Scottish music education charity Love Music is a hive of activity this March.
The Edinburgh-based group will be holding one concert, two flash mobs and eight of its team and choir members are in training for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival!
The first event is the Love Music Community Choir concert on 11 March at 7.30pm.
Celebrating the start of its seventh year, the largest community choir in the UK – Love Music Community Choir’s spring concert at the Usher Hall on Monday 11 March.
Songs by legendary 1980s Manchester rock band James contrast with ancient music from Swedish fishwives, songs from the German cabaret tradition, and a ground-shaking, spirit-soaring hymn from the American Sacred Harp tradition. Love Music’s 300-strong Community Choir continues to defy expectations, performing a mix of iconic tracks and lesser known musical gems, in their own joyful and exuberant style.
This exciting 45-minute event will be directed by award-winning composer and educationalist Stephen Deazley, and accompanied by Scottish musicians Steve Hamilton on piano and Daniel Crichton on guitar. Every term, a choir member nominates a local charity to raise money for; there will be a bucket collection at the end of the event to raise funds for Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.
Edinburgh’s inclusive, open access singing project for 8-12-year olds, Love Music Junior Choir, will present its first flash mob performance on the steps of the Usher Hall at 5pm on Monday 11 March to promote awareness of the choir and celebrate the end of another successful term. There are likely to be a few surprised commuters about, too!
You can expect a lot of positivity and joy, mixed in with a set of the choir’s songs from this term, including a rousing rendition of Put A Little Love In Your Heart by Jackie De-Shannon, with verses interspersed with raps written by the choir members themselves.
The Junior Choir is now in its second year, with a diverse membership from right across Edinburgh. This year to date, 56% of its members are resident in the 1st-4th highest ranking areas of multiple deprivation, and 55% of its members have received free places due to financial hardship.
Children of all abilities and backgrounds from across the city enjoy meeting and singing with each other, forming friendships and celebrating their love of music together. The choir runs in 3 terms of 8 weeks and is currently inviting registrations for its summer term, which begins on 29 April.
Love Music Community Choir will welcome the iconic Manchester band James to the city on Monday 18 March with a flash mob on the steps of the Usher Hall before the band’s concert that evening.
And eight of Love Music’s team and choir members are running in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival to raise funds for its Junior Choir.
The Love Music team is always thinking of new ways to raise funds for its Junior Choir, and this year they have pulled on their trainers, limbered up, and committed to run in the Edinburgh Marathon Festival!
Their artistic director Stephen Deazley will run the full marathon, the chair of the Board of Trustees, Neil Weir, and Love Music’s manager and producer, Ruth Davie, will run the half marathon, and its events assistant, Kirsten Hunter, the 10K. They will be joined by four members of the Love Music Community Choir in the various races.
Between them, they are hoping to raise more than £7,500 to support the Junior Choir in its third year. If you’d like to support them and Love Music Junior Choir with a donation, click HERE.
Stephen Deazley, Love Music artistic director, said: ‘Junior Choir is a very special project close to our hearts. Our children light up the Usher Hall with joyful energy, and as a team we try to meet this by offering the most creative, adventurous and musically diverse programmes we can.
‘Our 100% commitment to inclusion, and providing support and opportunities for children from across the city means we have to work extra hard raising funds to make it happen, but we’re up for it. If that means swapping the concert hall for the running track for a bit, so be it!’
Concert tickets are available from Usher Hall Box Office, Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EA.
www.usherhall.co.uk/whats-on/love-music-community-choir
0131 228 1155
Tickets £5/free for unwaged, under 16s and a disabled person’s companion.
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