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

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.

Hadley Court Singers

There's an audition day for prospective new members of RSCM Scottish Voices on Saturday 22nd September and it isn't too late to apply to join - just contact the administrator using the details in the sidebar on the right.

In the meantime though, if you're interested in joining a choir in Haddington then the Hadley Court Singers, which is conducted by the very talented Simon Nieminski and in which one of our members sings, could well be the very one for you, and they're having an open evening on Wednesday 19th September 2012 from 7.30pm until 9.30pm in Holy Trinity Church in Haddington. 

Contact their membership secretary via their website which is at www.hadleycourtsingers.co.uk

Sun Shine Songs

On Friday 17th August, one of the members of RSCM Scottish Voices will be taking part in a free concert entitled Sun Shine Songs in St Baldred's Church in North Berwick, with donations taken on the door for Leuchie House and St Baldred's Church.

It's a concert featuring Chick Lyall, Phil Grieve, Wesley Bradd and Sadie Maskery who together make up the group Eyebroughty, and it's going to be a mixture of jazz, folk and classic summer songs with special guests and buck's fizz (the drink, not the group!).

Not only will it be marvellous, it's for a good cause, so why not take a chance and go along if you're in the area.

RSCM Scotland Triennial Festival 2012

On Saturday 16th June 2012 at 5pm RSCM Scottish Voices will be taking part in the RSCM Scotland Triennial Festival in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, directed by Duncan Ferguson, Master of the Music at the cathedral.

Music will include:

• I give to you a new commandment (Peter Nardone)
• Jubilate (John Harper)
• Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B flat (Sir John Stainer)
• As water to the thirsty (T. Brian Coleman - arr John Barnard)
• Let all the world (Ralph Vaughan Williams)
• I was glad (Sir C Hubert H Parry)
• An Irish Blessing (Elizabeth Ann Spencer)

In addition to the above music which will be performed by all the choirs present, during the service RSCM Scottish Voices will sing the hauntingly beautiful Tree of Life, the tune of which was written by Marty Haugen with this choral arrangement by Frikki Walker.

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

Perth Choral Evensong

On Saturday 11th February 2012 at 4.30pm RSCM Scottish Voices will be singing Choral Evensong in St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, North Methven Street, Perth.

The music will be

• Introit: Give us the wings of faith (Sir Ernest Bullock)
• Responses: John Reading
• Canticles: John Ireland in F
• Anthem: Alleluya Psallat (William Mathias)
• Final Responses: Edward Naylor

St Ninian's Cathedral is a fine building with a good acoustic, so come along and enjoy this wonderful music with us.

RSCM Scottish Voices currently has a few vacancies for singers, and an audition day is being held on Saturday 14th January 2012 in Glasgow.

If you fancy singing with us just get in touch using the contact details in the sidebar on the right, and even if you couldn't make it along on 14th January we'll still consider your application and if there are still places available (or if subsequent places become available at a later date) we'll arrange ad hoc auditions.

Choral Mass

At 5.45pm on Saturday 5th November 2011 RSCM Scottish Voices will be taking part in Choral Mass in St Aloysius' RC Church, 25 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RE.

The Mass setting will be Missa Brevis by Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina (c1526-1594), and the communion Motet will be Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd (c1539-1623).

St Aloysius' is a genuinely stunning building, full of marble and fine decoration, and this service promises to be the wonderful culmination of the 2011 season for the choir, performing beautiful music in the type of building for which it was written.

Choir Place

There's a new Website started called Choir Place which looks like it's going to be a good resource for choirs and choristers worldwide.  Go and have a look at it, particularly if you're looking to join a choir but don't know where to start looking, or if your choir is thinking of "twinning" with another choir and you want some ideas of other similar groups.

Our page and profile has now been created as of this morning.

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.

2012 season

The 2012 season of RSCM Scottish Voices has now been announced!  All the dates and venues are listed below, and it's all also on the "Future Services and Events" page on the right.

On Saturday 11th February we shall be singing Choral Evensong in St Ninian's Episcopal Cathedral, Perth, at 4.30pm (NB slightly later time than our normal services).

Saturday 17th March will see us give a recital at 4pm in the historic Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling.

Saturday 28th April will be Choral Evensong at 4pm in Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh.

On Bank Holiday Monday 7th May we shall be joining with other RSCM Voices choirs in a festival in the stunning surroundings of York Minster

On Saturday 19th May we will be singing Choral Evensong at 5pm in historic Dunfermline Abbey.

Saturday 16th June sees us joining other choirs from around the country when we take part in the 2012 Scottish Triennial Festival in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh..

The weekend of 10th - 12th August sees us gathering for our 2012 annual residential rehearsal weekend, which is for choir members only and doesn't feature a public performance or service.

On Saturday 29th September the choir will be singing at the wedding of one of our fellow choir members in Brodick Parish Church on the beautiful island of Arran

Saturday 10th November will see us travel the furthest south we've been in Scotland so far, when we take part in Choral Evensong in St John's Episcopal Church in Dumfries.

Full details on all of the above, including music lists, will of course be listed here as and when more information becomes available.

RSCM Scottish Voices currently has a few vacancies for singers in some parts, and in the next few months we may be arranging a series of auditions at various places round the country.  It's expected that there is likely to be a fair amount of competition for the spaces, so if you're interested in joining us for all the above dates and venues, why not get in touch now and be ahead of the field!

Old Saint Paul's, Edinburgh

On Saturday 28th April 2012 at 4pm RSCM Scottish Voices will be singing Choral Evensong in Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, 39 Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh EH1 1DH, directed by Frikki Walker and accompanied on the organ by Geoffrey Woollatt.

The music will be

• Introit: O sons and daughters (Walford Davies)
• Responses: Clucas
• Canticles: Murrill in E
• Anthem: Ye choirs of new Jerusalem (Stanford
• Final Responses (Naylor)

Old Saint Paul's is a lovely building, set just off the Royal Mile within the confines of Edinburgh's Old Town, and the choir are very much looking forward to the visit. 

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

Director met

Copyright © The Royal School of Church Music

This evening (well, technically last night since it's now after 1am) RSCM Scottish Voices had the pleasure of singing in St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow at the Meet the Director event organised by the RSCM Scotland committee.

We had been asked by RSCM Scotland to provide some music at the start of this event, so we sang four pieces, Laudate Nomen Domini by Christopher Tye, Tree of Life by Marty Haugen and arranged by Frikki Walker, Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd, and Sanctus I and II from the Missa Brevis by Giovanni Perluigi da Palestrina.  Our Musical Director, Frikki Walker, was unavailable due to a prior engagement, but thankfully we have the expertise of our assistant Musical Director and Organist Richard Walmsley to call on, so he was the man in charge.  It's a great luxury having two such fine musicians to work with.

The singing went very well, I thought, and everyone seemed happy, and despite a poor turnout and a later than advertised start which kept the choir hanging around at a bit of a loose end, the evening went very well.

Lindsay Gray has been Director of the Royal School of Church Music for about three years, and comes from a background of having sung in the choirs of Kings College Cambridge and Durham Cathedral, to name but two.  A languages teacher, he was headmaster of Llandaff Cathedral school for 14 years before becoming the top man at the RSCM.  After giving us a flavour of his own background, he spoke very well on his role and that of the RSCM, touching on various resources available to affiliated choirs, before taking part in a short question and answer session with those gathered.  If you get the opportunity to hear Lindsay at a similar gathering, I'd suggest you take the chance.

Then it was on to the wine and nibbles at the back of the Cathedral, with lots of simultaneous conversations mainly centred on church music, as far as I could gather.

Then, on to the pub where six of us had a small refreshment and a couple of pizzas to stave off any stray hunger and thirst, with more chat in a less formal arena.  And a small part of the chat was when I revealed to the assembled company the existence of a Cathedral Choir Pubs website, created and run by Richard Shakeshaft who sings at Lichfield.  Have a look at it, it's a useful resource!

Hence only getting round to typing this at one in the morning!

I had been told before meeting Lindsay that he's a nice guy, but you know what?  He actually IS a nice guy!  He's in Scotland for a few days, this being day one, and hopefully despite the poor turnout for the RSCM Scotland event he at least enjoyed what RSCM Scottish Voices sang for him, I know we enjoyed singing it.

So, the next time YOU can hear us is in a little over a week, on Saturday 17th September, again in St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, when we shall be singing Choral Evensong at 4pm

September events

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow at 4pm on Saturday 17th September is the next time you can hear RSCM Scottish Voices sing in a service.  It will be Choral Evensong, and we will be singing:

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)

Before then, at 7.30pm on Wednesday 7th September you'll be able to hear us very briefly if you're a personal RSCM member or a member of an affiliated choir as we perform for only a few minutes at the Meet the Director event in St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow organised by RSCM Scotland when members of the RSCM can, as the title suggests, come to meet Lindsay Gray, the Director of the Royal School of Church Music, and listen to him speak about the work of the RSCM.  If it works, this link should open a PDF poster which is on the RSCM Scotland website relating to the event.  You can't just turn up, you need to register for this event and details of how to go about that are on the RSCM Scotland website.

For those who are members of RSCM and who have sight of their inhouse publication The Network you may already be aware of the Meet the Director event, but that publication wrongly states that the choir will be performing a recital, and in fact the PDF poster on the RSCM Scotland website says it's a concert.  It won't be anything like a recital or concert, it's merely us singing a few pieces at the start of the evening, and it was never going to be anything other than that!

Free Song Recital in Glasgow

Margaret Walker, daughter of the Director of Music of RSCM Scottish Voices, will be presenting a song recital in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, Glasgow at 7pm on Friday 26 August 2011.

Margaret is studying in Cambridge, where she has been a choral scholar in the world famous choir at Trinity College, and has spent the last year studying singing at the Conservatorio G Tartini in Trieste. She will be accompanied by Timothy Ravalde, a former organ scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge and currently Assistant Organist at Chichester Cathedral. The programme, which will last about an hour, will include music by Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, Mozart, Bellini and Tosti. Admission is free, with a retiring collection.

Programme:

A. Vivaldi: “O servi, volate” from “Juditha Triumphans”
J. S. Bach: “Blute nur, du liebes Herz” from “St. Matthew Passion”
G. F. Handel: “Non disperar” and “Se pietà di me non senti” from “Giulio Cesare”
F. J. Haydn: “Nun beut die Flur das frische Grün” from “The Creation”
W. A. Mozart: “Als Luise die Briefe”
V. Bellini: “L’Abbandono”
V. Bellini: “Dolente immagine di Fille mia”
F. P. Tosti: “Sogno”
F. P. Tosti: “Il pescatore canta”

Biographies:

MARGARET WALKER: Born in 1990, Margaret is in her Third Year studying Italian at Trinity College, Cambridge. She has just finished her year abroad where she studied singing at the Conservatorio G Tartini in Trieste.

Brought up in Glasgow, Margaret was a pupil at Notre Dame High School for Girls, was a member of the RSNO Junior Chorus for 11 years, and was also a member of the National Youth Choir of Scotland. She has sung in regular broadcasts on BBC Radios 2 and 4 with the Choir of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, and reached the finals of BBC Radio Young Chorister of the Year in 2006. Margaret has also featured on TV, twice featuring as a soloist on BBC ‘Songs of Praise’, and also singing solo on BBC Scotland’s Watchnight Service on Christmas Eve 2006. During her first two years at Cambridge, Margaret was a Choral Scholar in the choir of Trinity College, touring to Germany, California and Australia, and featured on several critically acclaimed CDs. In addition to her regular choir commitments, Margaret regularly performs in concerts, recitals and student operas. In June 2011, she returned to Cambridge to sing soprano in a one-to-a-part performance of the Bach St Matthew Passion with Nicholas Mulroy and Margaret Faultless, and also sang the soprano solos in the Mozart Coronation Mass in the St. John’s College Choir May Week Concert conducted by Andrew Nethsinga with members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Future projects include the role of Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance at the Minack Theatre, Penzance in September.

TIMOTHY RAVALDE: Timothy Ravalde is the Assistant Organist of Chichester Cathedral where he is responsible for accompanying the daily choral services and assisting with the training of the choir. He was educated at the Nelson Thomlinson School, Wigton. While in sixth form he was Organ Scholar of Carlisle Cathedral and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, before spending a year as Organ Scholar of Salisbury Cathedral. Timothy graduated from Cambridge University in 2010. As Organ Scholar of St John’s College he accompanied the choir for numerous tours, the famous annual Advent broadcasts and three critically acclaimed CD recordings with Chandos, as well as the daily chapel services. He also acted as Musical Director of the St John’s Singers, the College’s mixed voice choir and won the 2009 Brian Runnett Prize for organ playing. He has also recently been appointed Musical Director of Fernhurst Choral Society, and will take up this position in September 2011.

Choral Evensong in Aberdeen

Choral Evensong will be sung by RSCM Scottish Voices at 4pm tomorrow, Saturday 18th June 2011 in St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral, King Street, Aberdeen.  See the poster below for details of the music list.

New page added to our site

The keen eyed amongst you will have noticed that we now have a new page on the sidebar on the right hand side listing all our future diary dates and venues with as much detail as is available at any given point, which will be updated on a rolling basis.

So rather than have to scroll down and find the once-per-year post listing a new season's events if you want to find out where you can come to hear RSCM Scottish Voices sing, just look at the "Future Services and Events" page and it'll all be there in date order.  If I remember to update it!

Church Music Quarterly

I was asked recently to contribute an article on RSCM Scottish Voices to the fine RSCM publication Church Music Quarterly.

Not having any guidance as to the length of article expected, my first draft was something like 750 words long, but that's now been negotiated down to 250-300 words although it may be edited further!

The next edition is due in September, so I guess if it gets published it'll be in that one, and if so I'll be sure to post details here!