Sing Moray

The Story So Far...

Sing Moray was originally formed in November 2013 by Geraint Watkins, a music teacher at Gordonstoun School. He wanted to create a choir “for anyone in Moray who enjoys singing to come and sing some great music in a group.” A call was put out via “The Northern Scot” newspaper, and over the first few weeks a choir of some 140 singers amassed. A lot of hard work and dedication went into creating the first concert the following March, with rave reviews from critics and audience alike, and some fundraising for local charities to boot.

When Geraint moved on to pastures new soon after, the choir carried on under the mantle of his Gordonstoun colleagues, Adam and Phoebe Csenki, until summer 2024. At this point, the school, unfortunately, was no longer able to support the choir in the same capacity, and so new arrangements had to be made, with a lot of uncertainty as to whether or not the choir could continue at all.

Following a lot of hard work, dedication and research from several long-standing members, the choir was finally able to become an independent entity. We re-grouped on the 7th of October 2024 with a brand-new musical director and with a new temporary home in Lossiemouth. Our numbers had diminished somewhat over the years, and we were down to just 20 or so regulars. There were a few teething issues as we found our feet, and a committee was formed to spread the responsibility. The first few months had a huge learning curve as we navigated the legalities and logistics of running a successful choir. One of the biggest changes we had to implement was charging a subscription fee to our members to cover our running costs, such as venue hire charges, directors' fees and music licenses. This is still a work in progress, and your subscription fees are reviewed regularly to make sure that we charge as little as possible, while still being able to run effectively and be able to perform some more modern pieces of music.

After a few months of singing together again, we decided it was time to arrange our first independent concert. Our amazing director at the time, Shaun Brown, put together a challenging but beautiful repertoire of music, and we got to work rehearsing our little hearts out. Sing Moray performed our first independent concert on June 1st 2025 at St Giles Church in Elgin, with an amazing turnout from the audience.

Our numbers are steadily growing, but we will always welcome new enthusiastic singers to swell the ranks. With an amazingly talented new Musical Director at the helm, Sing Moray hopes to continue to excel and grow for many, many years to come.