OPERA East Lothian is celebrating two decades of community music-making with a special 20th anniversary gala concert, featuring trained singers, orchestral musicians and professional soloists.
The gala concert, set to take place on November 8 at St Andrew Blackadder Church in North Berwick, promises to bring together operatic classics as well as film score and musical theatre favourites.
It is a full circle moment for the group whose very first concert in 2005 took place at St Andrew Blackadder Church with the group's founder John Marshall, soprano Janet DeVigne, and pianist Richard Lewis.
A chorus soon formed, largely from members of the community group, East Lothian Concert Opera, following the death of its founder Sanna McIndoe.
Many of those founding performers are still members of Opera East Lothian today.
Alice Stephenson, trained classical singer and founding member of Opera East Lothian, said: "We perform mostly opera but we do not only have a classical repertoire, we have had pop music, film extracts and musical theatre, like our upcoming section from Les Misérables.
"It is certainly worth coming along to, I have had friends who have said 'it's not really their bag' but afterwards they have really enjoyed it.
"Someone will love something at some point."
The group formed in 2005 after professional tenor John Marshall moved to Gullane and found himself wanting to set up a community group of singers to promote live music to audiences across East Lothian and beyond.
Under his artistic direction, having worked with the English National Opera and Scottish Opera, the group have utilised his experience to feature world-class singers.
Alice said: "John has great connections through his work at Scottish Opera, lots of wonderful singers coming to join us.
"He is quite a character, amusing in performances and rehearsals.
"We started off quite a small group but we became quite firm friends, and it's grown over the years."
A trained soprano herself, Alice has had the chance to perform solos with the group, noting the group "has given us the chance to do that."
She also said Opera East Lothian were "fortunate" to have had "the talented" Fiona Cox as a rehearsal pianist and accompanist for 18 years, as well as Allan Ramsay whose musical expertise has made "a huge contribution" since he more recently stepped into the role.
Performances have also supported charitable donations to organisations such as the RNLI, Poppyscotland and children's cancer charity Love Oliver, amongst others.
The special gala concert looks to be another success for the group and will include operatic chorus numbers from Carmen, Les Misérables and The Marriage of Figaro.
Tickets are available at Greens & Blues in North Berwick or from an Opera East Lothian member costing £18 for adults and free of charge for under-16s.
A donation from the concert will also be made to Muirfield Riding Therapy.
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