Tours
International Tours
An important part of what we do as a choir is touring. We’ve been to many prestigious venues around the world and hope to resume our travels as soon as restrictions permit.
We have toured abroad several times: to the Czech Republic, where we performed the Prague première of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast; to Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres, France; to Krakow and Opole in Poland, which included a performance of Verdi’s Requiem with the Opole Philharmonic Orchestra which was received with great acclaim. We were also one of the first Scottish adult choirs to perform in China in October 2016.
Tours / China
October 2016
After many hours of travel (with only one or two mishaps) and feeling the effects of jet lag, we performed Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, conducted by Nicholas Smith. We were joined by the Peking Sinfonietta and the International Festival Chorus in the Beijing Concert Hall. The soloists for all our performances – Charlotte Drummond and Paul Keohone (now our Musical Director) – travelled from Scotland with us.
A bullet train took us to the ancient city of Nanjing where we performed Brahms’ Requiem in the Nanjing University of Arts Concert Hall. Piano accompaniment by Shen Yue and Li Mei Yan.
We then travelled to Shanghai and performed the Brahms’ Requiem in the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall. This was one of the most impressive concert halls we’ve ever performed in, with an amazing acoustic and an exuberant audience response to our rendition of Auld Lang Syne!
It wasn’t all hard work. We were lucky enough to visit many awe inspiring places, including the Great Wall of China and Beijing’s Forbidden City.
Tours/ Poland
October 2013
The Chorus travelled to Poland together with soloists Fiona Wilkie, Catriona Morrison, Gitai Fischer and Paul Keohone (now our Musical Director), and organist David Hamilton. Our first stop was Krakow, where we sang Mendelssohn’s Elijah in St Catherine’s Church, a very atmospheric venue. We were also able to enjoy the beauties of the city, including many of us developing a taste for pierogis and some of the local vodkas!
We then moved onto Opole for two concerts in the stunning Opole Concert Hall. As well as a performance of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, we were privileged to sing Verdi’s Requiem with the Opole Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Bartosz Zurakowski. We had great fun working with Maestro Zurakowski, despite some amusing language differences, and we were delighted that he was able to come over Glasgow the following year to conduct one of our own concerts in the Glasgow City Halls.