PICTURES: Christmas concert in aid of Highland Hospice
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The annual Christmas in the Cathedral concert in aid of Highland Hospice has been hailed yet another massive success.
Organiser Liz MacIntyre said: “We have been absolutely blown away to have yet another sell-out Christmas in the Cathedral concert raising funds for a charity close to the hearts of so many people in the Highlands and beyond.
“We obviously know that for many, this Christmas is going to be much more challenging than previous years, so we froze our ticket prices to make sure the concert was still able to bring some upbeat Christmas spirit to people who needed it.”
Once again hosted by James Martin, one of the co-organisers and a Ness Factor judge as well as being a presenter on Radio Skye, the concert brought together multiple choirs, soloists and for the first time put two Ness Factor winners together to perform to the sell out audience in the stunning venue.
Final figures are still being calculated, but organisers believe Saturday’s event would have raised well over £2500 for the hospice. In addition, £1 from every ticket sold will be donated to the cathedral.
Liz added: “We’ve kind of inadvertently created some traditions with the concert, as once again we had the pupils from Dalneigh Primary School, open up our 2022 concert with two amazing songs. Their second song was multi-lingual, with the pupils singing in English, German and British Sign Language. It was so touching to see, and was a lovely way to start the show.
“Although we keep the concert music deliberately upbeat, we have built in a ‘Moment for Reflection’ which is the one point of the show, where without being sombre, people can take some time to listen to the music and think of the preceding year, and the changes that may have happened in their lives. This year, we were delighted that Inverness Military Wives Choir, helped the reflection to take place to their rendition of Oh Holy Night – under the leadership of one of the choir members, Tracey Walsh, who had stepped in at the last minute to conduct the choir when usual musical director Alyn Ross was unable to attend.
“A highlight of the evening was seeing Gregor Matheson, this year’s Ness Factor winner collaborate with Caroline Devine, Ness Factor winner from 2019 to perform the familiar Fairy Tale of New York. This is another first as we’ve never had two of the competition winners sing together, and it definitely went down well with the audience.
“It was an incredible evening, thanks to so many people bringing their talent for free, delivering lots of festive joy to many hundreds of people inside the cathedral on a cold winter night. And while doing that, we raised some amazing funds for an equally amazing charity.”
Plans for next year’s event, which will take place in the cathedral on December 9, are under way.
