Handel: Music For The Royals – Season 22/23 – Programme note

Season 2022/23 HANDEL: MUSIC FOR THE ROYALS

Our Edinburgh concert is kindly supported by The Usher Family

Thursday 23 March, 7.30pm Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Friday 24 March, 7.30pm City Halls, Glasgow

Handel Coronation Anthem No 1: Zadok The Priest, HWV 258

Handel Water Music Suite No 1 in F, HWV 348

Interval of 20 minutes

Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351

Handel Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne: Eternal Source of Light Divine, HWV 74

Handel Coronation Anthem No 3: The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260

Bernard Labadie Conductor

Louise Alder Soprano

Iestyn Davies Countertenor

Neal Davies Bass Baritone

Peter Franks Trumpet

SCO Chorus

Gregory Batsleer Chorus Director

SCO Chorus

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Our Musicians YOUR ORCHESTRA

First Violin

Michael Gurevich

Matthew Ward

Amanda Smith

Fiona Alexander

Amira Bedrush-McDonald

Catherine James

Kristin Deeken

Katrina Lee

Second Violin

Emily Davis

Sarah Bevan-Baker

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Stewart Webster

Niamh Lyons

Will McGahon

Viola

John Crockatt

Zoë Matthews

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Steve King

Cello

Philip Higham

Su-a Lee

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Christoff Fourie

Bass

Nikita Naumov

Margarida Castro

Oboe

Robin Williams

Katherine Bryer

Mary James

Bassoon

Information correct at the time of going to print

Trumpet

Peter Franks

Shaun Harrold

Eoin O’Gorman

Mark Elwis

Cerys Ambrose-Evans

Andrew Watson

Contrabassoon

Cerys Ambrose-Evans

Alison Green

Horn

Jeroen Billiet

Harry Johnstone

Rachel Brady

Philip Higham Principal Cello

Timpani

Louise Lewis Goodwin

Harpsichord

Jan Waterfield

Chamber Organ

Tom Wilkinson

Theorbo

Eligio Quinteiro

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAR

Handel (1685-1759)

Coronation Anthem No 1: Zadok The Priest, HWV 258 (1727)

Water Music Suite No 1 in F, HWV 348 (1715)

Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne: Eternal Source of Light Divine, HWV 74 (1713)

Eternal source of light divine

The day that gave great Anna birth

Let all the wind race with joy

Let flocks and herds their fear forget

Let rolling streams their gladness show

Kind Health descends on downy wings

The day that gave great Anna birth

Let Envy then conceal her head

United nations shall combine

Coronation Anthem No 3:

The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260 (1727)

Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 (1749)

Ouverture (Adagio – Allegro – Lentement – Allegro)

Bourrée

La paix (Largo alla Siciliana)

La Réjouissance (Allegro)

Menuet I and II

1. Overture

2. Adagio e staccato

3. Allegro

4. Andante

5. Allegro

6. Air

7. Minuet

8. Bourrée

9. Hornpipe

10. Allegro moderato

When tonight’s concert was first conceived and announced – and, very possibly, when you purchased your ticket for it – few can have imagined quite how timely an issue music for the Royal family would be in March 2023. But with the Coronation of King Charles III just six weeks away, we’re reminded again of the crucial role of music in British state occasions – whether to conjure and intensify ceremonial grandeur, or simply for fun, enjoyment and celebration.

George Frideric Handel, as tonight’s concert demonstrates, proved a master at answering both of those royal requirements, despite never having an official position in the British royal court himself. He was born in Halle, near Leipzig, as Georg Friedrich Händel, and first visited England in the autumn of 1710, where his operas proved so wildly popular that he settled permanently in London just two years later. He’d remain there for the rest of his life, where he’d be appointed a British citizen by King George I in 1727, at which point he adopted the anglicised version of his name we’re more familiar with today. His years in England spanned the reigns of three British monarchs, and Handel wrote music for all of them.

And, since tonight’s concert follows musical rather than chronological logic (this is, after all, a cultural rather than an academic experience), we begin with the last of those monarchs. King George II took the British throne in June 1727, following the death of his father George I, and he personally commissioned Handel to compose music for his Coronation service, which took place on 11 October 1727 in Westminster Abbey. And – as some of the musicians commissioned for our own upcoming Coronation have also observed – that imminent and immovable

deadline required some fast work. Handel put his four Coronation Anthems together in the space of only about two weeks, though in the end he could have taken an additional week since the Coronation was postponed after fears that the River Thames might flood.

Despite his tight deadline, however, Handel’s music proved immediately popular, and ideally suited to the occasion. It was a popularity helped, no doubt, by the extravagant performing forces that the composer was able to draw on, which set the crack Choir of the Chapel Royal against an orchestra thought to have numbered between 150 and 200 players. (It’s not clear, in fact, how the singers would even have made themselves heard above such an enormous band of instrumentalists – one possible reason for the description from Archbishop of Canterbury William Wake of

George Frideric Handel

‘the anthem all in confusion: all irregular in the music’.)

Handel composed four Coronation Anthems in all, and tonight we’ll hear two, beginning with by far the most famous. ‘Zadok the Priest’, which takes its text from the Biblical Book of Kings, has been heard at every single British coronation since Handel composed it, and it’s not hard to understand why. With its slow, steady build-up from an orchestral wall of sound before the choir’s blazing initial entry, the Anthem draws clearly on Handel’s extensive expertise in the theatre, ratcheting up tension before releasing it in the far jauntier and more joyful ‘And all the people rejoic’d’ and the vocal and instrumental fireworks of the closing ‘God Save the King’.

We leap back in time to the summer of 1717 – and to George II’s father, George I – for

tonight’s next piece. In fact, Handel and the elder George knew each other well. It was George, as Elector of Hanover, who gave Handel one of his first jobs, as music director at his Saxon court, and even put up with the musician’s incessant travels across the Channel for engagements in London. Handel left George’s employment after just a few months – it’s unclear whether he jumped or was pushed – but when the Elector assumed the British throne in 1714, any animosity was quickly put aside, and Handel became a valued musical collaborator.

Musical water excursions were all the rage among Europe’s royalty and super-rich at the time: there was something of a craze for river trips with accompaniments from live musicians, and even for mock naval battles enacted for entertainment purposes. Most vividly remembered of all of them, however,

King George I of Great Britain

King George II of Great Britain

is the trip aboard the Royal Barge that King George I and his retinue undertook on the evening of 17 July 1717, departing from the Palace of Whitehall, arriving for dinner in Chelsea, and then returning again. It wasn’t just the King and his company that were out on the river that evening: many Londoners were intent on joining the festivities, to the extent that the Daily Courant reported that ‘many other Barges with Persons of Quality attended, and so great a Number of Boats, that the whole River in a manner was cover’d’. And for this grand occasion, the King had asked Handel to supply the music.

Let’s return to the Daily Courant for a description of the evening: ‘A City Company’s Barge was employ'd for the Musick, wherein were 50 instruments of all sorts, who play’d all the Way from Lambeth the finest Symphonies, compos’d express for this Occasion, by Mr Hendel; which his Majesty liked so well, that he caus’d it to be plaid over three times in going and returning. At Eleven his Majesty went a-shore at Chelsea where a Supper was prepar’d, and then there was another very fine Consort of Musick, which lasted till 2; after which, his Majesty came again into his Barge, and return’d the same Way, the Musick continuing to play till he landed.’

Handel composed three Water Music suites for the occasion. It was long assumed that they’d been separated between outgoing journey, meal and return, though it’s now thought that all three were probably played at all three stages. However the music’s scheduling worked, tonight’s Suite No 1 would have kicked off the celebrations, and Handel ensured a rich and diverse collection of dances and other pieces to entertain and captivate his royal listeners. The opening Overture contrasts a stately, ceremonial

opening with a far jollier, faster section, and it’s followed by a thoughtful oboe aria, and then a sonorous and celebratory Allegro with prominent horns. A gently flowing Andante opens a short set of dances, leading to a livelier, three-time Allegro, a gently moving Air, a brisk and bracing Minuet, a quietly bustling Bourrée and a striding Hornpipe. Handel brings the Suite to a calm, considered conclusion with a graceful Allegro moderato.

If King George I’s 1717 river excursion was a resounding success, his son George II’s pyrotechnic extravaganza on 27 April 1749 was a bit of a fiasco. There’s no questioning its good intentions, however: to celebrate the end of the eight-year War of the Austrian Succession, the King planned a huge firework show in Green Park, for which Handel would supply the music. And for the event, the King had also commissioned Franco-Italian architect Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni to create a vast temporary pavilion, which Servandoni dubbed a ‘Machine’, that would be decorated with sculptures, artifical flowers, statues and allegorical pictures, and serve both as a stage for Handel’s musicians and a launchpad for some of the evening’s pyrotechnics. (You might already see where this is going.)

Things started badly even at the planning stage, when Handel was informed that the King wanted ‘no fiddles’, despite his own intention to use stringed instruments. The composer reluctantly agreed, but rescored his original wind, brass and percussion music to incorporate strings for a later performance. A full rehearsal was announced for 21 April, but not, as expected, in Green Park. Instead, the runthrough happened south of the Thames in

Vauxhall Gardens, and the 12,000 people who attended caused a three-hour carriage jam on London Bridge, the only way for vehicles to cross the River.

When the evening itself arrived, it rained. Many of the show’s estimated 10,000 fireworks failed to ignite, others went astray, and Servandoni’s ‘Machine’ itself caught fire. The architect was so outraged that he pulled his sword on one of the King’s representatives, was promptly arrested, and only released the following day after making a grovelling apology for his behaviour. The writer Horace Walpole neatly summed up the rather anticlimactic nature of the evening: the ‘pitiful and ill-conducted’ event had ‘by no means answered the expense, the length of preparation, and the expectation that had been raised,’ he noted. But it wasn’t all gloom: he also observed that ‘very little mischief was done, and but two persons killed’. Thank goodness for silver linings.

There was no doubt, however, about the grandeur and magnificence of the sixmovement suite that Handel had written for the occasion, combining popular dances with more thoughtful movements marking the event’s purpose. A ceremonial slow introduction launches the opening Ouverture, before its rushing, faster section with quickfire exchanges between brass and strings, and it’s followed by an agile Bourrée that again hops between orchestral groups. The slower, gently rocking ‘La paix’ (or ‘Peace’) reflects the fireworks’ celebration of the end of war, while ‘La réjouissance’ (or ‘Rejoicing’) lives up to its title with loud, confident music that barely seems able to contain its excitement. Handel rounds things off with two lively minuets, the first stomping with rather heavy feet, the second far more buoyant.

This brings us to the earliest music in tonight’s programme. When Handel first settled in London in 1712, Queen Anne was on the British throne, and would remain there for two more years. Her musical interests, however, were far from clear. The Duke of Manchester famously described the Queen as being ‘too careless or too busy to listen to her own band, and had no thought of hearing and paying new players however great their genius or vast their skill’.

There’s some doubt, therefore, whether Queen Anne ever actually heard the Ode that Handel wrote for her birthday in 1713 – or, indeed, whether the piece was even performed on that occasion, which fell on 6 February. It’s not clear, either, how Handel ended up writing the piece in the first place: John Eccles was the Master of the Queen’s Music at the time, but had clearly been overlooked in favour of this German newcomer who was so wildly captivating London audiences with his operas.

What’s beyond doubt is the sheer quality and inventiveness of this nine-movement cantata from Handel’s first years in England. It sets a text by Ambrose Philips that not only marks the monarch’s birthday, but also praises her as a pivotal peacemaker in the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, and the resolution of the War of the Spanish Succession. Its opening ‘Eternal source of light divine’ is a sublime, contemplative, somewhat otherworldly movement in which the orchestral trumpet mirrors the countertenor’s vocal line, while ‘The day that gave great Anna birth’ shifts us into bustling, good-natured joy, with trumpet and oboe copying the countertenor’s virtuosic figurations. Gusts of gentle breeze from the oboes and violins accompany angels joining the birthday

celebrations in ‘Let the winged race with joy’, while ‘Let flocks and herds their fear forget’ is a jolly, bucolic dance.

Countertenor and bass singers playfully depict the very brooks they’re describing in ‘Let rolling streams their gladness show’, while ‘Kind health descends’ is a gentle, pastoral duet for soprano and countertenor. There’s an undeniable grandeur to the choral ‘The day that gave great Anna birth’, and a larger-than-life exuberance to the bass solo ‘Let envy then conceal her head’. Handel brings his Ode to a resplendent conclusion with the bustling vigour of ‘United nations shall combine’, complete with an echo chorus copying the main band of singers.

We finish back where we started, with the Coronation of George II. ‘The King

shall Rejoice’, using a text from Psalm 21, was performed at the actual moment of George II’s crowning, using appropriately celebratory, majestic music. Handel sets each of the text’s four lines in a separate, distinctive musical section. The opening ‘The King shall Rejoice’ is brisk and confident, full of ceremonial fanfares, while ‘Exceeding glad shall he be’ is quieter and more playful, with dancelike figures in the strings and lilting vocal lines. ‘Glory and great worship’ stands as a brief, dramatic interlude before the closing ‘Thou has prevented him’, a grand fugue that slowly expands across instruments and voices as Handel displays his compositional prowess. It only needs the intricate ‘Alleluia’ to round the Anthem off majestically.

© David Kettle

When Handel first settled in London in 1712, Queen Anne was on the British throne, and would remain there for two more years. Her musical interests, however, were far from clear.

Queen Anne of Great Britain

Handel (1685-1759)

Coronation Anthem No 1: Zadok The Priest (1727)

Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the Prophet, anointed Solomon King;

and all the people rejoiced, and said:

God save the King, long live the King, may the King live for ever! Amen! Alleluia!

Handel (1685-1759)

Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne: Eternal Source of Light Divine (1713)

Ode for the birthday of Queen Anne

1. Arioso (Countertenor)

Eternal source of light divine with double warmth thy beams display, and with distinguish'd glory shine, to add a lustre to this day.

2. Aria (Countertenor) & Chorus

The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

3. Aria (Soprano) & Chorus

Let all the winged race with joy their wonted homage sweetly pay, whilst tow'ring in the azure sky they celebrate this happy day: The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

4. Duet (Soprano & Countertenor) & Chorus

Let flocks and herds their fear forget, lions and wolves refuse their prey, and all in friendly consort meet, made glad by this propitious day. The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

5. Duet (Countertenor & Bass) & Chorus

Let rolling streams their gladness show with gentle murmurs whilst they play, and in their wild meanders flow, rejoicing in this blessed day.

The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

6. Duet (Soprano & Countertenor) & Chorus

Kind Health descends on downy wings; angels conduct her on the way. To our glorious Queen new life she brings, and swells our joys upon this day.

7. Duet (Soprano & Countertenor) & Chorus

The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

8. Aria (Bass) & Chorus

Let Envy then conceal her head, and blasted faction glide away. No more her hissing tongues we'll dread, secure in this auspicious day. The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

9. Aria (Countertenor) & Chorus

United nations shall combine, to distant climes the sound convey that Anna's actions are divine, and this the most important day! The day that gave great Anna birth who fix'd a lasting peace on earth.

Handel (1685-1759)

Coronation Anthem No. 3: The King Shall Rejoice (1727)

The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord.

Exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation.

Glory and great worship hast thou laid upon him.

Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodness and hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head.

Alleluia.

Conductor BERNARD LABADIE

Bernard Labadie is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading conductors of the Baroque and Classical repertoire. He founded Les Violons du Roy and was their Music Director for three decades. He continues to be Music Director of his extraordinary choir, La Chapelle de Québec, which he founded in 1985.

In September 2018 he began his tenure as Music Director of the Orchestra of St Luke’s, New York. He is a regular guest with all the major North American orchestras and in Europe this season he has conducted the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra in Frankfurt, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Other recent appearances include the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony and the period instrument ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music and the English Concert.

His honours include Officer of the Order of Canada awarded by the Canadian Government and Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Québec.

Soprano LOUISE ALDER

Louise Alder studied at the Royal College of Music International Opera School where she was the inaugural Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar.

Her engagements in the 2022/23 season include Fiordiligi in a new production of Così fan tutte for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, and a return to the Glyndebourne Festival as Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress. On the concert platform she sings Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle and his Symphony No. 4 with the Bayerisches Statsorchester/Vladimir Jurowski, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Jakub Hrůša and Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Kirill Petrenko.

Previous highlights have included Susanna Figaro for the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and the Opernhaus Zürich; Zerlina Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Teatro Real in Madrid; Gretel Hänsel und Gretel and Marzelline Fidelio for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; Sophie Der Rosenkavalier for the Wiener Staatsoper and the Glyndebourne Festival and Cleopatra Giulio Cesare for the Theater an der Wien and Oper Frankfurt.

Her recital appearances include the BBC Proms, Graz Musikverein and the Oper Frankfurt with Gary Matthewman, Wigmore Hall with both Joseph Middleton and James Baillieu, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg with Daniel Heide, and the Oxford Lieder Festival and Fundación Privada Victoria de los Ángeles in Barcelona with Sholto Kynoch.

For full biography please visit sco.org.uk

Countertenor IESTYN DAVIES

Iestyn Davies is a British countertenor widely recognised as one of the world’s finest singers celebrated for the beauty and technical dexterity of his voice and intelligent musicianship. Critical recognition of Iestyn’s work can be seen in two Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, a RPS Award for Young Singer of the Year, the Critics’ Circle Award and recently an Olivier Award Nomination. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List 2017 for services to music.

His concert engagements have included performances at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan with Dudamel, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with Koopman and at the Barbican, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Centre and at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall with orchestras that include the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He recently made his debut, in recital, at Carnegie Hall, New York. He enjoys a successful relationship with the Wigmore Hall, where, in the 2012/13 season, he curated his own residency.

Recent highlights have included two Bach recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Aldeburgh Festival and Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin with Julius Drake at Middle Temple Hall, London. Future plans include Thomas Adès' The Exterminating Angel at the Metropolitan Opera New York and Farinelli & the King with Mark Rylance on Broadway, New York.

For full biography please visit sco.org.uk

Bass Baritone NEAL DAVIES

Neal Davies studied at King's College, London and the Royal Academy of Music, and won the Lieder Prize at the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He has appeared with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Mariss Jansons, BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, Cleveland and Philharmonia orchestras under Christoph van Dohnányi, Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Frans Brüggen, English Concert with Harry Bicket, Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh, Halle Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder, Concerto Köln under Ivor Bolton, Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Adam Fischer, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Edward Gardner, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin with David Zinman, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, and the London Symphony and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras under Daniel Harding. He has been a regular guest of the Edinburgh Festival and BBC Proms.

Opera for 22/23 includes performances of Jephtha (Zebul) with Music of the Baroque and Jane Glover, Yeoman of the Guard (Sergeant)for the English National Opera, and Papageno in the Welsh National Opera’s production of The Magic Flute. On the concert stage, Neal will sing Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and Fabio Biondi, Vaughan William’s Dona nobis pacem with MDR Radio Orchestra and Howard Arman in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, join the Bergen Philharmonic and Mark Elder for Christ on the Mount of Olives, sing Handel’s Ode For The Birthday Of Queen Anne with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy, and make a Scottish tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Dunedin Consort.

For full biography please visit sco.org.uk

Trumpet PETER FRANKS

Peter Franks studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was taught by Bernard Brown and Raymond Simmons. He was a national finalist and London area winner in the 1979 Shell-LSO Scholarship Competition and in the following year was awarded a bursary to join the National Centre for Orchestral Studies.

At the age of 22, Peter joined the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and was soon appointed Principal Trumpet. As a soloist, he has performed the Hummel and Haydn concertos, both with the SCO and elsewhere; the Vivaldi Double Concerto at Edinburgh International Festival and Paris Châtelet, and gave the Scottish, London and USA premieres of Strathclyde Concerto No 3 by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Peter has had the honour to perform and record with many distinguished conductors and colleagues both with the SCO and as a guest with many other orchestras, including the RSNO and BBC SSO. He holds teaching positions at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and St. Mary’s Music School, is a visiting teacher at Edinburgh University, and has arrangements published for brass and woodwind ensembles.

Chorus Director

GREGORY BATSLEER

Gregory Batsleer is acknowledged as one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, winning widespread recognition for his creativity and vision. Since taking on the role of SCO Chorus Director in 2009 he has led the development of the Chorus, overseeing vocal coaching, the SCO Young Singers’ Programme and the emergence of regular a capella concerts. As well as preparing the Chorus for regular performances with the Orchestra, he has directed their recent successful appearances at the East Neuk, Glasgow Cathedral and St Andrews Voices Festivals, at Greyfriars Kirk, and on the SCO’s 2022 Summer Tour.

In 2021 Gregory took up the position of Festival Director for the London Handel Festival. He leads the programming and development of the Festival, fulfilling its mission to bring Handel’s music to the widest possible audiences. Since 2017 he has been Artistic Director of Huddersfield Choral Society and was Chorus Director with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2015 - 2021.

As Guest Conductor Gregory has worked with many of the UK’s leading orchestras and ensembles. Recent highlights include performances with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, RSNO, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, Orchestra of Opera North, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus, as well as SCO.

From 2012 to 2017, he was Artistic Director of the National Portrait Gallery’s Choir in Residence programme, the first ever in-house music programme of any gallery or museum in the world. He has curated and devised performances for the Southbank Centre, Wilderness Festival and Latitude and collaborated with leading cultural figures across a variety of different art forms. Gregory is the co-founder and conductor of Festival Voices, a versatile ensemble dedicated to cross-art collaboration.

As a non-executive director, Gregory sits on the boards of Manchester Camerata and Charades Theatre Company. His outstanding work as a choral director was recognised with the 2015 Arts Foundation’s first-ever Fellowship in Choral Conducting.

Gregory’s Chair is kindly supported by Anne McFarlane

SCO CHORUS

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, under the direction of Gregory Batsleer since 2009, has built a reputation as one of Scotland’s most vibrant and versatile choirs. Widely regarded as one of the finest orchestral choruses in the UK, it celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021.

Members enjoy the unique opportunity to perform with one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras, working with international conductors including Maxim Emelyanychev, Harry Christophers, Richard Egarr, Andrew Manze, John Storgårds and Sir James MacMillan.

The Chorus appears regularly with the Orchestra in Scotland’s major cities. Recent concerts have covered a wide range of music including MacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross, Stravinsky Mass, Handel Messiah and Theodora, Haydn Seasons, Beethoven ‘Choral’ Symphony and Missa Solemnis, a rare performance of Vaughan Williams Flos Campi and the premiere of The Years by Anna Clyne, SCO Associate Composer 2019-2022.

The SCO Chorus also appears on its own in a cappella repertoire, both digital and live, including an acclaimed performance of Tallis’ Spem in Alium at Greyfriars Kirk and concerts as part of the SCO’s 2022 Summer Tour including the premiere of Anna Clyne’s The Heart of Night. Its annual Christmas concerts have quickly established themselves as a Season highlight.

Other notable out-of-Season appearances have included a critically-acclaimed debut at the BBC Proms in Handel’s Jephtha in 2019 and a dramatised performance of Parry’s Songs of Farewell in 2017, devised by stage director Jack Furness and Chorus Director Gregory Batsleer.

Our Young Singers' Programme was established in 2015 to nurture and develop aspiring young singers. It is designed for young people with a high level of choral experience and ambitions to further their singing with a world-class ensemble.

Further information at sco.org.uk

The SCO Chorus Young Singers' Programme is kindly supported by the Baird Educational Trust.

YOUR CHORUS TONIGHT

Gregory Batsleer

Chorus Director

Stuart Hope

Associate Chorusmaster

Alan Beck

Voice Coach

Emma Morwood

Voice Coach

Susan White

Chorus Manager

* Young Singers' Programme

SOPRANO

Naomi Black

Emily Borrill

Joanna Burns

Morven Chisholm

Mairi Day

Joanne Dunwell

Emily Gifford

Nicola Henderson

Lesley Mair

Katie McGlew

Jenny Nex

Annike Petin

Alison Robson

Alison Williams

Emily Zehetmayr*

ALTO

Shona Banks

Dinah Bourne

Sarah Campbell

Gill Cloke

Judith Colman

Liberty Emeny

Jennie Gardner

Claire Goodenough

Holly Gowen*

Anne Grindley

Caroline Hahn

Fiona Haldane

Rachel Kemp

Elaine McAdam

Elizabeth McColl

Hilde McKenna

Charlotte Perkins

Jan Raitt

Linda Ruxton

Anna Yule

TENOR

Matthew Andrews

Andrew Carvel

David Ferrier

Colin French

Peter Hanman

Fraser Macdonald*

Keith Main

David Nelson

Michael Scanlon

Paul Vaughan Alexander Vonderschmidt

BASS

Mathew Brown

Gavin Easton

Richard Hyder

David Ireland

Donald MacLeod

Sandy Matheson

Richard Murphy

Kenneth Murray

Douglas Nicholson

David Paterson

Jonathan Pryce

Felix Reynish*

Fraser Riddell

Peter Silver

Stephen Todd

Roderick Wylie

Information correct at the time of going to print

Biography

SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

The internationally celebrated Scottish Chamber Orchestra is one of Scotland’s National Performing Companies.

Formed in 1974 and core funded by the Scottish Government, the SCO aims to provide as many opportunities as possible for people to hear great music by touring the length and breadth of Scotland, appearing regularly at major national and international festivals and by touring internationally as proud ambassadors for Scottish cultural excellence.

Making a significant contribution to Scottish life beyond the concert platform, the Orchestra works in schools, universities, colleges, hospitals, care homes, places of work and community centres through its extensive Creative Learning programme. The SCO is also proud to engage with online audiences across the globe via its innovative Digital Season.

An exciting new chapter for the SCO began in September 2019 with the arrival of dynamic young conductor Maxim Emelyanychev as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor.

The SCO and Emelyanychev released their first album together (Linn Records) in November 2019 to widespread critical acclaim. The repertoire - Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C major ‘The Great’ –is the first symphony Emelyanychev performed with the Orchestra in March 2018.

The SCO also has long-standing associations with many eminent guest conductors and directors including Conductor Emeritus Joseph Swensen, François Leleux, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicola Benedetti, Richard Egarr, Andrew Manze and John Storgårds.

The Orchestra enjoys close relationships with many leading composers and has commissioned almost 200 new works, including pieces by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir James MacMillan, Sally Beamish, Martin Suckling, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Karin Rehnqvist, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Nico Muhly, Anna Clyne and Associate Composer Jay Capperauld.

For full biography please visit sco.org.uk

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