Young singers celebrate the area's history

East Dunbartonshire Children’s Chorus and Youth Choir will sing at sites of local significance on Easter Monday (April 17) as part of a collaboration with Milngavie Music club and Music C0-Operative Scotland (McOpera).

They will perform a new commission by Milton of Campsie composer, Peter Kemp, with conductor Janet Lax and a professional instrumental ensemble from McOpera, to tell historical tales of local endeavour and innovation such as the Antonine Wall, the Bennie Railplane, the Milngavie Water Treatment works and Craigend Zoo.

With transport provided by Allander Travel, the first pop-up performance on Easter Monday will be at 11.20am at Billingtons Café in Milton of Campsie, the site of the crash landing of Vincenzo Lunardi’s extraordinary hot air balloon on December 5th 1785.

The young singers will then tour with short piano-accompanied ‘pop-up’ performances of each tale, including Waitrose (Milngavie) at 12pm and Mugdock Country Park at 2.30pm, prior to working with the professional musicians for concert at Cairns Church on Friday, April 21.

This will be part of the Milngavie Music Club International Concert season alongside Stravinsky’s iconic music theatre piece A Soldier’s Tale.

Renowned conductor and former Music Director of English National Opera, Sian Edwards will conduct the Stravinsky, with McOpera Ensemble (players from the Orchestra of Scottish Opera and led by Tony Moffat), narration by Flora Munro, and commissioned film by Edinburgh-based director Roddy Simpson and artist Derek Gray, who also lives in Milton of Campsie.

This project is supported by Milngavie Music Club, a grant from the John Lewis Partnerships’ ‘Music Matters’ scheme through Waitrose in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire Arts Council, Allander Travel, Mugdock Country Park and Enterprise Music Scotland.

The organisers would also like to thank Billingtons Café for hosting the first pop-up performance.