Music update by Graeme Stevenson

The day: Saturday 20 October, time: 6.30 am, venue: ASDA. Purpose: buying plastic cups for the all day rehearsal for the 24 hour Mikado. Think: Why am I doing this?

After rehearsing from 7 pm until midnight on the Friday evening, the cast and crew reconvened at the music rooms at 7 am for a full day's rehearsal before the opening at 7.30 p.m. As it happened, everything came together very well and we played to an appreciative audience of over 200 in the Bonar Hall who seemed happy enough to put up with the odd "moment".

Many thanks must go to all who helped whether as part of the production team, cast, backstage crew, OPSOC for building the stage, or the band, some of whom came from Inverness, Edinburgh and Brechin.

After an exhausting weekend, it was back to a regular diet of rehearsals for all the various groups. The music society is currently working towards the carol service on 9 December and an evening concert on 10 December. As always, a wide variety of music can be anticipated covering jazz, Britten, Poulenc, Handel and a bit more Arthur Sullivan. Opsoc are in the early stages of rehearsing their production of Oklahoma! which they will be performing at the Bonar Hall in May next year.

Our next two evening concerts will be taking place on Thursday 29 November and Wednesday 30 January. On November 29 the Ruskin Ensemble will be giving a programme of music for violin, guitar and cello in the Chaplaincy Centre. As well as performing at a large number of venues throughout the UK, they have also appeared at the British Embassy in Paris and No. 11 Downing Street. The music includes works by Vivaldi, Bach, Villa-Lobos and Paganini.

January's performer, Catherine Baker, is a soprano who was brought up in Scotland and read music at Durham University. Currently appearing in Hamburg, Catherine's concert credits include Walton's Façade and King Harald's Saga. Her programme will include music by Britten, Weir and a variety of French songs.

As always, more information about these concerts, the free lunchtime concerts, the various music groups and the music societies can be found on www.dundee.ac.uk/music

Caption - The Ruskin Ensemble

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