Seeking a New Musical Director

Please can you help with our search?

Inverurie Choral Society is looking for a new Director of Music.

We seek a graduate/post-graduate musician with a qualification/interest in Vocal Tuition, who would like to progress their musical career development, by directing a local Choir such as ours. Keyboard skills for our weekly practices and the occasional informal performances would be an advantage. We do “buy in” an accompanist for formal concerts, but do not at present have a weekly accompanist. A fee is payable per rehearsal.

Applications are invited from musicians with appropriate qualifications. A recently qualified person who is looking to develop experience as MD is certainly welcome to apply. A letter of application with CV attached can be submitted immediately, or by 2 July 2022 at the latest:

by email to

inveruriechoral@gmail.com

or by post to

Inverurie Choral Society, c/o 7, Cuninghill Road, Inverurie, AB51 3TS.

A practical interview will be arranged early August. We’re proud to say that we sang throughout Lockdown, with performances replaced by Zoom sing-throughs and a couple of Zoom recordings. Now, we are back to meeting on Wednesday nights at 7.30pm during school terms, in the West Church Hall, Inverurie. The new term will start on Wednesday 31 August 2022.

ICS is a small SATB Choir, usually with approximately 30 members. Founded by John Hearne, our first Director of Music in 1998, Moira Hunter took over in 2005, with a year’s input from Paul Tierney during Moira’s absence, and Gordon Jack has been with us since January 2019. We like to sing an eclectic selection from the classical and contemporary choral repertoire, everything from Madrigals to Vaudeville, Mozart to Jenkins, and more. We put on a Christmas and Summer Concert each year and we enjoy performing occasionally for Care and Retirement homes, and in Charity fundraising events.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining us as our new Director of Music, would you please pass on this information to them? I’d be very happy to discuss the post informally with folk interested in applying.

Our new website is: inveruriechoral.com

Our email is: inveruriechoral@gmail.com

Landline: 01467 620441 Text or WhatsApp 07801 815323

With many thanks to you for your help!

Wave a Fond Farewell to Our Musical Director

This is the Quaich we presented to Gordon Jack on his last night with Inverurie Choral, Wednesday 18 May 2022. Maeve thanked Gordon for his support for the Choir since January 2019. She said that we had enjoyed, and benefitted from, his time with us, and thanked him sincerely for his effort and commitment over the three and a half years. We especially appreciated his keeping the Choir going via Zoom through Lockdown, little dreaming that it would be eighteen months before we would get back to live singing. Gordon leaves with all our best wishes for his future in music.

Sunflower Fundraising Event - Raising Funds for The Ukraine

On Saturday 23 April 2022, we participated in the Sunflower Fundraising Event at the Wyness Hall in Inverurie. Some of us dressed in yellow and blue to show support to The Uklraine. It was great to be singing in public once again, in our role as Inverurie’s community choir, and not a face covering in sight! We did a short set of popular songs, starting with three well-known pieces Old Folks at Home, Beautiful Dreamer and Oh, Susannah by Stephen Foster (1826-1864), sometimes called “The Father of American Music.”

Old Folks at Home – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing

Beautiful Dreamer – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing

Oh Susannah – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing

Then our special song for the day – The Willow Board – a traditional Ukrainian Tune made famous in March 2022 by the lone young fiddler playing it in a bunker, and 94 violinists across the world then taking it up as a virtual performance. See YouTube video https://youtu.be/VCYsjcOrK7U Inverurie Choral Society sing it as “The Willow Board.” Although the words don’t relate to the current situation in the Ukraine, the melody captures exactly the heavy sadness and despairing hope that is very much a feature of how we are responding to the news of what is happening there just now.

We finished with some of our favourite traditional Scottish pieces, all arranged by our MD Gordon Jack: The Selkirk Grace, sung as a rousing round; The beautiful and romantic Ye Banks and Braes, Robert Burns’s words set to an old tune; and Auld Lang Syne, also Burns’s words set to a traditional tune.

The Selkirk Grace and Ye Banks and Braes. Ukraine Fundraising Singing