Buckets of love for community choir

Under artistic director Stephen Deazley, the choir’s tenth concert together will also feature a massed orchestra of young guitarists from schools across the Capital.

The choir also will be joined for a second time by the BIG Project Youth Choir from Broomhouse, who have written a new song based on the Astronaut’s Guide to Optimism by Colonel Chris Hadfield, a previous commander of the International Space Station, whose sell-out talk took the Usher Hall by storm earlier in the year.

Conductor Deazley says, “It is a privilege to stand in front of this extraordinary group every week and to know that we’re never ever still, but always finding new ways to connect with new communities, with old friends and with great music.

“The programme at the Usher Hall is our source of inspiration, with a bit of risk thrown in for good measure.

“There are no limits or boundaries to our ambition and I hope the programme reflects this spirit.

“Inspired by Chris Hadfield’s recent lecture tour, our first commissioned song Out of This World, sits at the heart of the programme, mirrored by Bowie’s magnificent tour-de-force Space Oddity and a fearless arrangement of the opening bars of Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra.

“With 100 young people joining us on stage for this fantastic event, I feel we’re beginning to make our presence felt in the city, with the Usher Hall right at the centre of our musical universe.”

Now at the start of its fourth year, Love Music Community Choir is the largest community choir in the UK. Their repertoire can include anything from Mozart to Joy Division.

Led by Deazley, the choir regularly works with internationally acclaimed musicians.

Previous performances include three Usher Halls a year, as well as flash mobs for Blondie and Rufus Wainwright, and a surprise appearance at the city’s Commonwealth Games gala concert.

Each term a member of Love Music Community Choir nominates a charity to receive the benefits of fundraising throughout the term and at the end of term concert. This term the nominated charity is Mercy Corps.

A bucket collection will take place after the concert.

Love Music Community Choir, Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Monday 7 March, 7.30pm, £5, 0131-228 1155