King Charles and Queen Camilla will have an encore of their most special day in Scotland, as a service will be conducted to present them with the Honours of Scotland.
On Wednesday, 5th July, the King and Queen will be in St Giles’ Cathedral, in Edinburgh, for the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication, or, as it has become known, the Scottish Coronation.
For the occasion, the King and Queen have commissioned five new pieces of music, which will be integrated into the Service, alongside pieces by well known composers like Georg Friedrich Handel and Henry Purcell.
The first new piece to be performed will be the opener of the service, “Balmoral Flourishes” by Paul Mealor. Many readers will recognise this name, as he was also responsible for writing new music for several other royal occasions, including the wedding of the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. “Balmoral Flourishes” will be performed by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry.
The next new piece will also be by Mealor, and is an arrangement of Psalm 23, “And I shall dwell in God’s House”, or, in Gaelic, “IS CÒMHNAICHEAM AN ÀROS DHÈ”. The piece will be sung by Joy Dunlop in Gaelic, as a homage to Scotland’s linguistic heritage.
His Majesty has also selected several Scottish folk songs, and asked Jay Capperauld to create a new arrangement, titled “Schiehallion!”, which will be performed by The Honours of Scotland Ensemble, a group of musicians from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Scottish Ballet Orchestra, all of which were patronages of the King when he was heir to the throne. The singing for this piece will be provided by The Choir of St Giles’ Cathedral and the National Youth Choir of Scotland Chamber Choir.
Up next for the new compositions will be “A song of Thanksgiving and Dedication” by Joanna Gill; “The piece was composed as a tribute to The Queen as Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, of which Joanna is a graduate”, Buckingham Palace explained. The performance will be carried out by mezzosoprano Karen Cargill, accompanied by The Ayoub Sisters, and will be in Doric, a dialect spoken in the northeast of Scotland.
To accompany the exiting procession, Paul Mealor also created “Recessional: The Call of Lochnagar”, which will be performed by the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Band of the Royal Air Force College and the Honours of Scotland Ensamble. The piece was inspired by the King and Queen’s “love for Balmoral and the surrounding countryside”.
Their Majesties have also asked local musicians to perform other pieces of music, like Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Farewell to Stromness”, which will see violinist Nicola Benedetti joining The Honours of Scotland Ensemble; or Henry Purcell’s “Trumpet Tune”, performed by Aaron Azunda Akugbo and organist Jordan English; or Phil Cunningham’s “Loch Katrine’s Lady”, which will be played by accordionist Ryan Corbett.
Both King Charles and Queen Camilla have always demonstrated a fondness for music, classical music in particular, and the choice to commission new pieces and call upon local musicians is yet another demonstration of their commitment to this art form.
