2025 Annual Concert
in General March 31, 2025
92nd Annual Concert 29th March 2025
It’s Spring! It’s Kilmarnock! It’s blowing a hoolie along Portland Road! Yes, it’s the Aeolian Male Voice Choir’s annual concert again. It would take more than windy weather to deter
nearly 400 music fans from turning out to enjoy a varied programme of songs performed in
the style that evolves over the years under successive musical directors but remains
forever ‘Aeolian’. Under current MD Alistair Peter there would be varied styles ranging from
well-known male voice choir standards through traditional songs and even to pop songs.
The opening item of any concert should always strike hard and grab the audience ‘s
attention. The Welsh male voice choir setting of the hymn Christus Salvator certainly did
that. The compere for the evening, Bill Caldwell, then introduced the remaining pieces of
the opening set, all in a religious vein. Two spirituals Until I Found The Lord and My Lord
What a Mornin’ brought us to Baba Yetu, a Swahili language version of the Lord’s Prayer,
the solo in which was a ‘tour de force’ ably handled by Stephen Brown to the obvious delight of the audience.
In a departure from the choir’s usual custom the guest artistes for the evening were instrumentalists rather than singers. Prismatic Winds are a quintet of wind instrumentalists namely French horn, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon. The arrangements of pieces by Malcolm Arnold (Sea Shanties) and Scottish song writer Dougie Maclean (Caledonia) gave each instrument a chance to shine through.
exemplified by the choir’s renditions of I’ll Tell Me Ma (Ireland), Loch Lomond (Scotland)
and Men of Harlech (Wales). Special mention has to be made of the arrangement by the
Aeolian’s former musical director Alex Ferguson which blended the Burns songs Green Grow the Rashes and My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose which was both imaginative and atmospheric.
The comedic talents of Bill Caldwell in recalling his previous calling in the teaching
profession, both in anecdote and poetry, kept the audience smiling as he went on to
introduce songs from across the Atlantic Ocean which made up the choir’s next set.
Hunker Down from the west coast of Canada, required considerable lingual dexterity from
the choir members in fitting in a lot of words into short melodic phrases! Away From The
Roll of The Sea evoked sentiments empathetic with the fishing communities of the Atlantic
seaboard. The set concluded with An American Trilogy, a much-loved favourite of the choir
and its audience.
Prismatic Winds delighted again and after some French items continued the blending
two tunes theme as mentioned above with a piece by their leader Robert Newth which
rejoiced in the title Wild Loch Lomond Mountain Thyme. Clever and very entertaining.
It is fair to say that the average age of the choir is quite high but that doesn’t mean that
pop songs are off limits. Something (The Beatles), Only You (Yazoo), and Unchained
Melody (The Righteous Brothers) will, I’m sure, be future classics and were the musical
background to the teens and twenties of many choir members.
Overall the concert was a testament to the immense talent and patience of two
wonderful musicians who coax and cajole the best they can from the choir throughout the
winter season. Alistair Peter and Matt Allison were warmly thanked by the choir President
Alex Findlay and the audience showed their appreciation too. And did they want more? Of
course they did! We Rise Again is a rousing song of hope for communities facing adversity
and a great way to end the night. In a way the last song could be the choir’s tribute to it’s audience - ‘Vive La Compagnie!’
Reg Short