Welcome to the Garleton Singers Website

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The Garleton Singers choir is based in East Lothian and was founded in 1970 by Catherine Welsh. In 1995, Stephen Doughty replaced Catherine as Musical Director, and he has now spent nearly 15 years guiding us to the musical heights (and, occasionally, depths). Our main venue is the beautifully-restored medieval Church of St Mary in Haddington, but the choir enjoys touring further afield. We gave concerts in Germany in 2004, and in Italy in 2007, and have sung throughout Scotland in collaboration with other choirs and orchestras, including the St Andrews Chorus and Edinburgh Philomusica. We enjoy singing a varied repertoire of major choral works, ranging from Vivaldi to Karl Jenkins, as well as carols, operatic choruses and modern popular classics. The Garleton Singers hold three main concerts a year (our Christmas Carol Concert a firm favourite for our Haddington audience), with occasional special performances such as our 2008 Edinburgh Festival concert and our 2009 performance of The Armed Man.
2010 Programme
Rehearsals are over for the summer - watch this space for dates of the autumn session, when there will be an open rehearsal for anyone interested in joining us.Latest News
GARLETON SINGERS PHOTOGRAPH
Don't we all look lovely? There are four versions to choose from, with varying degrees of squintiness and bowtie jauntiness. To look at the guide numbers more clearly, right-click on the image below and choose 'view image'. Choir members, log on to www.imagepartner.co.ukWe are event: Garleton 2010 photo and the password is: choir

Back row left to right
1. Di Kettles
2. Ann MacGowan
3. Katie Hamilton
4. Claire Smith
5. Diana Hastings
6. David Wilson
7. Simon Williams
8. Ian Chuter
9. Brian Young
10. Sadie Maskery
5th row
11. Margery Ramsey
12. Sharon Keulemans
13. Zoe McClung
14. Wanda Lothian
15. Michael Farmer
16. Robin Mather
17. Christopher Farquhar
18. Elizabeth Gillies
19. Kit Adamson
4th row
20. Davina Briggs
21. Margaret Cameron
22. Cate Wilson
23. Lin Macmillan
24. Graham Miller
25. Kyle Hay
26. Michael Smith
27. Becky Kidd
28. Helen Bennett
29. Kay Bates
3rd row
30. Liz Hare
31. Morag Sherriffs
32. Patricia Savin
33. Nicola Cuthbert
34. Russell Dick
35. Peter Bates
36. Nancy Stokoe
37. Jo MacDonald
38. Grace McLeod
39. Nicky Black
Second row
40. Danusia Melvin
41. Kay Henderson
42. Anne Browning
43. Moira Macfarlane
44. Sandy Todd
45. Nigel Lindsay
46. John Allan
47. Alan Faulkner
48. Jean Casey
49. Kay Mann
50. Betsy Barker
Front row left to right
51. Giz Marriner
52. Vicky Fletcher
53. Trish Scott
54. Paula Jacobs
55. Christine Duncan
56. Stephen Doughty
57. Grace MacKinnon
58. Lyn Livingstone
59. Shelley Birch
60. Edith MacRaild
JUBILATE!
The May concert was performed with panache and flair, and a little bit of cheating by those people who wrote the words to Sumer Is Acumen In on the backs of their hands. Our new formation helped our men in particular to a sharper focus that was pretty darn zingy! The orchestra, led by the inimitable Lawrence Dunn, played with an assurance which was obviously appreciated by the audience. Our organist, John Anderson, added an extra dimension to Parry's I Was Glad (as did the trumpeters, who surprised some of the front row with their enthusiastic fanfares). One audience member reported that the choir's entry to Zadok the Priest was utterly thrilling ... echoing through the packed church and spilling out into the gorgeous twilight to the delight of passers-by. Well done to everyone.THE MARCH CONCERT ...
... went well. This was the first time we had sung music by Kodaly, and we embraced the challenge of his Missa Brevis, and that of Liszt's Missa Choralis, with courage and fortitude. On both nights there were songs and movements with power and beauty, in which the Garleton Singers proved that they are capable of great things. We weren't perfect. One audience member came up to a chorister after the concert and said confidentially 'I liked the Liszt very much, but it's a shame that the organ was out of tune whenever it came back in', which will possibly annoy Caroline! Caroline Cradock was superb throughout, and we hope she will play with us again very soon. Congratulations to our soloists and semi chorus members - Sadie Maskery, David Wilson, Graham Miller, Kay Henderson, Katie Hamilton, Sharon Keulemans, Davina Briggs, Nicola Cuthbert, Gerrie Macarthur, Morag Sheriffs, Ann Browning, Helen Bennett, Christopher Farquar, Simon Williams, and Michael Smith. In particular can I extend my heartfelt admiration to the Missa Choralis semichorus who, on the Saturday, sang with absolutely no support after what could perhaps be described as car-crash choralling by the rest of us in the preceding moments. Overall, we should be proud with what we achieved. Sunday night in particular was exhilarating, and left many of us wishing we could sing it all over again. (After a nice long rest and a stiff gin, of course.)
And we sounded like .... this. (Right click on the link, download the mp3, be stunned by our lalalalalalalalalalas.)
THE OFFICIAL REVIEW
"With a beautifully balanced programme, The Garleton Singers presented a concert of Hungarian focused choral music at St Mary’s, Haddington on Sunday last - 21st March 2010.
The programme opened with Seiber’s Three Hungarian Folk Songs. And what a thrilling opening it was, with the confident, unaccompanied choir singing from memory. John Brown’s spurs really did ring!
Next, by contrast, came a Liszt organ piece energetically played by Caroline Cradock.
Kodaly’s Missa Brevis is scored for choir, organ, a soprano semi-chorus and a trio of alto, tenor and bass, and it is a mark of the conductor Stephen Doughty’s confidence in his singers that all these roles were sung by members of the choir. The circumstances of Kodaly’s composition of this piece add poignancy to phrases such as “donna nobis pacem” – “give us peace” – from the Agnus Dei, as it was written whilst evading persecution from the Nazis and given a first performance during the siege of Budapest in 1945.
The work presents difficulties of balance and tuning; and the high soprano entries at the beginning and end of the work were particularly well handled. Indeed, the quality of sound from the soprano and alto sections throughout was noteworthy.
The second half of the programme started with Kodaly’s unaccompanied Evening Song and was beautifully sung. The ladies and gentlemen gave us separate motets next, and the tenors and basses really swaggered with Halmos’s jubilant Jubilate!
Finally, to Liszt’s Missa Choralis. The drama of the work came through very clearly. Particularly enjoyable was the word painting in the Credo. Again, a semichorus provided contrast and the work left a lively impression.
I appreciated the carefully contrasting elements of the overall programme and it is refreshing to hear a local choir tackling such rarely heard and challenging repertoire. It is a mark of the stature of this choir that it was presented so effectively.
The Garleton Singers can be heard again in St Mary’s at Haddington Festival time, with Handel’s Zadok the Priestst May at 7:30pm." and other festive favourites on Monday 31
John Stone
How Low Can You Go?
We are looking for TENORS and BASSES to sing with us at concerts in Edinburgh and Haddington.
Rehearsals are at the Town House, Haddington on Mondays, between 7.30 and 9.30pm.
Come along, give us a try, have a coffee and chat to our Musical Director, Stephen Doughty, about joining us.






