Reviews

PEEBLESSHIRE YOUTH TRUST

Charity no: SC040322

Dear In Chorus members,

On behalf of Peeblesshire Youth Trust, I would like to send our heartfelt thanks for your kind donation of £100 towards our Christmas Hampers this year.

We were delighted at the response from local groups, businesses, churches and individuals who have made a real difference to over 40 families this Christmas.

Our best wishes for Christmas and the New Year,

Angie Preston

Coordinator

Mary’s Meals would like to thank The InChorus Earth Appeal, the local people and musical groups of Peebles for the fantastic event organised on behalf of our East Africa Appeal. Mary’s Meals is now providing life-saving food to 40,000 children and families facing starvation in drought stricken Somalia by giving around 200 tonnes of food aid to be delivered to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of people have fled in search of food. Mary’s Meals has teamed up with the African relief agency Gift of the Givers to provide around two million meals so far for those affected by the famine in Somalia. The cost to provide one meal is just 4p and so the £3082 raised by the Earth Appeal will allow Mary’s Meals to provide 70,000 life-saving meals.
Mary’s Meals currently provide a daily meal in a place of education to over 600,000 chronically hungry children around the world to attract them to the classroom where they can gain an education which can lift them out of poverty in later life.
We would like to thank the community of Peebles for their act of kindness that will allow our work to continue and grow.
Hannah Weddell
Fundraising Support Officer
Mary’s Meals
.

Thank you - from Priorsford Primary School

"On behalf of the childfren, parents and staff at Priorsford I would like to send a big thank you to InChorus for opening our fair with such gusto.  You did us proud and my little singers are still on cloud nine after performing with you!

With your help the Priorsford Singers raised £85  for the local borders children's charity.

Thanks again

Elaine"

Some comments on our 9/11 Commemorations New York - Voice of Compassion

We heard you Downtown across the street from 55 Water st. and the Police Museum on Old Slip

Thank you for playing in New York.  We enjoyed your performance and appreciated the spirit in which it was executed.

best

Kevin Costa

Southern Reporter – Friday 24 June 2011 07:00 Vocal groups Usher in a new era of co-operation in the Capital

PEEBLES community choir InChours took the high note at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall this month.

In front of an audience of nearly 1,700 people, the group of singers, led by musical director Andrew Russel, combined with Lothian and Borders and Tayside Police choirs for the fundraising concert.  And Scottish musicians Dougie MacLean and Mairi Campbell were also on the bill.

From the opening chords of the Les Miserables favourite, Do You Hear The People Sing, the audience were said to be “in awe”.

Highlights included Take That’s The Flood, and Baba Yetu, the Swahili version of the Lord’s Prayer, which reviewer Ben Preston described as “sublime, with even the most seasoned observer confused as to where all the sounds and voices were coming from”.

He added: “Dropping in earth Wind and Fire’s disco classic September near the end was inspired – reminding us of the choirs’ worthy mission to New York to represent Scotland at the 10^th anniversary commemoration of 9/11.

“This trip was also represented through the eponymous musical gift from the choirs to the people of New York – a poignant new arrangement of two classic songs, The Star Spangled Banner and Amazing Grace.

“Soloists Sophie Dyer and Chris Judge took the lead, with the choirs providing the harmonies needed to allow the two songs to merge into one.”

“The breathless pause between the music finishing and tha applause of the audience starting up said it all.”

Other guests on stage included the Irish Garda choir, school performers from ENotes choir and the Portobello High School Singers, as well as policeman and bagpiper, Richie Adams.

INCHORUS SELLS-OUT EDINBURGH’S FESTIVAL THEATRE

Peebles community choir rocked the Festival Theatre on Saturday night with a spectacular concert to commemorate the nine-year anniversary of 9/11.

Co-hosting Scotland’s first ever September Concert alongside Lothian and Borders Police Choir, the Festival Theatre was a sell-out show. Peebles’ newest choir, now a registered charity, is being heralded as one of Scotland’s strongest performing groups.

The show was compèred by Forth One’s Grant Stott, and featured guest appearances from ex-Marillion front-man Fish, Bruce Watson and The Gospel Truth Choir. The packed audience was on its feet three times for standing ovations as the choir thrilled the audience with its own lively arrangements and humorous renditions of Viva la vida, California Dreamin’, 500 Miles, Higher and Higher, a medley of famous movie soundtracks and several other songs.

The commemoration of 9/11 and its aftermath was given a full dose of compassion as the music told the story of heroism, bravery, loved ones lost and international solidarity, whilst InChorus’s sensational performances kept the celebration of rebuilding lives and the spirit of togetherness very much alive.

Local musician Andrew Russel, the musical director and driving force behind InChorus and the concert itself, presented and conducted the performances. “I’m thrilled that it went so well,” said Andrew to the Peeblesshire News. “Both InChorus and Lothian and Borders Police Choir gave of their best after solid preparation. It’s the first opportunity we’ve had to show what we’re truly capable of, thanks to a venue with the capacity for such an audience and the staging and lighting to highlight how far we’ve come in our first two years. Besides giving full tribute to the memory of 9/11 and celebration of work of those who continue to rebuild, it was an opportunity to show why we’re going to do The September Concert in New York next year at the ten-year anniversary concerts.”

The choirs were also joined by singers from Peebles High School and Biggar High School, as well as junior pupils from five other Scottish schools, for The September Concert’s theme song ‘Give Us Hope’. “The school choirs did a fantastic job, and we’re most grateful for the careful preparation and passionate performance they gave on the night,” said Andrew. “The song was all about younger voices, and they were a credit to their schools and their teachers.”

For many, the highlight of the evening was an arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner and Amazing Grace, written especially for the concert by Andrew. “As far as we know, these two iconic songs have never been sung together before, and we were delighted to have soloists Wanduska Jack Sophie Dyer, who grew up in Peebles, leading with solos before the choirs joined in with harmony. It’s an arrangement we’ll be taking with us to New York.”

Both InChorus and Lothian and Borders Police Choir will be travelling to New York in September 2011 to represent Scotland at The September Concert, as well as events at the Ground Zero site and the British Memorial Garden which was set up to remember Brits lost in the Twin Towers atrocity.

“Preparation for New York starts very soon,” explained Andrew. “We’re going to be representing the Scottish position through our music and in our creative spirit, and it’s important that we’re fully prepared to show Peebles in a very good light. But besides music, we have a great deal of fundraising to do. Choir members will be raising a proportion of their own costs, but we’re on a sincere mission to be involved in as many events as we can whilst there. We’re going to need significant sponsorship and donations to help us travel and stay there economically. The September Concert was a free ticket event, as all September Concerts around the world are, and the costs were covered by a Scottish Borders Council Community Grant, as well as programme sales and donations on the night. It was an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of what we’re doing.”

Although InChorus was born only two years ago here in Peebles, there has been considerable interest in both choirs following the success of the concert, with YouTube featuring excerpts of the concert. “Searching for InChorus, September and Concert brings up a number of recent clips from our flash mob experience in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile during the Fringe, as well as footage from the concert,” says Andrew. “Over the next few days most of the concert should be on YouTube, and we’ll be producing a DVD for those who would like to see the event as a whole. I already know of broader media interest in what we’re doing, our rapid rise from our opening rehearsal in September 2008 to filling the Festival Theatre in September 2010, and in our New York mission and its preparations. We’re happy for our progress to be followed and to highlight what we’re doing, not only because InChorus has a public interest element but because this choir obviously has a bright future ahead and we’re proud of our achievements.”

InChorus and Lothian and Borders Police Choir provided vocals to the Gospel Truth Choir’s version of 500 Miles by The Proclaimers. Says Andrew, “We worked with the Gospel Truth Choir on the choral arrangement of 500 Miles and both choirs feature in their upcoming album ‘Deep Fried Gospel’. It was tremendous singing the live version at the concert. They’re talented singers and, like Fish and Bruce Watson, gave their time and energy to the concert without a fee. That itself was a great accolade and affirmation for us, and we’re certainly planning future collaboration with them.”

The Peeblesshire News will continue to follow InChorus’s progress towards its New York mission in 2011.

Peeblesshire News - Summer Concert 2010, Peebles Old Parish Church

19 million people got it wrong!

On Saturday June 5th, 19 million people got it wrong! While they watched the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ final and voted for the muscular gymnastics of Spellbound, I was sitting spellbound listening to the vocal gymnastics of ‘InChorus ’at their summer concert in Peebles Old Parish Church. Within minutes of the choir’s arrival on stage, an appreciative audience was marvelling at their musically acrobatic version of Bill Wither’s ‘Lean on Me’, an appropriate sentiment for how this choir has developed in the last two years. This was a genuine group effort under the tutelage of Andrew Russel, their musical director, who uses a repertoire of well known contemporary music arranged to suit the talents of the choir members.

The evening’s chosen pieces ranged from the emotionally haunting ‘Nella Fantasia’ by  Ennio Morricone from the film ‘The Mission’ and Karl Jenkins’ chorally relaxing ‘Adiemus’, to the arena filling songs of Queen, Take That and Cold Play and a rendition of the Jackie Wilson R’n’B standard ‘Higher and Higher’ which not only required great vocal energy from the choir but also an energetic physical workout of whirling arm movements!  Interspersed between these numbers were several group songs performed by selected choir members to give the choir time to get its ‘puff’ back. These included ‘a cappella’ versions of ‘Take Five’ taught and conducted by choir member Phil Gates, a tonally sweet ‘Caravan of Love’ with talented tenor lead, Tommy Wynne, and a wonderful rendition of ‘Only You’ featuring the spectacular, showstopping voice of Iain Thomson.  A further five choir members performed a ‘Quodlibet’ where, to a harpsichord-like accompaniment, five different songs were expertly interwoven.

An interesting further layer of sound was added to the singing voices by the beatboxer, Paul Gilbody, who uses his voice as a percussion instrument giving a wide range of beats which provided a backing track for several numbers.

In his inter song comments Andrew Russel expressed his pleasure and pride that a development for this concert had been that the choir members now had the confidence to perform without having sight of their scores and all songs were sung from memory. Indeed within the choir’s back catalogue, there are songs emerging as trademark pieces, such as Andrew’s arrangement of the 80’s hit ‘Africa’. InChorus first performed this at their 2009 Christmas concert, where it proved to be a show stopper. By popular demand it was performed again at this concert – and the rain effect produced by the choir at the start of the song had the Peebles public reaching for their Beltane umbrellas, such was its uncanny similarity to the real thing. Worthy of mention, too, is their version of Queen’s ‘Somebody to Love’, Cold Play’s ‘Viva la Vida’ – and, as mentioned before, ‘Higher and Higher’.  Andrew’s arrangements of these songs and others, together with his directing of the choir, have already given InChorus its distinctive sound – one which will, I’m sure, delight the public for years to come. Not only that, as someone pointed out, ‘Everybody looks so happy!’ But it is not just the smiles that make you enjoy InChorus, it is the overall magnificent sound of this wonderful fledgling choir that stays with you long after the concert is over. As one lady said, ‘When the whole choir sings the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!’ Well done to everyone involved.

Local residents may like to know that InChorus will be performing at the Beltane Concert in the Burgh Hall on Thursday 24th June, and at the Traquair Summer Fayre on Sunday 1st August. However, the choir has also some big plans. In September 2011 they will be representing Scotland by performing in New York at the 10th anniversary commemoration events of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 atrocities. In order to raise the public’s awareness of the choir’s New York venture, InChorus has booked the Edinburgh Festival Theatre for a concert on Saturday 11th September this year.  Andrew and the choir would like to invite all friends of InChorus, together with all their friends, to come and support them at this important event. Look out for the posters and see the upcoming events page!!

Traquair Summer Fair August 1st

http://www.traquair.co.uk/content/traquair-fair-2010

Scottish Parliament 11th May 2010

Hospices of Hope (Hosted by Ford)

A Joint performance with InChorus and Lothian & Borders Police Choirs – at the Ford’s annual “Hospices of Hope” Golf Day – at Bruntsfield Golfing Society in Edinburgh – the evenings entertainment was provided by both choirs.  The event had raised just over £10,000.00 on the day – which covers the cost of two nurses in Romania for a whole year. (Ford Newsletter – summer 2010)

Christmas Concert 2009

“Last week InChorus Musical Director Andrew Russell told radio Scotland he was convinced singing in a choir like his had health benefits.  Well, the Peebles group’s performance ...last weekend was certainly a tonic for the audience.  The obvious joy singing gave their members was evident – sending the crown out into the icy night uplifted...renewing a community Christmas spirit perhaps a tad battered by the wintery conditions. AS (Peebleshire News January 1. 2010)

Traquair Christmas Open Day - November 29th 2009

http://www.traquair.co.uk

– InChorus sang in the open air for the first time on a cold, wet and windy day!! Challenging but great fun and well received by the hardy audience.

Songs of Praise – November 24th/25th 2009

InChorus members took part in the recording of the December edition of “Songs of Praise” in St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh (Broadcasted on BB1 – Sunday 27 Dec)

Peebles Arts Festival – September 2009

Another sell out at The Eastgate Theatre, Peebles. http://www.eastgatearts.com

Summer Concert - June 2009

Attended by over 1000 people, Old Parish Church, Peebles.

Christmas 2008

Choir let loose on the public for the first time at the Old Parish Church, Peebles.