Acclaimed choir set for Sutherland summer date in aid of Mikeysline
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An acclaimed choir from England will raise funds for the mental health charity, Mikeysline, when it visits Dornoch this summer.
Tarantara, based in the Midlands, has raised more than £100,000 for countless charitable causes over the last 20 years.
It regularly performs at venues across Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire but likes to travel and has also performed in Wales, Cornwall, Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and Norfolk while in 2015 it performed in the closing concert at Oviedo Music Festival in Northern Spain.
In July, the 60-strong auditioned mixed choir will visit Scotland for the first time and will perform three concerts in the Highlands.
It will appear at Dornoch Cathedral on Sunday July 3, starting at 2pm.
It will also make stops at Inverness Cathedral on July 1, and Grantown on Spey Church of Scotland on July 2. Both concerts start at 7.30pm.
Choir members are self-funding the trip in full and not charging to perform at any venue.
Tickets cost £7.50 on the door and ahead of time online with 50 per cent of the proceeds going to Mikeyslines from each performance and 50 per cent to the church to reinvest in their communities where they are performing.
Accompanist Chris Long, a professional musician and teacher, has played for Tarantara since 2005 and said the choir's repertoire is always diverse – from musical theatre and pop hits from the past to classic choral pieces and adventurous contemporary works by the likes of Morton Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre.
"A Tarantara concert has something for everybody – an inspired music selection, very entertaining evening of singing," he said.
"Anyone who thought that a choir concert was a stuffy affair needs to hear Tarantara!"
It had planned to tour the area two years ago but had to postpone it.
Tim Sturges, a choir committee member, said Tarantara performs between 10 and 15 fundraising concerts each year with each one generally raising between £1000 and £1600 net income for the organiser.
Mr Sturges, an administrator for a charity which provides free technical support to older and disabled people with their computers and phone, said a work colleague, Chris Grant, had come up with a worthy cause and the venues.
"We have usually performed once on each of our travels but Chris found more opportunities for us to perform so we decided see if we make a mini tour to raise even more funds," Mr Sturges said.
"Our target is to raise a minimum of £5000 from the three concerts while having a thoroughly good time and adding a little to the local economy.
"Once Chris told us about Mikeysline, it was a perfect fit for me personally, and the choir as a whole. After two years plus of Covid we are all aware of the effects of isolation and loneliness on the mental health of so many people in our communities.
"Mikeysline do great work and have wonderful team supporting that work so that decision was easy to make."
