Oratorio Choir

  Helensburgh Oratorio Choir Winter Warmer Programme 2021 The third in our series of 6 ‘Winter Warmers’ featuring Barbara Walton and Jonathon Swinard took place on Tuesday 16th February, when a great number of our fellow members tuned in for a most enjoyable, entertaining and laughter-filled evening of musical quizzes and song. With glass of wine, cheese and pancakes (it was Shrove Tuesday after all) to hand we launched into the ‘Sounds familiar’ round where Jonathon tasked us to listen to pop and rap excerpts and challenged us to find the classical roots. I thought I had failed miserably but managed 14/20. I had NO idea that so many pop songs had classical hidden gems! Ice, Ice, Baby!!! Before we moved onto the ‘Say what you see’ round naming composers, Barbara sang an enchanting song from a book found in a Charity Shop. It was great to hear her sing to us again, accompanied by Jonathon. Live music!! Naming the composers from Catchphrase-like clues was hilarious! Some were v...

  Helensburgh Oratorio Choir Winter Warmer Programme 2021 On Tuesday 2nd February, the second in our series of 6 ‘Winter Warmers’ featured Derek Clark. Once again we had a large audience of over 60 come and join us! Conductor, accompanist, composer and arranger, Derek was born in Glasgow, and is an Honours graduate of the RSAMD and the University of Durham. He also studied at the London Opera Centre before joining Welsh National Opera as a repetiteur in 1977, making his professional conducting debut in 1981 with Handel’s Tamerlano. Now Head of Music at Scottish Opera and living in Helensburgh, we all know Derek as a great friend of Helensburgh Oratorio Choir as he has conducted us and arranged and written many a song for us to perform. His theme for the evening was ‘What makes a Good Sing’? or ‘Sing we merrily? Taking us through a variety of choral pieces, he was able to show how the voice and the orchestration blend to produce the desired effect from the composer. Starting ...

  Helensburgh Oratorio Choir Winter Warmer Programme 2021 On Tuesday 19th January, our series of 6 ‘Winter Warmers’ kicked off with our Patron, Jamie Macdougall enthralling us with a walk down memory lane. Jamie was happy to share his influences and memories from his career to date. From a very young age, he would listen to his grandfather’s records of the great singers of the day, notably Corelli. He told the story of his grandfather, a very talented singer himself, on a business trip to London, going to record a record as a present for his wife. This record was played in the shop and proved to be very popular, so much so that it was heard by Ivor Novello! Jamie’s grandfather received an invite from Novello to join him for dinner but because he had to return to Glasgow, it didn’t happen. We wonder what might have been! From his days in Douglas Academy, where he had secured a scholarship, his voice was encouraged and trained by Walter Blair and Pat McMahon and this led to him...

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