The recent easing of Covid restrictions across Scotland has begun to slowly return some sense of normality to many of our lives. As a choir, our undertaking is a fundamentally collaborative one, with intimate rehearsals being essential to how we grow, learn and perform together as a group. As such, it has been wonderful to be able to rehearse together again in-person in recent weeks, after more than a year of online rehearsals.
Taking our first steps towards performing in front of an audience again has been an unusual experience – masked, socially distanced, with limited numbers – but we are thrilled to be able to make music together again, and to continue rehearsing the incredible new pieces of music written for our ensemble as part of Composeher.
There are, however, many uncertainties ahead. We still do not know when it will be permissible to rehearse with our 100+ singers with no social distancing. We are also aware that for many members of our choir, mass-rehearsals may be a daunting prospect. With winter months lying ahead, facilitating rehearsals may become much more challenging. Ultimately too, we do not have certainty that the exit from lockdown won’t reverse in some form over the coming months.
It light of these continuing uncertainties and with the determination to do these seven new pieces of music the justice they deserve, we have concluded that we must postpone the world premiere performance of the Composeher project. The premiere performance by the GSA Choir of the seven new pieces of music will therefore be delayed until May 2023.
This has been an extremely difficult decision to reach. With so much of life returning to normal it feels odd to be speaking of delaying this important project. Fundamentally though, these seven exceptional pieces of music have been written to be heard and performed at their very best. Buoyed by our ongoing combination of in-person and digital rehearsals, and with the ambition of returning to full indoor rehearsals next year, the GSA Choir is as excited as ever about sharing this new music with the world.
We are determined to make use of the additional time ahead of us and have begun making plans for some exciting expansions to Composeher – with particular focus on reaching under-represented groups through this special project. We intend to share more information on this soon.
We wish to thank every person who has supported the Composeher project so far. Without your enthusiasm and encouragement we could not take on ambitious projects of this scale. We remain committed to making Composeher a truly memorable celebration of choral music and hope to share much more with you as we make preparations through 2022 and 2023, ahead of the world premiere performance.
Thank you,
The Board of Trustees, the Glasgow School of Art Choir