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Marion of Ayr Choral Union details the group's rich history with Handel's Messiah, including their most recent digital performance
Ayr Choral Union‘s relationship with Handel’s Messiah has always been significant: it was performed at our first ‘real’ concert in 1878, the 50th and 100th anniversary performances, and a special Come and Sing event, which raised over £5,000 for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2005.
Messiah was again programmed for March 2020, but just ten days before the event due to Covid… it was cancelled! So we thought about what else we could do and asked ourselves a few questions:
• Who had heard of Zoom?
• Who would want to join an online rehearsal?
• Who would enjoy singing their part without hearing others singing around them?
• How could we help musicians survive Covid?
In May, with relentless enthusiasm and energy, our music director, Andrew McTaggart, organised three come and sing Zoom rehearsals to allow the choir to sing together. We opened these to guests whose choirs were hibernating. We rehearsed ‘The Road Home’ and were encouraged to record ourselves. The completed result, edited by Andy, appeared on YouTube in June – certainly not in the original plans for 2020!
“Messiah will be the Autumn Concert,” said Andy. Restrictions continued… and so Messiah became an online project. Andy organised rehearsal support for each voice part. Each soloist (professionals hired for March) recorded their appropriate section part, which was then made available on the choir’s YouTube channel for us to practise. This turned out to be a popular tool!
A socially-distanced compact orchestra of 12 professional musicians, soloists and Andy himself met and recorded the backing track for the performance on 25 October.
Thousands of hours of work and commitment went into this joyous event. The verdict from our audience members? “McTaggart and Ayr Choral Union did Handel proud!”
The Zoom room was opened. 150 excited people were in attendance. Donations were encouraged for Help Musicians Scotland, the charity supporting freelance musicians in difficult circumstances. To date, over £2,200 has been raised.
The president of Ayr Choral, Kate Wilson, welcomed everyone to another significant Ayr Choral/Messiah milestone. We sang the magnificent choruses isolated – yet connected – in our front rooms, using technologies unfamiliar only months earlier and performed with the most committed and wonderful singers: four top-class soloists, Catriona Hewitson (soprano), Penelope Cousland (alto), Ted Black (tenor) and Colin Murray (bass).
Thousands of hours of work and commitment went into this joyous event. The verdict from our audience members? “McTaggart and Ayr Choral Union did Handel proud!”
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Has your group hosted any digital performances? If you'd like to write a blog about your experiences, or you have any pictures of online activity you'd like to share, get in touch
