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