A review of The Troilus Ensemble, Inverness Cathedral Sunday 8th December 2013.
Inverness Cathedral was an oasis of warmth and light and warmth on a dreich, dark December day and provided the setting for a performance of carols and music by the Troilus Ensemble.
The group is local and is composed of a mixture of enthusiasts, semi-professional singers and professional singers in training. They are led and conducted by the operatic counter tenor Reno Troilus who has performed with Scottish Opera. They have been performing together for the past year.
The concert consisted of a mix of carols sung by the Ensemble and others where the audience participated with the audience participating well where they were asked (although some of the male and female parts got a bit mixed!!). All the old favourites were present including: Once in Royal David’s city, Silent night, and O little town of Bethlehem. 2013 is the centenary year of the birth of Benjamin Briiten and it was thoughtful to include his Christmas work: There is no rose in the performance.
The group were without any tenors for the recital – any tenors out there please take note and this made for heavy reliance on the female voices. This could have resulted in a bit of a sonic imbalance but the Ensemble managed to get the balance about right – the interweaving of the female voices in Silent night was particularly pleasing.
Mr Troilus is a genial host who takes his work seriously but is not averse to having a bit of fun as well. This was illustrated in a number of ways. His programme selection included the fun 3 Hungarian folk tunes – not carols, but sounding very Christmas like, a Three minute Messiah, and a totally different version of The twelve days of Christmas then we are used to. He also was not averse to wearing a Santa hat and a pair of starry ears for a couple of the melodies.
The event was well attended by an appreciative audience of all ages.
The Troilus Ensemble is a welcome addition to the burgeoning Highland music scene. Look out for their performances in March 2014 when it is planned to perform works by Gesualdo, Tallis and Purcell amongst others.
