Edinburgh Royal Choral Union (ERCU) (established 1858)
Project and Concert in collaboration with student instrumentalists and singers from the University of Edinburgh
The project will culminate in the forthcoming performance of Verdi’s Requiem and Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, to be conducted by Michael Bawtree, in the superbly restored McEwan Hall on Saturday 2nd June at 7.30pm.
There will be receptions before the concert and during the interval.
The concert and receptions will be attended by our ERCU Honorary Patron, Frank Ross, The Rt Hon Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh, and Lady Provost Hanna Ross. The Lord Provost is also Patron of the Edinburgh University Chamber Choir who will sing with us.
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh University from 2002-2018, will also attend with his wife, Professor Eileen Scanlon.
Representatives of the Polish and Italian communities in Edinburgh and beyond have been invited to participate. The Szymanowski Stabat Mater will be sung in Polish.
This concert will be the culmination of an exciting project, a first-time venture for ERCU, in which we have offered opportunities to University of Edinburgh students who are aspiring instrumentalists and singers to collaborate with us.
The student instrumentalists will study in the weeks before the concert with mentors drawn from the Edinburgh Pro Musica professional orchestra and will perform ‘side-by-side’ alongside them in the concert. The Edinburgh Pro Musica orchestra includes players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Similar ‘side-by-side’ projects are conducted in Glasgow for Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students, but our ERCU project is unique for Edinburgh students.
The Edinburgh University Principal’s Fund is supporting the mentoring of the student instrumentalists. We are very grateful for this support.
Edinburgh University Chamber Choir and other Edinburgh University student singers will rehearse with ERCU and will sing alongside them in the concert along with invited guests from the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and other choirs.
The concert will be conducted by Michael Bawtree who is music director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union (ERCU) and who is also the recently appointed music director of the Edinburgh University Chamber Choir (EUCC).
The stellar soloists will be: Emma Morwood, Raphaela Mangan, Thomas Kinch, Nuno de Araújo Pereira and Arthur Bruce.
We believe that this will be the first public concert to be given in the magnificent McEwan Hall since its recent restoration to its original gilded splendour and status as a major asset for both the City of Edinburgh and Edinburgh University.
Coverage of the project and concert will be published by Peter Bourhill, Publisher/Editor of the Edinburgh and Lothians Life Magazine, who will take photographs discreetly during the concert and at the receptions.
TICKETS
£20/£16 (£5 students)
from usherhall.co.uk / 0131 228 1155 or apply for tickets at tickets@ercu.org.uk
