WELCOME TO INVERNESS CHORAL SOCIETY

Inverness Choral Society is a registered Scottish Charity No: SCO15219

New term....new members welcome Rehearsals for our Autumn 2025 concert will begin on Monday 18th August at the usual time and venue, 7.30pm at Smithton Free Church. New members will be most welcome, but please come along by the first two or three rehearsals. The content of the concert will be Gounod "St Cecilia" and Elgar's "Songs of the Bavarian Highlands". Music for both will be provided. The concert will be in Inverness Cathedral on *Saturday* 22nd November 2025. Watch this space for more information.
"In every corner sing" was our very successful Spring concert, held at the Drumossie Hotel, Inverness on 13th April. The varied programme was a huge hit with our audience. First was Schubert's "Mass in G", where we were joined by our three soloists, Jessica Leary, Soprano, Seamus Brady, Baritone and Rowan Gillard, Tenor. The choir's next piece was "I landed with seven men" which told the story of Charles Edward Stuart and the Jacobite rebellion. James Ross was our very effective narrator. The medley from "West Side Story" came next, then finally the choir sang R. Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs". Thanks must go to each of our soloists. Jessica and Rowan performed their choices of arias between the choral pieces, and Seamus had his spots within "Five Mystical Songs". It was a joy to have you all with us once more. As always we are so grateful to our Conductor, Gordon Tocher, and our accompanist, Adrian Marple. Both bear with us through many weeks of rehearsals, encouraging us, and making the concert possible. Their input on the night with was much appreciated. We really couldn't do this without you!

Here is some more information about our soloists Jessica Leary (Soprano), Seamus Brady (Baritone) and Rowan Gillard (Tenor). Jessica Leary, Soprano	Seamus Brady, Baritone
Rowan Gillard, Tenor
Described as ‘a polished and radiant soprano’ (Opera Magazine), Jessica Leary has worked throughout the UK and abroad with companies including Scottish Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Grange Festival Opera, Buxton International Festival, Iford Arts, Dunedin Consort, RedNote Ensemble, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and OAE Choir, and at venues and festivals such as BBC London Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Wigmore Hall, and Barbican Centre. Read more. Seamus Brady is a Baritone from Newry, Co. Down & is a 2^nd year Masters student currently studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Seamus is an alumnus of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. Seamus has performed as a soloist and within choruses, both in operatic and chorale settings. Some of which roles and involvements include ‘Silvano’ in ‘Calisto’ by Cavalli and ‘Grimbald’ in RIAM’s ‘King Arthur’ by Purcell. Seamus performed his role debut as cover of ‘Baron Douphol’ in Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ with Northern Ireland Opera in Grand Opera House, Belfast. In his final year of BMus studies, he performed the role of ‘Ruggiero’ in Caccini’s “La Liberazione de Ruggiero dall’ isola di Alcina” and the role of ‘Edward’ in ‘The Sofa’ by Elizabeth Maconchy. Read more. Rowan Gillard is an English tenor currently studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Iain Paton having previously completed his undergraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music with Paul Nilon. On the operatic stage, Rowan has performed a diverse range of roles in opera scenes, including Baron Kronthal (Der Wildschütz), Tapioca (L’étoile), Idomeneo (Idomeneo), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), and Iago (Otello). As well as making his principal debut as Monostatos in RCS Opera’s production of Die Zauberflöte. His experience as a chorister includes performances in Die Fledermaus (Strauss), Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc), and The Pilgrim’s Progress (Vaughan Williams) at RNCM, as well as La Rondine (Puccini) and Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky) with Dorset Opera Festival, and Madama Butterfly (Puccini) with The Hallé. In August 2024, Rowan was awarded a full scholarship to study Italian Opera at the Vox Integra Summer School in Feltre, Italy. Read more.
We were delighted to present a cheque for £2650 to our 2024 Carolthon charity partner, Highlands and Islands Blood Bikes. Thanks to the generosity of all who supported our Carolthon, this was half of the total amount raised. The other half will support Choir expenses going forward. We are also grateful to Eastgate Centre and Chisholm Hunter jeweller for allowing us to use the space in the centre. Our picture shows (L-R) Pat Crippin (Chair ICS), Gordon Scott (Head of Operations HAIBB), Beryl Sharp (HAIBB), Andrea Gritter (ICS Carolthon organiser), Ross Sharp (President HAIBB), Gina Francis (ICS Treasurer).
Dates for your diary Autumn Concert - Saturday 22nd November 2025. More information to follow. 2025 Carolthon - Saturday 13th December, Eastgate Centre, Inverness. More information to follow
Recent events
Carolthon 2024 See above for cheque handover, and below for some pictures from the day.
Our winter 2024 concert was held on Saturday 16th November in Inverness Cathedral. We thoroughly enjoyed singing this less well known work by Puccini as well as pieces by Mozart, Bruckner and Rossini, and appreciate all the positive feedback we've had from those who were there. Thanks as always to our soloists, Rowan Gillard (Tenor) and Seamus Brady (Bass), the orchestra, and Gordon our conductor and Adrian our accompanist, who have guided us with such patience over the weeks to get us "concert ready". As always we are grateful to you, our audience for coming along to support us. Here are a few pictures from rehearsals and the concert. Our soloists for this concert were Rowan Gillard (Tenor) and Seamas Brady (Bass).

Inverness Choral Society is one of the largest choir in the Highlands and draws singers from a wide area around Inverness. It presents two main concerts a year, in Spring and Autumn, and a singing marathon - a Christmas Carolthon - in aid of charity in mid-December. New members are welcomed at the start of each session ie August and January.

The conductor of the Inverness Choral Societyis Gordon Tocher and the accompanist is Adrian Marple.

The Choral has a celebratory book, produced with grant aid from Inverness Common Good Fund.

The 68-page book is full of photographs, facts and figures about the Society’s activities over the years, with lively reminiscences and anecdotes contributed by members and friends and full details of all the Society’s concerts since 1977; (earlier concerts are listed here on the website).

It will make a wonderful keepsake for members past and present, and for anyone interested in the Choral Society. Price £10.

The book is now available from Waterstones or via the society, as detailed below:

Payment can be by BACS, Sort Code 82-65-18, Account number: 20310143 (Clydesdale Bank - now Virgin Money, Academy Street), or by cheque to 'Inverness Choral Society', or by cash at Monday rehearsals.

If you would like to buy a copy but can’t be at choral practices, contact us via the website, info@invernesschoral.org.uk and for those living in Inverness we can try to arrange a free delivery to your house. If posting out is required, this would be an extra £2.15 (for up to two books).

Past Performances

Click here to see a list of our performances at Eden Court Theatre since 1977. We have now also collated a list of earlier performances, from the Society being founded in 1920 to 1976. Click here to see this information.

Please use the menu on the left to find out who we are and what we do, and how you can join or support us. If you would like to join our mailing list, please fill in the form on the Contact Us page.