday 5th September 2015 we will visit the glorious west coast town of Oban for the first time, where at 4pm we will sing Choral Evensong in St John's Episcopal Cathedral, directed by Richard Walmsley, and accompanied by Steven McIntyre (assistant organist of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow).

Introit: Sing Joyfully (William Byrd)
Responses: Bernard Rose
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in B flat (Sir John Stainer)
Anthem: And I saw a new heaven (Sir Edgar Bainton)

All are welcome in the service, which will last less than an hour.

2016 season announced

Hot off the press, our choir members have just been enjoying our annual residential rehearsal weekend which this year has been at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan Castle, and during the weekend all of the venues for our 2016 season were announced, so including the remaining three events of 2015 all of our confirmed future activities can now be revealed to the world as:

• 5th Sep 2015, 4pm - St John's Episcopal Cathedral, Oban - Choral Evensong
  
• 3rd Oct 2015, 4pm - St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, Perth - Choral Evensong
• 14th Nov 2015, 4pm - Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh - Joint Choral Evensong with Young Scottish Voices
• 6th Feb 2016, 5.30pm - Carlisle Cathedral - Choral Evensong
• 19th Mar 2016,  4pm - St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow- Choral Evensong
• 9th Apr 2016 - Peterborough Cathedral - RSCM Cathedral Singers Golden Jubilee Celebration
• 14th May 2016, 4pm - Dunblane Cathedral - Joint Choral Evensong with Young Scottish Voices
• 19th to 21st Aug 2016 - Residential Rehearsal Weekend (no public performance)
• 10th Sep 2016, 4pm - Bothwell Parish Church - Choral Evensong
• 8th Oct 2016, 4pm - St Cuthbert's Parish Church, Edinburgh - Choral Evensong
• 12th Nov 2016, 4pm - Culross Abbey - Joint service with Young Scottish Voices

With so many lovely cathedrals, abbeys, and churches around the country it's sometimes hard paring down our wish-list to something workable, but 2016 looks like it's going to be a great year with a couple of welcome return visits (St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow and Dunblane Cathedral), and the rest being first visits for us, including of course our first real foray across the border to our friends in England.

Full details of each service will be announced here and on Twitter nearer the time, and of course dates and venues are always published in The Network which is distributed to RSCM members and affiliated churches alongside Church Music Quarterly.

Royal links

Today we visited beautiful Royal Deeside and sang unaccompanied Choral Evensong in St Margaret's former Episcopal Church in Braemar.

Braemar is just a few miles along the road from Balmoral Castle, Scottish home of Her Majesty the Queen who is the Royal Patron of the Royal School of Church Music, and it didn't seem right for an RSCM choir to be singing almost on her doorstep without letting her know, so a while back our administrator sent off a letter to Buckingham Palace advising Her Majesty of our visit, and inviting her to the service should she be in the area.

The response, from The Chief Clerk to The Queen, was that The Queen's engagements are planned A LONG time in advance and therefore regrettably she was unable to attend.  In the envelope though, in addition to the reply from The Chief Clerk, was a letter from Her Majesty herself, containing congratulations to all involved in the regeneration of St Margaret's Church, and best wishes to the choir!

Her Majesty's letter was reproduced in the Orders of Service today, and a scan is reproduced below.

Royal Deeside

Our next choral outing is a visit to Royal Deeside where directed by Frikki Walker we shall be singing unaccompanied Choral Evensong at 4pm on Saturday 9th May 2015 in St Margaret's former Episcopal Church in the beautiful town of Braemar.

Last used for regular worship in 1997, St Margaret’s was built by the prominent Scottish architect Sir John Ninian Comper between 1899 and 1907 and ceased to be an Episcopal Church in 2013 when it was transferred into the care of the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust since when it has been developing into an arts and performance venue.

We see our visit to sing Choral Evensong as harking back to its illustrious past while firmly looking to what the future holds for this architecturally significant building set in beautiful Royal Deeside and less than 10 miles from Balmoral, home of Her Majesty the Queen, Royal Patron of the RSCM.

Introit:         Cantate Domino (Pitoni)
Responses:   Richard Ayleward
Psalms:        47 & 48 (chants by James Turle & Stanley Vann)
Canticles:    Magnificat Primi Toni (Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina)
                     Nunc Dimittis (Thomas Luis da Victoria)
Anthem:      Praise our Lord (William Byrd)

Young Scottish Voices are recruiting

Our wee sister choir, RSCM Young Scottish Voices is currently recruiting new members. 

Under new Musical Director, our very own Frikki Walker, they next sing together on 21st March 2015 in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow and if you're resident anywhere in Scotland, aged 10-18, and already in a choir, it's not too late to join and be part of that day!  Future meetings will take place in various places around the country.

Please contact administrator Chris Wilson at youngvoicesadministrator@rscmscottishvoices.org.uk if you'd like more information.

Free concert!

RSCM Scottish Voices member Sadie Maskery together with the other half of her regular duo Graham Cumberland are joining forces with soprano Sally Penman and pianist David Brown for an evening of light classical and jazz music entitled "Simply Because...." - simply because they want to help Rebecca Dalgleish raise money for the Children's Hospice Association Scotland. 

The concert is at Dirleton Kirk, East Lothian, Scotland EH38 5EH at 7.30pm on Sunday 22nd March 2015, and will include songs by Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Karl Jenkins. There is no charge, everyone is invited just to turn up on the night for a hour of enchanting music, followed by refreshments in the Dirleton Kirk hall. All donations are for Rebecca Dalgleish, whose mum Pam will a special guest at the evening (although she says she won't be singing!)

You can easily donate online by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/Rebecca-Dalgleish

Haddington 2015

After a lovely candlelit Epiphany Carol Service in Greyfriars Kirk, we now loook forward to continuing our 2015 season with a return visit to the lovely historic St Mary's Parish Church in Haddington, a few miles east of Edinburgh, on Saturday 7th March when we will sing Choral Evensong there at 4pm.

Directed by Frikki Walker and accompanied by Richard Walmsley, the music includes pieces by William Smith of Durham, Daniel Purcell, Maurice Greene, William Walton, and Philip Stopford.

Epiphany Carols by Candlelight

Come along to Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh on Saturday 17th January at 4pm to hear us sing a wonderful selection of Epiphany Carols, as part of Greyfriars' Spark Festival of Worship & the Arts.  Then stay around for a ceilidh afterwards (see contact details on the poster for how to book a place for the ceilidh).

Happy Christmas from RSCM Scottish Voices

Another year closes

A glorious Choral Evensong yesterday in St Ninian's Cathedral in Perth marked the end of a most enjoyable 2014 season for the members of RSCM Scottish Voices.

Our thoughts turn now to 2015 which we kick off in grand style on 17th January in Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh where we will present Epiphany Carols by Candlelight at 4pm.

The key to it all

St Giles' Cathedral

A great day was had by all in St Giles' Cathedral in the heart of Edinburgh yesterday as under the direction of Richard Walmsley we sang Choral Evensong including music by Peter Phillips, Humphrey Clucas, Herbert Howells, Franz Josef Haydn, and Frikki Walker, accompanied on the truly stunning cathedral organ by St Giles' assistant organist Peter Backhouse.

It turned out to be great weather considering the forecast was for heavy rain, and inside the cathedral was bright and flooded with sunlight, which helped us clearly see the massive number of tourists wandering round and peering over our shoulders to see what we were up to during the rehearsals!

One personal highlight was when the administrator was handed the key, the only key in existence, for the Queen's Thistle Chapel where we robed prior to the service, which you will see from the photo is a PROPER key!

Our next service, the last of 2014, is only four weeks from now, on Saturday 1st November 2014 in St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth when we will sing Choral Evensong for All Saints' Day at 4pm.  Watch this space for further details, and follow us on Twitter @RSCMScotVoices

Cantoris rehearsing

Key to the Thistle Chapel

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!