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.

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.

Chapter House Singers & Glasgow Chamber Choir

RSCM Scottish Voices is made up of singers from all over Scotland who are members of other choirs too.

In the spirit of mutual cooperation we're very happy to include details of the activities of some of those choirs here, so below you will see posters for two forthcoming ones, firstly for The Chapter House Singers from Edinburgh who will be singing Faure's Requiem, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and Janacek's Lord's Prayer in St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place, Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd June, and secondly for Glasgow Chamber Choir who will be performing a programme of Baltic music from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Germany, on Saturday 9th June at 7.30pm in Hyndland Parish Church, Glasgow, and on Sunday 10th June at 3pm in St John's Episcopal Church, Princes St, Edinburgh.

Chapter House Singers

Glasgow Chamber Choir

Durham Cathedral Choir

Durham Cathedral Choir Scottish Tour

Having already mentioned the RCO Choral Conducting Workshop taking place in Edinburgh on 24th March, between Thursday 22nd - Sunday 25th March the world famous Durham Cathedral Choir will be taking part in their tour of Scotland and if you can make it along to any of them you'd be in for a choral treat. 

On a personal note, Durham was my local "big" cathedral when I lived in the North East of England for a few years and it's close to my heart, although sadly it's one in which I've yet to sing other than in the congregation at Evensong.

Thanks to Katie from the Music Departrment at Durham Cathedral for managing to source a version of the poster I can upload here (albeit, as she says, it's a bit faint), and the info on that poster is reproduced below.  Click on the image to see it in a slightly larger size.

Of particular note, just in case you saw a previous version of the poster anywhere, is that the concert on 24th and services on 25th are in St John's Church, not St Cuthbert's as was listed on the original publicity (and which I only just noticed had changed after I originally posted this, hence the need for a quick edit!).

Tickets for students and under 18s are free.

Thursday 22nd March 7.30pm
Concert in St Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen
for ticket information please email music@durhamcathedral.co.uk

Friday 23rd March 8pm
Concert in St Salvator's Chapel, St Andrews
admission by programme

Saturday 24th March 1pm
Concert in St John's Church, Princes St, Edinburgh
free admission - retiring collection

Sunday 25th March
Morning services at St John's Church, Princes St, Edinburgh
9.30am Matins
10.30am Sung Eucharist

Music to include James MacMillan's Missa Dunelmi

for more information email music@durhamcathedral.co.uk

From Palestrina to Rutter

On Saturday 17th March, RSCM Scottish Voices will depart slightly from the norm, and instead of taking part in a service our worship will take the form of a religious recital in the Church of the Holy Rude, St John Street, Stirling at 4pm.  This is an historic church close to the even more historic Stirling Castle.

Lasting no longer than a service would (i.e. around an hour) there is no charge for admission, although there may be a retiring collection for the church.

We will be directed as usual by Frikki Walker, however Richard Walmsley being unavailable on this occasion we're delighted to be accompanied for the first time by the exceptionally talented Geoffrey Woollatt, assistant organist of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, who will also play some organ music, demonstrating the fine instrument in this lovely building.

Benefit Concert for Christchurch, New Zealand

Scottish singers are coming together for a major benefit concert on Monday 28th February 2011 at 8pm for the people of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Brynne McLeod - mezzo soprano
Nick Morris - baritone
David Sloane - cello
Geoff Woollatt - organ
Michael Bawtree - conductor

The concert will take place in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, Glasgow, which is an almost exact twin of the cathedral which has been damaged in Christchurch. The two buildings were built at the same time to a design by the same architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott.

As well as Requiem by Maurice Duruflé the concert will also feature tenor Stephen Chambers and Soprano Ruth Elder, New Zealanders based in Glasgow. They will perform music by HANDEL, BRITTEN and traditional New Zealand folk songs. Soprano Rachel Hynes will also perform.

Choristers from RSCM Scottish Voices, Glasgow Chamber Choir, Strathclyde University Chamber Choir, the RSAMD, St Mary’s Cathedral Choir (Glasgow), St Mary's Cathedral Choir (Edinburgh), Edinburgh Singers, Glasgow University Chapel Choir, and Edinburgh Royal Choral Union will join together at St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow’s West End. Two New Zealanders currently studying at the RSAMD will also perform at the concert.

Cathedral Provost The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth said: “People in Scotland have all kinds of strong links with people in New Zealand. This concert is an act of solidarity with the people of Christchurch. Christchurch Cathedral is like a 'twin' of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, having been built by the same architect at almost exactly the same time. As we look around the building in Glasgow, our hearts go out to those who are struggling to cope in a damaged city half a world away.”

Organiser Michael Bawtree added: “Scotland has very strong links with New Zealand. Many of us who will perform have friends and family living and working in Christchurch; many have visited, lived, performed and worked in New Zealand; others are simply keen to show that support by giving of their time and talent.”

Stephen Chambers, an RSAMD Opera student from New Zealand who will perform at the concert, said: "My Dad (Dr. John Chambers) was in Christchurch on a Medical conference when the Earthquake hit. He managed to escape unscathed from the fourteenth floor of his hotel, which looked as though it was about to collapse. Like so many Kiwis around the world, I feel helpless. I hope that in putting on this concert we can get some money together to aid those hardest hit in the beautiful country that I call home."

Funds raised at this benefit concert will be passed through official channels to those most in need.

For those who are into such things there is an associated Facebook Event but the important thing is to come along to the concert and donate whatever you can afford.

Please consider supporting this worthy cause, and if you can't make it along to the concert you can give online to the Red Cross New Zealand Earthquake appeal by following this link.