CELEBRATING MUSIC SINCE 1947

ABOUT BERWICK ARTS CHOIR

Berwick Arts Choir is based in Berwick-upon-Tweed near the Scottish border and is a mixed voice choir of some fifty members drawn from both sides of the border.

The choir will celebrate its 80th season in 2027/28.

OUR CONCERTS

We normally perform two concerts a year with a programme of major works from the choral repertoire.

We are fortunate to perform with first-rate orchestral players and instrumental ensembles as well as some of the UK’s most talented young vocal soloists and musicians.

OUR NEXT CONCERT

OUR REPERTOIRE

In recent years Berwick Arts Choir has performed a wide range of works including Vivaldi ‘Gloria’, Beethoven ‘Mass in C, Haydn Missa Brevis in F (Jugendmesse) and Missa Brevis in B flat (St Joannis de Deo), Mozart ‘Missa Brevis in D minor and programmes comprising a variety of opera choruses.

Please ask us for information if you would like to borrow scores from our music library.

WHAT OUR MEMBERS SAY

Singing on a Thursday is my weekly therapy. It is good fun, everyone is lovely and we have a lively choir mistress to keep us on our toes. In the nicest way possible. Try it!

BAC Soprano

We love being part of the choir, and it is a joy and a real lifeline to us as we are not able to take holidays.

BAC Alto

It is a pleasure to sing in the choir and helps me keep sane!

BAC Alto

OUR MUSICAL DIRECTOR

MARIAN SCAMMELL

Our Music Director, Marion Scammell, was appointed in early 2024.

Marion has lived, performed, studied and taught at various locations throughout the UK and abroad, but latterly was based in the North of Scotland, teaching voice at Aberdeen College, Northern College, University of Aberdeen and then eighteen years at Gordonstoun Schools.

In 2018 she retired and relocated to The Borders - for a quieter life which has somehow become much busier!

Marion has performed in many guises and has conducted children's, youth and adult choirs and considers musical directing to be the pinnacle of her professional life.

OUR PATRON

THE RT HON. THE LORD BEITH

We are honoured to have Lord Beith as our Patron.

Lord Beith was MP for Berwick upon Tweed for 42 years until his retirement in 2015 when he became a life peer.

A keen musician and choral singer Lord Beith is a longstanding member of the choir and has sung in many of our concerts.

OUR ACCOMPANIST

ALISON FRASER

Born in Northern Ireland, Alison studied piano, singing and violin at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

A music teacher in Scottish Borders Primary Schools for twenty years, Alison has always sung in a choir, including the Chapel Choir at Methodist College, Belfast, the Chamber Choir at RSAMD, Dundee Choral Union and Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. A co-founder of Abbey Consort, Alison now sings with the Scottish Chamber Choir and the Borders Chamber Choir, and she is the conductor of the Yetholm Village Choir.