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On Sunday, the 8th May 1955, seven people met at the Aberdeen home of Mr. Alexander Elrick to discuss the creation of a new choir. They chose the name "Aberdeen Orpheus Choir", drew up a
constitution and elected a committee under the Presidency of the late Mr. John Geddes. Annual subscriptions were set at £1, of which 5/- was to be paid on joining, and the remainder paid off at 6d per week. They also
decided to found a Junior Choir which, by training children aged ten to sixteen, would act as a "feeder" to the Senior Choir. Practices commenced in the Hall of Aberdeen Academy, Belmont Street in September,
1955. A Juvenile Choir, for children aged seven to ten, was formed under Miss Irene Riddoch later that autumn. From the outset, the Choir was a family-orientated organisation with parents singing in the Senior Choir
while their children sand in the Junior and Juvenile Choirs. The first concert performed by the Aberdeen Orpheus Choir was held in the Music Hall on Friday 6th April, 1956. The Senior and Junior Choirs were both
conducted by Mr. Elrick (the Juvenile Choir did not appear on the concert platform until 1957) and accompanied by Miss Helen Reid, Mr. Angus Middleton and Miss Mary Symon. Guest artists were Mr. James Kelman
(bass) and Miss Winifred Bigwood (violin), both accompanied by Miss Nan Davidson. The acknowledged aim of the choir was to "frame its programme so that any audience, composed, as it must be, of people with
widely different musical tastes, will find something of interest". The choir thereafter gave one concert per year, the programme consisting mainly of unaccompanied part songs. Of course, this was at a time
when television was uncommon, and transistor radios had not been invented; the wireless offered limited entertainment via the Home Service and the Light Programme and people were much more accustomed to either making
their own entertainment or going out to find it. Therefore a choir offering a competent performance of a range of popular singing had a fair chance of attracting a good, if critical, audience. The Aberdeen Orpheus Choir
clearly did since, in the 1957 concert programme, the President's letter explained how the Choir had "decided it possible to provide a programme that would be appreciated by all, no matter what their taste. We
(sic) have been criticised for this, but surely the answer to this is to be found in the demand for tickets for our second annual concert". In 1961, they added more Scottish airs and spirituals, in response to
"popular demand". The dress selected for the Choir was conventional for the time, a black suit with white blouse for the ladies, a dark suit with white shirt and black tie for the men. (The Junior Choir wore
kilts and white blouses). This was worn until 1961 when funds were raised to robe the Senior Choir for their appearance at he 16th International Eisteddfod at Llangollen in 1962. Here the Choir was placed 4th (out
of thirty six) in the Mixed Voices competition., making them first out of the British choirs. This, however, was not their first achievement: they had, by this time, competed and won their class in the Aberdeen,
Arbroath and Perth Festivals; broadcast on the BBC "Scotland Sings" programme (1957); been nominated for entry in the BBC's "Let the People Sing" contest and reached the semi-final (1959); and
recorded Christmas carols for broadcast immediately following the Queen's Christmas message (1961). The Choir made its first television appearance in a programme from the Beach Ballroom to mark the 21st anniversary of
broadcasting from Aberdeen. The choice of songs had to have a local theme and two of the pieces chosen were "The Back of Bennachie" and "Lochnagar", the latter being in the Choir's current (1995)
repertoire. It may be noted that the robes chosen in 1962, pale blue with white collar and jabot for the ladies, dark blue for the men, are still worn by the Choir for some recitals, particularly when performing in
churches; however, in the late 1970's, a more informal mode of dress was introduced for other concerts: long tartan skirts and white blouses for the ladies and, for the men, dark trousers, white shirts and a specially
designed blue tie embossed with the Choir logo of a winged lyre.
From the start, the choir had been given the use of the hall, and a classroom (for sectional rehearsals and auditions) at Aberdeen Academy for
free. During the 1960s, the Town Council decided to impose a fee for the use of Education Committee property and, the potential cost being rather large, the choir decided to seek pastures new.
Advertisements placed in the press brought forth the offer of the hall at the Trinity Congregational Church in the Ship Row, so the conductor, president and the secretary went along one sunny Sunday to meet the Minister
and view the hall. The premises looked fine and the offer was accepted at a nominal rent. However, when practices resumed in the autumn, the conductor felt that the members were not giving him their usual
level of interest and concentration. This continued for several weeks until a rather strong smell of gas was noticed; it turned out that the choir had been suffering from mild carbon monoxide poisoning. In
addition, a number of the lady members were not happy about walking through dockland in the dark. So the Education Committee was approached once again to see whether alternative practice accommodation might be
available. This time, a large classroom was made available in Harlaw Academy. This suited the choir much better, not least because the fitter members could dash across the road at the end of a practice to
catch a last drink in "The Prince Regent" before 10 o'clock. This situation was much improved when the opening times were extended to half past ten.
In 1963, Mr. Elrick handed over the
conductorship of the choir to Mr. James Reith who was then working in the Music Department of Torry Academy and who subsequently became head of music at Cults Academy when it opened. During Mr. Reith's tenure, two
new choirs were formed in place of the junior choir: in 1967, a boys' choir conducted by Miss Molly Mann of the Music Department of Robert Gordon's College and, in 1969 a girls' choir conducted by Mr. Joe Cowan
with Miss Linda Williamson as accompanist. Is it of interest to note that the girls' choir was subsequently conducted by Mr. Kyle McCallum (who later conducted the adult choir for many years), with Miss Rosemary
Dale (later to become Mrs. Kyle McCallum) as accompanist - truly a close knit community! Furthermore, in 1970 the accompanist for the Spring Recital included Mr. McCallum, who was deputy conductor at that time,
and Mr. Drew Tulloch who has accompanied the choir on many occasions over the years.
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