Who are the Manama Singers?

The Singers started as a small but dedicated group and the first concert was held in
December 1972, when twenty five singers, under the baton of Keith Bickle, sang
Christmas Carols and Part One of Handel's Messiah at the British Council Theatre to a
small but appreciative audience.

Since then there have been two or three concerts each year, always including a Christmas
Concert. We have sung, and continue to sing, in a variety of venues around the island.
These have included the three churches and the Cathedral, the old Awali Theatre, the
BAPCO, British and Dilmun Clubs, the former Gulf Technical College, the Hilton,
Regency and Diplomat Hotels and St. Chrisopher's School.

During the Manama Singers 30 years of existence we have had a dozen conductors. Our
first conductor and musical director stayed with us until he left the island in 1979. Since
then, a comment perhaps on the more transient nature of the contracts in the Gulf, we
have seen no fewer than eleven new faces come and go. The Manama Singers are very
fortunate to have Alistair Auld, an accomplished musician and choral conductor as their
Musical Director for the fourth year running.
The Manama Singers Yesterday and Today

There seems to have been a tremendous surge in energy in the choir in the last few years.
Membership has soared and ambitious works have been tackled with great success,  such
as Britten's St Nicholas in 2004. The profile of the choir has grown so that the Singers
rarely sing to anything but packed houses. In keeping with the extension of our repertoire
we have been used to singing with an orchestra gathered from local talent and often
supported with musicians flown in from the Gulf and UK. Professional soloists are flown
from the UK when necessary and we have been fortunate enough to host the International
tenor, Mark Lebroq. Last year we performed a Baroque Concert in St. Christopher's
Cathedral including Vivaldi's Gloria, a plethora of Christmas concerts, A Night at the
Opera at La Fontaine and some light-hearted musical numbers at the Rugby Club. Our
piece de resistance was Mozart's Requiem, performed at the National Museum where we
sang to an audience of around 650. Our associations with the Museum are to continue as
we have been honoured with an invitation by the Bahrain International Music Festival to
sing in the new auditorium on the second night of the festival. We will perform Nelson's
Mass by Haydn with full orchestra. We will perform our regular Christmas concerts and
put on other events throughout the year. In May we intend to revisit the Museum once
again for a grandiose production of Verdi's Requiem. The intention is to gather choirs and
orchestra from around the Middle East for a real musical extravaganza.
Musical Director - Alistair Auld

Alistair Auld studied music at Royal Holloway College, University of London, where he
graduated with honours, he then went on to Hatfield College, Durham University, before
gaining his A.R.C.O. and A.R.C.M. (organ performing) diplomas whilst studying with the
celebrated H.A. Bate.               
In 1980 he was appointed Assistant Director of Music at Strathallan School, Perth,
Scotland and later moved to Duke of York's School in Dover, Kent as Director of Music.
In September 2002 Alistair took up his present post as Head of Music (Senior School) at
St. Christopher;s Bahrain. He also became Musical Director of the Manama singers at this
time. In January 2003, Alistair took on th role of Principal organist of St. Christopher's
Cathderal, Manama and in November 2003 he gave a very successful organ recital in the
cathedral which was well received.

Alistair has led many workshops and adjudicated at music festivals, as well as organising
music competitions, European music tours with choirs, orchestras and jazz bands. He has
also recorded C.D.'s of choral and jazz band music.

Alistair has conducted choirs at the Royal Albert Hall, London and in many of England's
leading cathedrals as well as directing performances of numerous large-scale choral works
such as Requiems by Verdi, Brahms and Mozart, and Orff's "Carmina Burana." Since
coming to Bahrain he has conducted Manama Singers in "St Nicholas Cantata" - Britten,
"5 negro Spirituals" - Tippett, Vivaldi's Gloria, Opera Choruses and most recently
Mozart's Requiem at the National Museum.
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