THE president of Scotland's longest-established choir has accused city leaders of snubbing plans for the group's 150th birthday celebrations at the Usher Hall.
The Edinburgh Royal Choral Union planned to perform a specially-commissioned work to mark the anniversary next May, but has now been told this cannot be guaranteed because of delays with the hall's revamp.
President of the ERCU, Rev Dr Martin Scot
t, warned this would lead to financial problems for the organisation. He also attacked the decision to agree a "special deal" with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), which has been told it can hold two concerts earlier that month.
As first revealed by the Evening News, major delays to the council's £20 million Usher Hall revamp mean the venue will only temporarily re-open for this year's Festival, before closing until next spring.
In an e-mail to Usher Hall general manager Karl Chapman, leaked to the Evening News, Rev Dr Scott said: "The state of the Usher Hall has been a major concern to us.
"Only a few weeks ago, we discovered that there is now a further delay in completing the work at the Usher Hall and that the date of May 30 cannot be guaranteed. This was exceedingly bad news, hugely inconvenient, but also costly for an amateur organisation that has no public funding whatsoever.
"Imagine, then, my complete astonishment to discover from the brochure of the RSNO that two concerts are planned for May 8 and 15.
"Now I ask myself, why is this courtesy not being either offered or proposed to ERCU? Why is one of Edinburgh's oldest and most distinguished musical bodies, in the course of marking a major milestone in its and the city's musical heritage, not extended the same courtesy?"
The ERCU, founded in 1858, is the oldest choir in the Capital and the longest-established major choir in the country.
For its 150th anniversary season, a new piece of work by award-winning composer Judith Bingham is due to be performed.
In his e-mail Rev Dr Scott asked for the original booking to be honoured, but he has also provisionally booked the Usher Hall for October 2009, should his attempts fail.
Labour group culture spokesman Paul Godzik said today: "No matter the size and clout of an organisation, the council should be dealing with all those involved equally, and sadly that does not seem to have happened here.
"The 150th anniversary of ERCU is clearly of great significance to the city, and I would expect the council to be offering every possible assistance to ensure that this celebration goes smoothly."
A council spokesman said: "Our contractors have escalated works to make the Usher Hall available for this year's International Festival. Beyond that, our top priority is to complete the project as soon as we can and as economically as possible.
"This unfortunately means there will be a knock-on effect in terms of the project timetable and we understand that the ERCU have moved their provisional booking from May to October next year – this will be of great benefit to the redevelopment."
