Read about the choir, our Chorus Director, our Accompanist, our Honorary President and our Patron.
The Choir
Since its foundation in 1858, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union has established itself as one of Edinburgh’s most versatile and engaging choral societies, playing a significant part in the musical life of Scotland. As well as giving the first Scottish performances of many works, including Bach’s B Minor Mass, the choir performed at the opening of the Usher Hall in 1914 and has worked with orchestras such as the Hallé, the Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Scottish Chamber and the Royal Scottish National under such legendary figures as Sir Henry Wood, Sir Thomas Beecham, Otto Klemperer and Sir Adrian Boult.
ERCU’s annual new year presentation of Messiah at the Usher Hall is a highlight of the festive season, each year bringing fresh interpretations of the work by different conductors. The choir continues to give Scottish premieres, including The Farthest Shore by Paul Mealor, The Voices of our Ancestors by Thea Musgrave and St John Passion by Bob Chilcott. In 2009 the choir gave the world premiere performance of Judith Bingham’s Shadow Aspect, a special 150th anniversary commission, in the Usher Hall. ERCU performed another work by Judith Bingham, The Christmas Truce, in November 2014 as part of a programme of music commemorating the centenary of the beginning of the Great War. Earlier that year the choir celebrated the centenary of the completion of the Usher Hall with the RSNO in a special birthday concert, and returned there for a Commonwealth Games celebration concert, also with the RSNO. Performances outwith the choir’s core programme over the 2015-16 season ranged from Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 in Orkney with the St Magnus Festival Chorus and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to the festive Street of Light in Edinburgh, for which Messiah choruses were recorded with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Holst’s Planets in the Usher Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and backing for Andrea Bocelli at the SSE Hydro.
ERCU’s annual new year presentation of Messiah at the Usher Hall is a highlight of the festive season, each year bringing fresh interpretations of the work by different conductors. The choir continues to give Scottish premieres, including The Farthest Shore by Paul Mealor, The Voices of our Ancestors by Thea Musgrave and St John Passion by Bob Chilcott. In 2009 the choir gave the world premiere performance of Judith Bingham’s Shadow Aspect, a special 150th anniversary commission, in the Usher Hall. ERCU performed another work by Judith Bingham, The Christmas Truce, in November 2014 as part of a programme of music commemorating the centenary of the beginning of the Great War. Earlier that year the choir celebrated the centenary of the completion of the Usher Hall with the RSNO in a special birthday concert, and returned there for a Commonwealth Games celebration concert, also with the RSNO. Performances outwith the choir’s core programme over the 2015-16 season ranged from Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 in Orkney with the St Magnus Festival Chorus and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to the festive Street of Light in Edinburgh, for which Messiah choruses were recorded with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Holst’s Planets in the Usher Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and backing for Andrea Bocelli at the SSE Hydro.
ERCU's History
Click here to read an extract from ERCU 1858-1958, charting the first 100 years of the choir's history.
Michael Bawtree
Chorus Director
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A musician with a wide-ranging international career, British conductor and organist Michael Bawtree has directed the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Red Note Ensemble, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and many performances for Scottish Ballet, Northern Ballet and Raymond Gubbay Ltd across the British Isles. For seven years, he was Assistant Music Director of the Lyrique-en-Mer summer opera festival in Brittany. This summer, he will join the music staff at Glyndebourne for their new production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande under Robin Ticciati.
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Morley Whitehead
Accompanist
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In addition to his work with ERCU, Morley has been and continues to be accompanist and organist to a number of Edinburgh’s choirs: Waverley Singers, Edinburgh Grand Opera, Opera Camerata, and Colinton Community Choir, as well as undertaking any amount of freelance accompanying in and around the city. He is “regular” organist to Edinburgh Bach Choir, “Cadenza”, St Andrew Camerata, Queen Margaret University, Open University in Scotland, Dundee Choral Union, etc. He is also in demand as a solo recitalist.
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Martyn Brabbins
Honorary President
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Martyn Brabbins is Music Director of the English National Opera. Brabbins has had a busy opera career since his early days at the Kirov and more recently at La Scala, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and regularly in Lyon, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Antwerp.
He is a popular figure at the BBC Proms and with most of the leading British orchestras, and regularly visits top international orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw, DSO Berlin and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. More > > |
Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant
of the City of Edinburgh
Patron
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The Lord Provost of Edinburgh is a Patron of ERCU. The current incumbent is Frank Ross who became the city's 257th Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant in April 2017.
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