THE ABERDEEN DIOCESAN CHOIR MINUTES OF MEETING Date: 15th January 2013 Venue: 141 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, AB10 6PT Apologies: Margaret Bradley, Donna Kincaid. Attendees: Dr. Roger Williams, Chris Dyos, Joe Treasurer, Anne Rae, Margaret Munro, Fay Nugent, Peter Sims. The meeting was chaired by Chris Dyos. He opened the meeting with a prayer and offered his best wishes to everyone for the New Year. MINUTES The Minutes were reviewed and Roger Williams proposed that they be accepted as a true record of the meeting. This was seconded by Margaret Munro. These Minutes have been placed on the Choir website along with the Minutes of the AGM. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES All matters arising were dealt with as part of the Agenda. MUSICAL DIRECTOR’S REPORT The Autumn term saw a deal of activity with the Choir. We were asked to make a return visit to Haddo House Chapel to take part in the newly formed Haddo Festival of the Arts for their Harvest Service which closed the Festival. With two trumpeters we performed the MacMillan piece written for the Bishop’s Ordination and the trumpets contributed to the other parts of the Service with great aplomb. Before this we had taken part in the 20th Anniversary celebrations at the Church of St. John the Baptist and Our Lady in Ellon. This was a particularly good occasion and was one that was very much appreciated by the large congregation. The Choir led the Mass for the opening of the Year of Faith at St. Mary’s Cathedral. In the event this went very well, but the planning for this was somewhat fraught because of the various changes of plans. The end result was a most uplifting Mass which everyone seemed pleased with. The annual Carols event in St. Mary’s Cathedral was once again joined by St. Peter’s Junior Choir, musicians from the Polish community and the African Choir. This year all the groups were at the front on the Sanctuary. There were some teething problems created by a change in the Administration at the Cathedral and this jeopardised adequate rehearsal for placements. George Brand, the Diocesan Master of Ceremonies however was on hand and all went smoothly in the end. The contributions of the other choirs were very good indeed, although the Polish contribution was a little longer than the others, in order to include a dance. THE ABERDEEN DIOCESAN CHOIR At all these events the Choir made telling contributions leading the music. Much of the rehearsal time this Autumn has been taken up with learning some new repertoire, including the difficult piece Beatus Vir by Monteverdi. The large investment of time on this has proved worthwhile so far, and the true picture will emerge only at the concert on March 2nd. But I have been impressed by the way that the choir has tackled this tricky and slightly fragmented piece in what is a new style of music for many choir members. The other repertoires have been satisfactorily learned and the performance of the MacMillan piece at Haddo set a new standard of performance for the choir. We shall continue to work at a mixed repertoire and this new Spring term of work will contain a mix of new but also marking a return to some of the former repertoire. I hope this mix will be appreciated as we work through the various events. DISCUSSION ON THE DIRECTOR’S REPORT At the Carol Service there was the issue of “applause”. As this was a service perhaps direction needs to be given on when to applaud. The Secretary was asked to write to the Headmistress of St. Peter’s school to thank her and her music teacher for their choir’s contribution to the service. He was also asked to write to the African choir. (Roger Williams to provide the contact details). PERFORMANCE AND REHEARSAL SCHEDULE Musical Programme - Spring 2013 Events o Cathedral at Noon March 2nd. At St Andrews Cathedral, King Street, at 12.00 o Visit to Elgin – date to be determined. Probably in May. A concert at Elgin, followed by Vigil Mass at Tomintoul. Peter Sims to write to Fr. Stewart to agree a date. o Stations of the Cross at St. Francis of Assisi – the week before Holy week, possibly Tuesday March 19th (Feast of St. Joseph) or Thursday 21st. o A concert to raise funds for the Youth Pilgrimage to Rio. This will be at St. Mary’s Cathedral and will hopefully include the Spanish, Polish and African Choirs. Possible date is Friday 19th April. o Diocesan Pilgrimage on Sunday June 30th, the thirteenth Sunday of the year and the day following the Feasts of Sts Peter and Paul. o An Ecumenical Service at St. Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate the Year of Faith – date to be confirmed by thought to be Saturday September 14th – the Feast of the Exposition of the Holy Cross. This will take the form of Evening Prayer and will be led by Bishop Hugh. o Haddo Harvest Festival Service, date to be confirmed but probably around second week of October. o Possible involvement of opening of Sacred Heart Church, Torry, after refurbishment. No details yet of date or time. o Possible involvement of Bishop Hugh’s anniversary of Ordination, August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption – at St. Mary’s Cathedral. THE ABERDEEN DIOCESAN CHOIR Repertoire. o Schubert Mass in G. (Elgin?) o Monteverdi: Beatus Vir. (St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Elgin, Pluscarden, Fund raiser, Haddo?) o Psalm 150 arranged C.V.Stanford. (St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Elgin, Pluscarden, Haddo) o Chant Mass. (Pluscarden, Tomintoul) o Victoria: O vos omnes (Mannofield) o St. John of Portugal: Crux Fidelis (Mannofield) o Plainchant/Palestrina: Pange Lingua (Mannofield) o Bruckner: Locus Iste (Haddo) o Mendelssohn: Lauda Sion (Fund raiser – together with other choirs so that we all sing it together, also for Ecumenical Service – together with any other choirs who join us that day.) o *Gibbons: The Silver Swan(Fund-raiser) o *Byrd: Ave verum corpus (Mannofield, Ecumenical service, Mass at Tomintoul) o *Viadana: Exsultate Jubilate (St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Haddo) o *Haydn: Insane et vane curae. REHEARSALS There is an issue with the start time of 7.45pm that has been proposed by Fr. Herrera so that we do not interfere with the Mass. Roger Williams has discussed it with the Bishop suggesting a suitable compromise of 7.30 instead of 7.15 or the suggested 7.45. The Bishop has undertaken to have a word with Father Herrera about it. It may be an idea for the Committee to have a meeting with Fr. Herrera to discuss this and other issues. We have still to see the Bishop at one of our rehearsals. Roger will invite him to one when he next has an appointment with the Bishop. Our Easter break will be from 26th March to the 2nd April inclusive. TREASURER’S REPORT The Number 1 account stands at £4,241.11 which is enough to see us through until the end of the Spring session. The last tranche of £1,000 is due in March. Our balance is healthy as it includes the £1,000 anonymous donation and the £500 from Fr. Stewart in Elgin. The Number 2 account now stands at a healthy £965.50. At the beginning of the choir year we had proposed a voluntary donation of £15 per head for choir members in order to cover the shortfall of funding from the Diocese. Only one donation has been received for which we are very grateful. This issue has not gone away and we will need to discuss it again at the AGM in June. There will be a bus for the trip to Elgin which will be subsidized by the donation from Fr. Stewart. Fay has been having some difficulty in transferring the signatures for the bank accounts but has now nearly completed the exercise. THE ABERDEEN DIOCESAN CHOIR REPORT FROM CHOIR REPRESENTATIVES Soprano – There was no soprano rep as Donna was not well. Alto – Nothing to report. Tenor – Roger Williams was concerned at the absences of tenors during the last session. He had established that Michael Thomson was singing with the Chapel choir and was not going to return on a regular basis but may help out occasionally. He had also contacted Steve Donohue but he is not returning to the choir. The section requires to be reinforced Bass – Nothing to report. RECRUITMENT Anne Rae suggested that we should arrange an Open Evening and invite singers from all the city parishes to come along and sing some of our easy repertoire with us. This was considered to be a good idea and the Committee will need to fix a date and a time for this event. Chris Dyos and Peter Sims would draft a note for all the city parishes and ask Joyce Webster to put it into the parish bulletins. MUSIC STATUS (Librarian’s report) We need to ensure that all singers return any music which they have not purchased. An announcement will be made at the first rehearsal for the return of all books not purchased and for any purchased sheet music also to be returned. AOCB Car parking in the vicinity of the Cathedral is still proving difficult. Peter Sims has contacted “Xodus” to confirm that it was acceptable to use their car park in Huntly Street but has not received a reply. He will write again. The next meeting will be on 8th April 2013. Signed: Peter Sims SECRETARY