18th November 2017
The Rolling Hills Chorus celebrates 25 years of a cappella singing in 2017. Edinburgh’s premier male choir held a special commemoration today incorporating a Masterclass in the afternoon with quartet Finest Hour then a gala event in the evening.
A terrific day’s celebrations kicked off with the finest two hours of advice and guidance from the European Barbershop Quartet Champions “Finest Hour”. The boys did us proud with simple practical advice gleaned from their experience and also demonstrated their techniques in impressive style. The evening celebrations brought together the past, present and hopefully much of the future for the chorus. The scene was also set so competently by Nick Hayes in a well-crafted booklet presented to all attendees, giving a pictorial overview of 25 years in harmony for RHC. We were delighted to have founder member Bill Harvey as our MC for the evening. He compered the proceedings with aplomb, peppering the evening with insightful anecdotes about our origins and giving due recognition to those who helped him build his initial musical dream that was born of admiration for our lady counterparts in Forth Valley Chorus. All the presentations were made by Martin Baglow, vice chairman of BABS.
Our opening numbers were well received and gave us valuable experience for the performance of our 2018 Convention song. The presentations to long-serving members and past chairmen were also skilfully woven into superb performances from Mac4, The Swingettes and Open Road. Finest Hour were at their finest and astonished one and all with their precision and polish. They are indeed worthy of the title European Champions. All too soon it seemed the formal events of the evening were at an end but an uninhibited afterglow quickly set in and as some set off for the hills, others just kept rolling.