A first for RSCM Scottish Voices

Our next meeting is a return to the familiar and much loved territory of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, where our Musical Director Frikki Walker is Director of Music and where a fair number of our singers are in the Cathedral Choir, to sing Choral Evensong at 4pm on Saturday 7th October 2017.

Introit: O pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Herbert Howells)
Responses: Bernard Rose
Psalm: 37 vv 1-11
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in F (Peter Aston)
Anthem: Evening Hymn (Henry Balfour-Gardiner)

While the venue is very familiar to us, this will be a first for RSCM Scottish Voices since because of the recent departure to Ely of our now former Assistant Musical Director Richard Walmsley and the non-availability on this occasion of our Musical Director Frikki Walker, we will be directed and accompanied by James Kealey and Christopher Nickol respectively, the very first time that any of our meetings hasn't featured either (or more usually both) Frikki or Richard.

We are of course in safe hands, we wouldn't be so foolish as to experiment wildly. 

James has recently moved to Glasgow from Somerset where he was Senior Organ Scholar and Second Assistant at Wells Cathedral (where Frikki was previously a Vicar Choral in the choir at the same time that Richard was a Treble in the choir, small world, isn't it?) and he has taken up the position of Director of Choral Music at St Aloysius' College in Glasgow (coincidentally replacing Keith Roberts who until he moved south a few weeks ago sang countertenor in the choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral under Frikki).

Christopher Nickol is quite simply legendary in choral and organ circles in Glasgow, famous for his undoubted organ playing skill but also for his party piece of being able to play anything you care to name, instantly, and without the need for music. Born in Cambridge, he was a music scholar at Ampleforth College, Organ Scholar at Royal Holloway College (University of London), and postgraduate scholar at the Royal College of Music, and is currently Director of Music at New Kilpatrick Church in Bearsden, staff pianist and organist at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, pianist at the Dance School of Scotland, accompanist of Bearsden Choir, and a regular deputy organist at both Glasgow Cathedral and Glasgow University. Christopher has performed as an organist and soloist with the BBC SSO, Caledonian Voices, Glasgow Cathedral Choir & Choral Society, Glasgow Chamber Choir, the National Youth Choir of Scotland, the RCS Chamber Choir, the RSNO and RSNO Chorus, and the choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. He has given over 500 concerts on the organ in Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow, including one that went viral on social media on the day that the death was announced of David Bowie when, without any printed music, he played Life on Mars and a mobile phone video recording of it has been viewed on Facebook alone almost 2 million times.  It's well worth a watch/listen and it can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35292054
or a shorter clip on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsAYfEQMGkk

Choral Directing Workshop

RSCM Scottish Voices will be singing in the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling at 4pm on Saturday 17th March, and one week later the Royal College of Organists will be putting on a Choral Directing workshop with Duncan Ferguson, Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh, culminating in Choral Evensong conducted by the participants. Places are still available.

The workshop will take place from 11am on Saturday 24th March in St Mary's Cathedral , Palmerston Place, Edinburgh, booking forms are available to download from their website, and their own publicity states:

The diverse musical elements of choral evensong provide the repertoire for this very special workshop for choral directors of all levels of experience. A professional chamber choir, to be conducted by volunteers, will be present in the afternoon and for the closing service of choral evensong in St Mary’s Cathedral. Attend as an active participant or as an observer. Tuition from
Duncan Ferguson, acclaimed director of St Mary’s Cathedral Choir, with Nicholas Wearne, organ.

Schedule
10:30 Registration

11:00 Introducing the music for evensong and including

• The importance of warm-ups
• Score preparation
• Rehearsal techniques
• Gesture

13:00 Lunch (not provided—there are many places nearby to find sustenance)

14:00 Rehearsal of music for choral evensong with volunteer conductors and professional choir.
The music has been chosen to allow opportunities for the less experienced as well as seasoned practitioners to participate. The level of difficulty of each piece is shown in the repertoire list below on a scale of A – E where ‘A’ is the least challenging. Conductors for the different pieces for the service of choral evensong will be chosen from amongst those who conduct in this session. Please indicate as directed on the booking form if you wish to be considered.

16:30 Break

17:00 Choral Evensong (ending c. 17:50)

Repertoire for Choral Evensong
Introit: If ye love me, Tallis (SATB version in F major) (B)
Responses: Leighton (E)
Psalm 119 vv 1-16 (chant and pointing will be available in advance) (C/D)
Magnificat: Stanford in B flat (C)
Nunc Dimittis: Stanford in B flat (A)
Anthem: Wash me throughly, SS Wesley (C/D)

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.

Edinburgh organ recitals

To celebrate the recent refurbishment of the organ in St Peter's Episcopal Church, Lutton Place, Edinburgh EH8 9PE, there is to be a series of organ recitals, all beginning at 7.30pm, and with a retiring collection to defray expenses.  The details below are taken from the church's own website.

Friday 21st October 2012 - Dr John Kitchen
Amongst many hats, John is the Director of Music at Old St Paul’s, the ‘Mother’ church of St Peter’s, Edinburgh City and University Organist of Edinburgh, and is greatly involved in teaching and promoting the organ.

Friday 4th November 2012 - Michael Harris
Master of Music of St Giles’ Cathedral, and a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University, Michael is greatly involved in a wide variety of Edinburgh projects, especially in organ education.

Friday 18th November 2012 - Michael Bonaventure
A renowned recitalist, Michael, who is now London based, was Organist at St Peter’s between 1999 and 2003.

Friday 2nd December 2012 - Susan Landale
Having been born in Scotland and graduating from Edinburgh University, Susan was invited by the great French organist André Marchal to study with him in Paris, and has stayed there ever since. She is currently the Organist of Saint-Louis des Invalides, the Cathedral of the French Armed Forces, and in recognition of her world-wide career as a recitalist and teacher, in 2003 the Royal College of Organists awarded her the distinction of “Fellow honoris causa“. In 2008, she became the Honorary President of the Edinburgh Society of Organists.

Glasgow organ recital

At 7.30pm on Saturday 1st October 2011 our Musical Director, Frikki Walker, will give the inaugural concert of the Makin Digital Organ, recently installed in All Saints Episcopal Church, Woodend Drive, Jordanhill, Glasgow G13 1QS.

The programme will be of organ classics including the wonderful Toccata and Fugue in d minor, by J S Bach.

Tickets are available on the door for a very reasonable £5 (£3 concession) so why not pop along and support Frikki and the people at All Saints.

Organ and Choir

On Saturday 17th September RSCM Scottish Voices will be singing Choral Evensong at 4pm in St Mary's Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, Glasgow, and music will include:

Laudate Nomen Domini (Christopher Tye)
Preces and Responses (Bernard Rose)
Psalm 89
Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in G (Herbert Sumsion)
Faire is the Heaven (William Harris).

Click on the image on the left to see the poster in a bigger size.

The night before that however, on Friday 16th September at 7.30pm Michael Bawtree, Director of Music of Glasgow Chamber Choir, will be giving an organ recital to raise funds for the Cathedral music programme and also for the restoration of the instrument at St Margaret's Episcopal Church, Newlands, Glasgow. The programme pairs grand British music with more reflective pieces by French composers Langlais and Bonnet and JS Bach.

No tickets are needed - instead, donations will be accepted and split between the two music funds. The hour-long recital will be followed by refreshments.

If you can't make the concert, you can come to St Paul's Cathedral in London on Sunday 18 September, or Notre-Dame in Paris on Sunday 25 September where some of the same music will be on offer!

Michael Bawtree

GLASGOW PROGRAMME:

Overture to the Occasional Oratorio
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)

Cantique (Folkloric Suite)
Jean Langlais (1907-1991)

Allegro moderato (from Organ Sonata)
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele BWV 654
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Fantasia in G minor Op. 136
York Bowen (1884-1961)

Nocturne (from Douze Pièces pour Grand Orgue Op. 5)
Joseph Bonnet (1884-1944)

Moto ostinato (from Sunday Music)
Petr Eben (1929-2007)


SUBSEQUENT CONCERTS:

SUNDAY 18 September, 4.45pm
St Paul's Cathedral, London

SUNDAY 25 September, 4.30pm
Notre-Dame de Paris, France