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'Haddo Combined Treble Voice Choir'
consists of just over 80 treble voices (women, unbroken
voiced boys and girls aged 11 and over) recruited from
the Haddo Choral and Operatic Society, Haddo Youth Choir
and Haddo Children's Choir.
They sing classical repertoire and perform at concerts
and competitions in the NE of Scotland and have a fantastic
reputation - the Haddo groups regularly win 'Gold outstanding
performance' awards at festivals and great reviews in
the press.
Haddo House is a beautiful stately home 20 miles North
of Aberdeen and is a very rural location. The theatre
attached houses an arts centre and caters for over 300
local people in choirs and theatrical groups. Singers
are never auditioned and the joining fees are very low
- an ethic instilled b y the Choral Society's founder
Lady Aberdeen who although over 90 now still lives in
the House and takes an active interest in all the musical
activities there.
The Choral Society produces a critically acclaimed professional
opera every year (using their amateur chorus) as well
as a large annual choral concert and many other smaller
events. The two Junior Choirs sing throughout the year
(often with the Choral Society in their concerts and opera)
and offer a totally unique opportunity for young people
in the area to sing multi-harmony classical repertoire
to a very high standard. Both young choirs have previously
won 'Choir of the Day' awards at 'Choir of the Year' in
the recent past.
The Chorus Master for all three Haddo groups is Alice
E Dennis GTCL, a professional pianist and singer. She
studied piano and singing from a very early age and graduated
from Trinity College of Music in London in 1982. In 1990
she, husband Jerry (who plays the piano for all the choirs)
and their young family moved to Aberdeenshire, where they
got heavily involved in the musical activities at Haddo.
Since being chorus master of the Haddo groups, Alice has
recruited nearly 140 juniors and 90 adults. She recruits
children by offering free singing workshops to schools
in the area, inspiring young children with her sense of
fun and full knowledge of all things vocal, to come along
to HCC. Alice has a large private teaching practise of
pianists and singers, many of whom are members of the
Choir.
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