ABOUT US

A Musical Journey

The Scottish Clarinet Choir was formed in January 2019 under the directorship of John Cushing and is made up of professional players, teachers, students and amateurs from all over Scotland.

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John was the Principal Clarinet of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 1978 to 2014 and has given many World and Scottish premieres including James McMillan’s concerto ‘Ninian’ which is dedicated to him.

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The Scottish Clarinet Choir gave its inaugural concert in April 2019 at the Queen Victoria School in Dunblane. This concert featured Yann Ghiro, Principal Clarinet with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as guest soloist in Kuffner’s Introduction, Theme and Variations. Two world premieres composed specially for the debut concert also featured in the programme, Oliver Searle’s Millport Godzilla and Tom Wilson’s Serenade 6.

The group continue to rehearse monthly at Queen Victoria School in Dunblane and have recently given concerts in Perth, Muckhart and Dunblane.

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Marking the first anniversary of the formation of the group, in February 2020 the Scottish Clarinet Choir participated in the long running St Giles’ at Six concert series in Edinburgh where they performed another world premiere, Stuart Rynn’s Zig Zag and welcomed Nicholas Baldeyrou as guest soloist. The Choir were delighted to have the opportunity to share the stage with Nicholas, a world-renowned soloist, teacher and a member of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra.

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The Choir enjoys rehearsing and performing a varied repertoire which spans arrangements and original works by wide range of composers including Mozart, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Gordon Jacob, Paul Harvey, Carl Raven, Peter Warlock and Eric Hughes.