The third concert in the successful 2008 summer series of concerts organised by the Friends of St Margaret’s, Aberlour, will feature soloists from the Moray Concert Brass performing a Summer Serenade in St Margaret’s Church, at 7.30pm on Friday 25 July 2008 The historic church, in its beautiful woodland setting at the heart of Speyside, has established a considerable reputation over the past fifteen years for its concert programmes. The Moray Concert Brass are returning to perform an interesting programme of classical and popular music in aid of the Church Fabric Fund.

The Moray Concert Brass soloists will include Hazel Gray on organ and piano, with Glenn Munro and James Gray on trumpet, who will perform some well-known and popular classical music by Handel, Mozart and Debussy. They will also accompany the soprano Sine MacDonald in music by Handel, Franz Abt and Ivor Novello. A special feature of the concert will be a work composed for the group by Bob Garrity. The Friends of St Margaret’s are delighted to welcome this very talented group of musicians, who have sustained such a strong musical tradition in the northeast.

Sine MacDonald trained at the Ian Tomlin School of Music at Napier University, and as a member of the National Youth Choir of Scotland she performed at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, at a Six National Rugby Match at Murrayfield Stadium and at the Church of Scotland General Assembly. She has also performed regularly with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus which has established an international reputation. Her solo performances have included Vivaldi’s “Gloria” in the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, as well as performing more recently with the Buckie Choral Union.

James Gray also studied music at Napier University and went on to the Birmingham Conservatoire, where he graduated with distinction, before taking up teaching posts for the Birmingham Music Service, and performing widely in that region. He has performed at BBC Pebble Mill and with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and in 2003 was appointed as Instructor to the RAF Voluntary Band at Kinloss, the only position of its kind in Scotland.

Hazel Gray, who was educated at the University of Aberdeen, studied music teaching in which she is active locally, where she directs her own choir as well as being a Youth Music Initiative Instructor. She also plays Principal Cornet with the RAF Kinloss Voluntary Brass Band and recently performed with the Massed Voluntary Bands of the RAF at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham.

The fourth member of the group is Glenn Munro, who studied trumpet at the RSAMD in Glasgow. He was a founder member of the Athenaeum Brass Ensemble and has appeared as a soloist with both the Academy Chamber Orchestra and Glasgow Festival Strings. He was appointed Brass Instructor for Moray in 1989 and he conducts the Moray Concert Brass as well as the Keith and District Silver Band, and plays in many other concert bands and symphony orchestras.

Tickets for the concert are priced at £6, which will include refreshments at the conclusion of the concert for the audience to meet the performers. Children under 16 are very welcome and are admitted free. Tickets may be obtained from Angus Findlay, tel: 01340 881 208; angus.findlay@notionmore.co.uk.