Ayr Choral Union

Our Ayr Town Hall Season arrived at a glorious finale on Sunday 17th March with Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. The incredible sound from the choir was beautifully supported by The Caledonian Consort and we were lucky to have two wonderful soloists in Catriona Hewitson and Ross Cumming.

When Brahms premiered the Requiem in 1888, he broke the performance after the 4th movement and included works by other composers in the concert so we followed suit! Triptych by Tarik O’Regan was both a challenge and a joy to sing for the choir and captivating for the audience to hear. As one audience member said ‘it sounded amazing and was really emotional…had a wee tear!’

Although our official season is now over, you can still catch us on Saturday 27th April in Glasgow, at St Mungo’s Cathedral at 2.30pm (free entry) and we’ll be at Belleisle Conservatory in Ayr for an informal performance as part of Make Music Day on 21st June.

Look out for the launch of our 2024-25 Season – War-Peace-Hope – later on in the summer.

See you next Season!

We started the year with an Open Rehearsal on 9th January and got stuck straight in to some hard work on Saturday 13th January with a one-off workshop studying O’Regan’s Triptych in preparation for our March concert. It was great to welcome a number of guests and new members to both of these events!

As the new year gets underway we’re absolutely delighted to be joined by some more new faces – Accompanist, JiaNing Ng and Assistant Conductor, Eden Devaney.

Christmas music with the choir and Newmilns and Galston Brass Band.

Sunday 17th December 2023

Ayr Town Hall

Tickets available;able from Members, our website, or Ayr Guitar, 62 Alloway Street, Ayr

^{Sunday October 29th– Ayr Choral Autumn Concert}

In the first concert of the season, Ayr Choral present a programme of French and English music with contrasting pieces. Requiem by Gabriel Faure and Gloria by Francis Poulenc, Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan Williams and I Was Glad by Hubert Parry. The choir will be conducted by Andrew McTaggart and joined by soloists Catriona Clark and Colin Murray and organ accompaniment by Peter Shepherd.

7.30pm

Ayr Town Hall, New Bridge St., Ayr, KA7 1SH.

Tickets available from ;

Ayr Choral members,

Ayr Guitar, 62 Alloway St., Ayr KA7 1SH or our website

Stalls £12. Balcony/gallery £16

Rehearsals for our exciting 2023-24 season start on Tuesday 22nd August 2023 at Castlehill Church, Ayr. Come and join our friendly and enthusiastic group of around 80 singers as we start learning the music for our October concert which will include works by Parry, Poulenc and Faure. If you’re interested in coming along, feel free to contact our Secretary by email (ayrchoral@outlook.com) or message us on Facebook. You are welcome to come along for a few weeks to try us out before committing!

Ayr Choral rounded off a glorious 2022-23 season with a mixed programme of choral works in the setting of Glasgow’s magnificent St Mungo’s Cathedral. In front of a great audience of family, friends and visitors to the cathedral we performed some gorgeous music, both sacred and secular, by composers from the sixteenth century to the present day. We were delighted to be joined by both Peter Shepherd and Andrew Forbes as accompanists who gave a thrilling rendition of Holst’s Jupiter for 4 hands at the organ.

We’re on a summer break now until our Come & Sing Poulenc Gloria on 12th August 2023 – if you’d like to join us for that, keep an eye on the website or our social media for more information.

Rehearsals are now fully underway for our final Town Hall concert of the season. With a good number of new members in the choir, Andy is putting us through our paces as we prepare Puccini’s Messa di Gloria which we’ll perform on the 19^th March with orchestra and soloists. We’re also learning Feel the Spirit, a cycle of seven spirituals arranged by John Rutter – the jazzy arrangements providing us with some rhythmical challenges!

With three opera choruses also to learn, there’s some gorgeous music for what will be a beautiful and uplifting concert.

Join us for an Open Rehearsal on Tuesday 10th January 2023 as we begin preparations for our next concert featuring music by Puccini and Rutter.

Led by our choral director Andy McTaggart we’ll get our voices back in shape following the festive break and start learning Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and John Rutter’s Feel the Spirit alongside some well-loved opera choruses.

This rehearsal will be free and open to all – we hope you might want to join us permanently!

Rehearsal starts at 7.30pm at Castlehill Parish Church, Old Hillfoot Road, KA7 3LW