Singing with Edinburgh Camerata Edinburgh Camerata was founded in 2003 by its present conductor, Will Dawes. It is a sociable choir, which aims to sing exciting repertoire in a professional manner, and new members are made to feel welcome and part of 'the team'. We perform two programmes per year on average - one in June/July which is performed in Edinburgh and another venue (Sedbergh and Dunkeld are previous examples), and a late night concert during the Edinburgh Festival.

If you are a singer with experience of singing in a good chamber choir, quick to learn with a clear and confident voice, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

What do we sing? We cover a wide a range of repertoire, performing works from the renaissance to the present day. We have a strong commitment to 'new' works, whether they are newly composed, discovered, or just new to the general concert going public.

When do we rehearse? Camerata does not have regular weekly rehearsals; instead, it rehearses on the previous three or four evenings before the concert. Therefore, the music is sent out to people in advance. After rehearsals, a significant number of the choir amuse themselves (and sometimes others) in a local pub.

How many singers are involved? The choir is 'fixed' from a list of singers for each programme and changes in size accordingly. The number of people used in each concert depends on the music being performed, but can vary from 8 to approximately 40 singers. We are always on the lookout for new singers to add to the list.

How much does it cost to join us? Nothing! We don't charge you a subscription - we just ask you to encourage people to come to our concerts.

What do we expect from you? Since we have comparatively few rehearsals, we ask that people put in enough 'ground work' before the rehearsal period, and also that a little 'homework' is done if needed between rehearsals.

Additionally, we ask singers not to miss more than one rehearsal for any concert. We know that people's availability changes, which is why we work off a list system - you don't have to commit to every concert.

How do I audition? We are very happy to listen to potential singers, but most singers get onto the list by personal recommendation and a reference from a previous conductor/colleague. If you are at all interested in joining Edinburgh Camerata, please use the form on the contact us page of this site. You should receive an acknowledgement fairly quickly and we'll take it from there...