Edinburgh University Music Society’s Symphony Orchestra present a varied programme for their Spring Concert this year.

The orchestra will be performing three great works: Wagner’s musically brilliant Prelude to Parsifal, Rodrigo’s Adagio Para Orquesta de Instrumentos de Viento (Adagio for Wind Instruments) and finally Tchaikovsky’s mighty Symphony No. 6 in B minor: “Pathétique”.

This concert sold out in our Winter Concert Series, so book early to avoid disappointment!

To buy tickets, click the link below:

Sinfonia are bringing us a packed programme this Spring, combining a first half of renowned French pieces and a second half of British classics.

Not only are they performing Macunn’s archetypal Scottish overture Land of the Mountain and the Flood and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches 1,3 and 4 and Enigma Variation No. 9 (Nimrod), but Berlioz’s Beatrice and Benedict Overture is sure to delight.

To top off this mighty programme Sinfonia will be joined by cellist Daniel Kraemer for Saint-Saëns’ stunning Cello Concerto No. 1, rounding off a concert that is not to be missed!

To buy tickets, click the link below:

Following on from last year’s sold out Dream of Gerontius, this Spring Chorus are showcasing a “Best of British” themed concert, with pieces that represent the a selection of the finest British Choral works.

Under the baton of Neil Metcalfe, the EUMS Chorus will be performing Wesley’s Blessed Be The God And Father, Vaughan Williams’ excellent Five Mystical Songs and Goodall’s breathtaking Eternal Light.

This concert sold out last year, leaving us very few tickets on the door. Book now to avoid disappointment!

To buy tickets, click the link below:

We are always increasing our visibility across the globe, and increasing the ability of music societies and bodies to widen their reach. We have recently been helping the ENUO (European Network of University Orchestras) develop their network as a founding participant. This may also ease the organisation of tours to Europe in the future, probably meaning better repertoire and better venues. Read on to find out a bit more…

ENUO (European Network of University Orchestras) was created by Uppsala University in late 2011 by Stefan Karpe with the goal to bring the organisation and the members of university orchestras in Europe together to exchange information and create opportunities for touring and exchange. The intention is to extend the idea of European citizenship by internationalising university music and encouraging students to play music together with students from other European countries, that have a different language and culture. By doing so there will be an exchange of culture and ideas as the students share a creative experience and learn from each other. Today there are already 93 orchestras in the network from 16 countries in the European Union.

“University students within the European Community come from various cultures and they speak many different languages. But when students from various cultures are playing different musical instruments together, as in a symphony orchestra, they communicate with each other through one language called music.”

Stefan Karpe
Director Musices Royal Academic Orchestra, Uppsala University

The network will help the orchestras to contact each other more easily, so they can exchange information and tips and help each other with touring and sheet music. It will also be easier for orchestras to initiate musical collaborations within the network. Also the individual members of the orchestras will benefit through the network. They can join the project orchestra and other activities of ENUO to make music with students from other studies, universities and countries. They are also encouraged to study abroad and join an orchestra in one of the universities in the network. ENUO should function as a kind of social network for them. Most of these goals will be achieved with the help of ENUO’s website (www.enuo.eu) which will be launched on the 22nd February 2012.

“There has long been a need for a common platform for European university orchestras. The network will help to highlight the opportunities for exchange students to keep playing in an orchestra and to share experiences and knowledge among the orchestras.”

Kasper Teglgaard Koch
Chairman of SymfUni – University of Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra

“The Manchester University Music Society’s orchestras are joining the ENUO because we think it is a fantastic opportunity to broaden our music-making experiences. Whether it’s organizing events locally or international tours, we hope that ENUO can provide support for us, and we look forward to helping the other member orchestras in their own endeavours. We hope that ENUO becomes a strong, robust network that strengthens music making in Universities across Europe.”

Seb Huckle
President of the Manchester University Music Society

In this issue:

Big Sing Success – Ensemble Manager Roundup – Society In Pictures – Reminiscing About Sinfonia – Education Project – Tour 2012 – EUMS Ball

For those of you who missed the Freshers’ Week ceilidh and indeed for those of you who didn’t, come along and enjoy fine dining and fantastic dancing in Teviot Row House. We will be booking out the whole of the top floor of Teviot (the Loft Bar and Debating Hall are up here) for the evening’s frivolities.

As usual, the evening will start at 7pm with drinks in the Loft Bar followed by a delicious three course dinner in the Debating Hall. After dinner, the debating hall will be transformed into a ball room where we can dance the night away with the Edinburgh University Music Society’s favourite live ceilidh band. If that wasn’t all enough the disco lights will descend before midnight and we can party on into the early hours to the latest disco tunes…

The cost of a ticket is £25, and these will be available from the first rehearsals onwards. Please buy tickets early so as not to be disappointed!

If for some reason you are unable to attend the dinner (our condolences) then you can purchase a “ceilidh only” ticket for the rosy sum of only £5.

Indicate your interest on the Facebook event here.

Details of the magical evening:

7pm, 9th February 2012 @ Teviot Loft Bar

3-course Dinner and Ceilidh £25
Ceilidh only £5

Dresscode: Formal. Black ties and beautiful dresses. Kilts (nearly) compulsory for Scottish members.

Tickets will be available from the first rehearsals. If you can’t make it or have any other enquiries then contact our social secretaries at social@eums.org.uk and they’ll try and sort you out. Friends, family, dates, spouse, and non-members are all welcome too!

We can’t wait to see you in your kilts, DJs and lovely dresses…

Fear not though! This means that rehearsals are starting again, and for Chorus this means that we are back in our usual venue: St. Peters Church Hall at 7pm from Tuesday 17th January onwards.

This semester we will be performing Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light and Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs. In the words of our very own Chorus Manager, these are “two absolutely fantastic pieces, the Vaughan Williams being a personal favourite. Have a wee listen on Youtube or Spotify, they are well worth the five minute break from dissertations, essays, or the 9-5″.

The concert will be taking place in St Mary’s Cathedral on Palmerston Place on Friday 23rd March.

For others though, this means that it is carolling time!

The dates we have for carolling this year are:

TUESDAY 6th DECEMBER- St Patrick’s Square, the turning on of the lights, with our very own brass ensemble. 6pm.

TUESDAY 13th DECEMBER – The Pear Tree at 6pm.

FRIDAY 16th DECEMBER – Meadows Carols for St Catharine’s Homeless Project at 4pm. Meet on the Compass on the bottom of Middle Meadow Way, with an empty jam jar and tea-light. Facebook event here.

SUNDAY 18th DECEMBER – Princes Street (on junction with Frederick Street called “Busker East”) at 6pm.

For those of you with ongoing exams, best of luck, and for all Musocers: see you next semester!

Whether you are in Edinburgh or not, the Edinburgh University Music Society wishes you a very Merry Christmas!

Not only are all new recordings from concerts being put up on the site in an easily accessible album format, but we are also collecting old recordings from concerts gone by to add to the site as well.

You can listen to our “Artist’s Radio” to hear a mixture of our tracks and those of the artists that have been related to us, or to listen to individual tracks in full first click on an album then on your desired track (on the text), then click the “Play direct from Edinburgh University Music Society” link.

If you have an old recording of us performing from any time since 1867 (yes, really… we did perform concerts back then!) then please get in touch with us in the normal manner.

The link to the programme website can be found here.