Alyth Choral Union, when and why did it start? It seems somewhat strange to have a choir with such a grand title in a small, rural town in the heart of Perthshire…

A casual remark made in 1981 to Mavis Matthews at an Alyth Musical Society rehearsal along the lines of “How would you and your husband like to bring together the Lyric Choir of Blairgowrie (of which he was the choir master) and the Alyth Parish Church choir to put on a performance of Handel’s Messiah?” About a week later the response was “All right provided we give the performance with an orchestra.”  There was tremendous enthusiasm from both choirs and around eighteen months later, accompanied by an orchestra of  twenty-five musicians, the joint choir of  fifty choristers under the musical direction of Charles  Matthews  playing the harpsichord, sang Handel’s great work in Alyth Parish Church on the 19th December and at St. Andrews Parish Church, Blairgowrie, on 21st December 1982.  A particular feature  of the performances was that members of the choir sang all the solo parts. The choir was  given standing ovations at both performances. The ‘Choral’ was born.

Since its formation, ACU has had five  musical directors. The inaugural director was Charles Matthews who held the post until his untimely death in 1999.  His successor was William Boyle who  directed  the  choir until April 2002.  On a  number of occasions the Choir had  the good  fortune to  perform under the baton of guest conductors including Walter Shillito and  William Stevenson. At the  start of the autumn season in 2003, the  choir welcomed their  third conductor, Michael Anderson.  Michael has a prolific and distinguished musical history and is the Musical Director of Dunkeld Cathedral. Sadly Michael left the choir at the end of the 2005/2006 season. James Roberston guided and led the choir enthusiastically from 2006 until December 2009 and the choir thanks James for all his hard work. James’ last concert as MD was in December 2009. In January 2010, the choir warmly welcomed Helen Addison who will lead the choir as their new Musical Director.  Read more about Helen on the ‘About the MD’ page.

After some years the initial arrangements to have soloists from within the choir ended and in recent years the choir has enjoyed the services of distinguished soloists from within Scotland.  The choral has  been  fortunate to  also  enjoy accompaniment from orchestras of a  very  high  quality and  of  engaging instrumental soloists whose playing has added a great deal to the quality and enjoyment of their concerts.

Browse our Web site for more information about Alyth Choral Union. If you have any questions or would like to speak with a Alyth Choral Union representative please e-mail us at

webmaster@alythchoralunion.org.uk