Choir hits the right note at Fringe Festival

Alnwick’s chamber choir, the Rock Festival Choir, directed by Peter Brown, performed the Rachmaninov Vespers, at city-centre venues Greyfriars Kirk and Canongate Kirk.

Soloists were Margaret Watchorn, Nick Brown and David Whitlam.

The Vespers are sung in Old Church Slavonic and in addition to singing the baritone solo, David coached the choir in its pronunciation.

The concerts, held on August 18 and 19, attracted large and receptive audiences.

A number of people took to social media to congratulate the choir, describing the performances as wonderful, uplifting, superbly sung and breathtaking.

The experience of performing was very memorable for the choir too, with one member saying: “It will be a long time before I forget the feeling of walking off stage to the sound of such a large audience clapping and cheering.”

Following this successful first visit, the choir is planning future performances at the Edinburgh Fringe, which is the world’s largest arts festival.

The choir will soon begin rehearsing for its Advent concert, to be held on Sunday, December 2, at 3pm, in Alnwick’s St Paul’s Church, as well as a special spring concert in 2019.