Christmas star turn for Moray pupils

CHILDREN from five local schools will be little Christmas stars at a popular Elgin concert next month.

Pupils from Greenwards, Kinloss, Seafield, Mortlach and Burghead primaries will take to the stage for Let It Snow – along with some newly announced guest performers.

Let It Snow is back at St Giles Church for its fifth year, promising feel-good performances that spread some Christmas cheer.

Guest soloists Emilie Boyd, Rachel Lightbody, Jasmine Dey and Fiona Milne are all young people who are making their mark on the worlds of music and the big stage.

Emilie is a regular face in venues across Scotland and has sang backing vocals for the likes of Rachel Sermanni. Jasmine, born and raised in Keith, discovered her love of musical theatre when she joined the Elgin-based St Giles Theatre Group and has focused on developing her talent as a singer-songwriter. Rachel was up for nomination in the Best Vocalist category at the Scottish Jazz Awards, and Fiona is originally from Elgin and in her second year of training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Producer Ryan Mackenzie is excited about the line-up. He said: "Involving more of the community, especially schools, is something that we’ve wanted to do from the start and having five primary schools involved this year is just brilliant.

"I’m also proud to have such amazing soloists joining us too. At the end of the day, the show is for a great cause and obviously, raising money is key but it’s also just lovely to be bringing so many Moray residents together."

There will be the usual big band, featuring some exciting young jazz players, led this year by trumpet player Joshua Elcock.

Let It Snow began in 2015 as a fundraiser for Lucy’s Fight – a local campaign set up by Lucy Lintott, the youngest person in Scotland living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Lucy’s Fight raises money for the charity MND Scotland and awareness of MND.

Every year since then, top jazz musicians have come to Elgin to team up with local talent, forming a big band who perform purely to help the cause.

The concert will run for three performances at St Giles Church, on December 20 at 7.30pm, and December 21 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets are available now from www.forteproductions.co.uk or from IT Central on South Street, costing £18 for adults and £16 for children.

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