2025 - 2026 Season

Coming next...

Friday 02 January 2026, 12 noon
Handel Messiah
Usher Hall, Edinburgh (see map below)

Tickets now available here.   A 10% discount applies when you buy tickets for both Messiah on 02 January and Gloria on 15 March.  The full programme can be viewed and downloaded here.

Conductor David Bates
Soprano Gemma Summerfield
Mezzo-soprano Judy Louie Brown
Tenor Simon Wall
Bass-baritone Edward Jowle
Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra

Continuing a long-treasured Edinburgh New Year tradition, we are delighted to return to the Usher Hall for our 138th performance of Messiah, conducted this season by early-music specialist David Bates.

David Bates

David Bates  Conductor
With an “incisive, lively, inventive” (Baroque News) vision and approach to the baroque and classical sound world, and a dedication to breathing life back into long-forgotten repertoire, British conductor David Bates has established a distinctive and compelling career across the UK, Europe and beyond, attracting acclaim for “superbly engaging, theatrically thrilling” performances (Gramophone) of “real beauty, velvety sonorities, and heady gracefulness” (Der Tagesspiegel), “intense, entertaining, full of humour but also depth.” (rbb24)

Introducing our Soloists

Gemma Summerfield

Gemma Summerfield  Soprano
First-prize winner of both the 2019 Concorso Lirico di Portofino and the 2022 Concurso Tenor Viñas competition in Barcelona, rising star soprano Gemma Summerfield has made a name for herself as one of the most exciting young artists of today. 

Her engagements have included Micaëla Carmen and Liù Turandot for London’s Royal Ballet & Opera, Pamina Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne and Scottish Opera, Mimì La bohème for Northern Ireland Opera and Nanetta Falstaff for Scottish Opera. She consistently proves her capabilities on platforms around the world. In recent recitals, she has performed throughout the UK, as well as in Norway, Canada, and Denmark. Oratorio performances include Beethoven in Switzerland, Bach in Beirut, and Mozart at Westminster Abbey.

Judy Louie Brown

Judy Louie Brown  Mezzo-soprano
Edinburgh-born mezzo-soprano Judy Louie Brown is described by Opera Magazine as singing with “steadiness, purity, dignity and command”. She performs regularly with period ensembles such as Dunedin Consort and the Academy of Ancient Music, as well as larger opera companies including English Touring Opera and Scottish Opera. Praised for the “dynamism and delicacy” of her singing, she is a regular collaborator with the Edvard Grieg Kor in Norway, and has performed in venues as diverse as Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and an Orcadian brewery.

Simon Wall

Simon Wall  Tenor
Simon Wall combines his solo career with his role as Lay Vicar at Westminster Abbey and as a long-standing member of the Tallis Scholars, with whom he has sung in over 650 concerts worldwide. His operatic work includes major productions of Orfeo and Fairy Queen with Emmanuelle Haïm in Lille and Strasbourg. At the Temple Festival, his performance in Dido and Aeneas was praised by The Times as “a model of unforced, attractively direct English singing.” 

His extensive discography ranges from Barber’s A Hand of Bridge with Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, to Tavener’s Veil of the Temple with Stephen Layton. ​ On the concert platform, highlights include the St Matthew Passion Evangelist at Snape Maltings with Masaaki Suzuki and at King’s College Chapel with Stephen Cleobury, and premieres at the Three Choirs Festival and BBC Proms.
In 2023, Simon was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, recognising his distinguished contribution to the music profession.

Edward Jowle

Edward Jowle  Bass-baritone
Brought up in Derbyshire, Edward Jowle is a Scottish Opera Emerging Artist for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Music Opera Studio and a former Emerging Artist with English Touring Opera and Longborough Festival Opera. A prizewinner of the 2021 Cesti Competition, he was also a finalist in the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and the winner of the 2022 Somerset Song Prize. His 2025-26 season with Scottish Opera includes Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, and Schaunard La bohème. 

Concert highlights include Handel Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall (Really Big Chorus) and Lincoln Cathedral; Judas Maccabæus (Brandenburg Choral Festival); Belshazzar (Kantorei Saarlouis); and Bach B Minor Mass (Lloyd’s Choir).

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Gloria!

Sunday 15 March 2026, 3pm
Poulenc Gloria!
Bruckner Mass in D minor
Conductor: Michael Bawtree
Soloists: Sòlas Ensemble

• Soprano: Katie Carmichael
• Mezzo-Soprano: Caitlin MacKenzie
• Tenor: Euan McDonald
• ​Bass: Joshua McCullough

Usher Hall, Edinburgh (see map below)
​Tickets now available here

​Tickets now available from the Usher Hall website.  A 10% discount applies when you buy tickets for both Messiah on 02 January and Gloria on 15 March.

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Keep in touch

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We look forward to welcoming you to one of our concerts this year. 

Overview

2025

Come and Sing
Saturday 20 September
Poulenc: Gloria

ERCU on Tour
​Sunday 07 December, 8pm.
Poulenc: Gloria
Bruckner: Mass in D minor
with the Brussels Choral Society.
​Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels

2026
​
New Year Messiah
Friday 02 January, 12 noon.
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Conductor: David Bates
​Tickets available here

An Evening with the Choral
Tuesday 24 February, 7pm. Morningside Parish Church. Informal concert and refreshments.  Entry by donation at the door.
​
​Gloria!
Sunday 15 March, 3pm.
Usher Hall, Edinburgh.
​Poulenc Gloria!
Bruckner Mass in D minor
with the Brussels Choral Society.
Tickets available here 

Summer Concert
Saturday 06 June, 7:30pm
Greyfriars Kirk,  Edinburgh
Jongen: Mass
Judith Bingham: Shadow Aspect
​& other works

Concert
Saturday 07 November, Greyfriars Kirk

Carols with the Choral
Saturday 12 December, Morningside Parish Church

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Past Concerts

To read reviews of previous concerts, click here.