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Norman Beedie, Musical Director

Patricia MacMahon, Hon Patron

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Norman Beedie, Musical Director Caird Hall, City Square, Dundee

Norman Beedie was appointed Musical Director of Dundee Choral Union in March 2008 following the highly successful 150th anniversary performance of Verdi's Requiem which he conducted.

As one of the last musicians to study with and teach for the legendary Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) who described him as 'a real artist, a real musician.' Norman carries with him the essential elements of music performance exemplified in a tradition stretching back to the teachings of Faure and Debussy and the performances of Stravinsky and Bernstein.

For fifteen years, as Founder-Conductor of Ramsey Choral Society, he conducted a wide range of choral music from Bach's B Minor Mass to Orff's Carmina Burana. He also conducted many concerts with Classic East Symphony Orchestra including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Peterborough Cathedral.

His varied repertoire extends over a period of three centuries from Schütz to the present day and includes the Elgar / Payne Third Symphony and British rareties such as the 20th century Ukrainian composer Lyatoshinsky's Second Symphony and Groffe's Grand Canyon Suite. He has given first performances of works by John Rutter, Feel the Spirit, and Leigh Odlin's Wivenhoe Overture and for ten highly successful years as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, he conducted two-thirds of all orchestral music presented in Peterborough in a full range of orchestral concerts.

In June 2001, Norman Beedie was guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in Kiev and conducted the first Ukrainian performance of Edmund Rubbra's Violin Concerto with the young Ukrainian violin virtuoso Dmytro Tkachenko. In 2006, he conducted the British Première of Greek composer Dmitri-Missis Plessas' Oratorio St Paul with the Euphony Singers for the opening concert of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies in London.

He has performed as recitalist, in piano concerto, with Diana Stuart in vocal recitals including Messiaen's Poèmes pour Mi and in chamber music throughout Great Britain, in Europe, the Far East and Ukraine and has given masterclasses in the USA. He has performed with artists such as Evelyn Glennie, Frederick Kempf, Michael Dewis, Rita Cullis, Bonaventura Bottone and Ken Russell.

He has conducted operas by Mozart, Walton, Berkeley, Bizet and Rossini and for two seasons was Music Director of Opera da Camera in Norwich Festival and in St. George's Festival. For the professional training company Opera Experience he conducted, and with Diana Stuart jointly directed, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte in Peterborough, Huntingdon and Braunston and was Music Director for A Masque for Mozart in London. He has also been Music Director for many other shows, including West Side Story for Peterborough Youth Theatre, The Fantastiks directed by Ian Norris at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews, The Country Wife at the Theatre Royal, Bath and several shows for The Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow.

Photograph courtsey of DC Thomson Ltd.

Dundee Choral Union   |   General Secretary : Mrs Kay Simpson, 12 Smithy Road, Balmullo, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 0BG   |   Telephone : 01334 870277