A LEADING Glasgow choir is set to return to Helensburgh next month as part of a weekend of special events at a church in the town to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

The City of Glasgow Chorus will be in concert at St Michael and All Angels Church in William Street on Saturday, June 4.

Under its new music director, Paul Keohone, this concert celebrates in choral music the Queen, her reign, the cultural diversity of the United Kingdom and that of the Commonwealth.

The Chorus will be joined by soloists Anthony Moffat (violin) and David McKellar (euphonium) and accompanists David Hamilton (organ) and the chorus’s regular accompanist Colin Taylor (piano).

Paul, for whom next month’s concert will be his conducting debut with the full Chorus, said: “I was delighted to be given the opportunity to take over as music director of the wonderful City of Glasgow Chorus last November.

“It is my mission to expand the repertoire of CGC by introducing the Chorus to a wider-ranging, more eclectic mix of musical styles and genres, encompassing everything from the ancient music of Palestrina to living composers such as Whitacre, Rutter, Chilcott and L’Estrange, some of whom are represented in this concert.

About this concert, Paul also commented: “As we celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the first words that come into my mind are ‘role model’.

“To have reigned for 70 years with such dignity and grace is a lesson for us all.”

It is up to all of us to be role models, in our family lives, our workplaces, and more importantly, in our wider communities. We are, each and every one of us, responsible for the wellbeing of those around us, whether they be rich, poor, young, old, black, white or of any religion or creed.”

This concert will be the first concert the full Chorus has given since lockdown in March 2020 and ‘bookends’ the pandemic, as its last full concert on March 7, 2020 was also in St Michael and All Angels.

Other events taking place in the Church over the Jubilee Weekend include a garden party in the rectory garden, ‘the Jubilee in Flowers’, and Sunday evening Jubilee Evensong.