News & Events
Another Truly Terrible triumph!!
Dec 14th 2011
The TTO held their Charity Christmas concert at the Ironworks last night and it proved to be a great night with even more of the usual gaffs and laffs! Our renditions of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the March from Carmen are now legend...
And all in a great cause (two causes actually...) - we raised over £830 for Highland Young Carers and £440 for Munlochy Animal Aid. Many thanks to all who made it possible, to the audience for their courage in attending and to the staff of the Ironworks who were brilliant.
TTO Hits the Ironworks!!
Nov 2nd 2011
This year the TTO are holding their annual charity Christmas concert on Tuesday 13th December 2011 in the Ironworks, Inverness.
The evening will be the usual fun-packed Christmas celebration with festive music, sing-alongs and a fabulous raffle - and it's all in aid of charity. Our chosen charities this year are Highland Young Carers and Munlochy Animal Aid.
Tickets can be obtained by donation (minimum £5 suggested...). They are available from orchestra members, by phoning 01463 716151 or by emailing ach@mfschool.co.uk. Cheques should be payable to The TTO, sent to PO Box 7161, Inverness IV2 3YT. Tickets also available from the Ironworks, whose lovely staff will accept your donations direct at their box office (122b Academy Street, Inverness) and reward you with tickets. No booking fee for those calling in person!
TTO Celebrates 5 Glorious Years!!
Oct 25th 2011
Next week the TTO celebrates 5 years of glorious music-making! It seems no time at all since we started all these years ago in Moray Firth School. It's been a rollercoaster of fun, frollicks and wrong notes!
TTO Debut at Tartan Heart Festival!
Aug 6th 2011
The TTO made their festival world debut at the Tartan Heart Festival, Belldrum on Saturday 6th August 2011! We all had great fun and really appreciated all the cheers and applause from the crowd who came to see us!!!
Click here to see us in action.
Alyn Ross conducting us at Belladrum
A "Commendable" Performance from the TTO at Inverness Music Festival!
March 16th 2011
The TTO returned to the Inverness Music Festival for a triumphant 4th year and were awarded a "Commended" in the Adult Orchestral category. The adjudicator was so taken with the performance, she advised a change of name!
The Festival audience were invited to sing-along with the performance of the "My Fair Lady" medley and everyone had a great time! Here's to next year!
Christmas Concert raises the roof (and lots of money!!)
January 10th 2011
The TTO's 3rd Annual Charity Christmas Concert was a great success and raised nearly £1,401 for Mary’s
Meals and £660 for CLIC Sargent, a total of £2,061 for our charities. Well done and a huge thank you to all who supported the evening. A special thank you as ever to the Drumossie Hotel who sponsored the evening by providing the function suite free of charge.
Highlights of the evening included the Blue Danube as never heard before (and as Strauss probably never intended...) accompanied by the audience on a fabulous range of instruments from hunting horns to tambourines!
Here's to next year!!
An evening of CHRISTMAS CHEER AND MUSICAL MAYHEM
Nov 2010
TTO's 3rd annual Charity Christmas Concert is being held onTuesday 14 December at the Drumossie Hotel, Inverness. Doors open 7pm, concert starts 7.30pm.
Members of our audience are invited to add to the merriment by bringing along their own musical (or “musical”) instruments. We’ll be playing The Blue Danube which we hope will lead to Truly Terrible audience participation. And that’s apart from the Truly Terrible carol singing we’ll be expecting of you, too.
Donations of at least £5 are invited (£3 for children) for our Concert tickets. We were FULL UP last year so we recommend that you get yours soon! Tickets are available by sending your cheque, made payable to The Truly Terrible Orchestra, to PO Box 7161 Inverness IV2 3YT . Please include your full postal address and telephone number. Given the pressure on the Christmas post, please also ensure ticket requests reach us by Tuesday 7 December.
NOT TO BE MISSED! The premier musical event in the Highlands’ social calendar. (or something)
The bar will be open from 7pm and again after our Concert, and our audience is invited to make full use of this for preparation and recovery.
Drummossie Hotel Supports TTO Charity Christmas Concert for 2010!
April 8th 2010
Last December the TTO (and it's audience, we hope..!!) enjoyed a hugely successful evening at the Drumossie Hotel, Inverness, which raised over £2000 for "Place to Be" and the Inverness MS Centre.
The 2010 Concert is planned for Tuesday 14 December and the Drumossie Hotel have very kindly not only allowed us to return but are again sponsoring us by providing the venue free of charge. This is fantastically generous of the hotel and we're very grateful to them for all their support!
TTO Supports Petition to Stop Music Tuition Funding Cuts
March 17th 2010
Throughout Scotland, Councils are having to make big cuts in their budgets – and school music tuition is an all-too-easy target. Here in the Highlands, councillors could save just under £600,000 a year by axing instrumental music and support for school orchestras and bands. That’s a tempting target for councillors, who have to save huge sums this year.
Truly Terrible Chairman Anni Cole-Hamilton called on music lovers throughout the Highlands to help keep Highland music teachers in work. “Music, and the Arts, should be at the heart of every school’s life. We Terribles, in our youth, were all inspired by wonderful music teachers and, although you mightn’t think it from listening to us, we all have a deep love and appreciation of music. I would hate to think that, quite soon, youngsters in the Highlands might not get that vital early introduction to music.
“Please, please, don’t let this happen - you can sign an online petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/handsoffhighlandyoungmusicians/and – perhaps even more effective - contact your local councillor direct and tell him or her just why music is so important. Act now – or future generations of Highland musicians will be Terrible indeed.”
A Truly Terrible Win!!!
March 16th 2010
Well, you can’t say we didn’t warn you! Stay away from Eden Court on Tuesday night, we said. Just don’t go there. But loads of you turned up to cheer on five fantastic school orchestras . . . and The Truly Terrible Orchestra.
And, oh! The horror of it! The adjudicator, Alan Fernie, seemed entirely sober and sane. But he awarded top prize and the Laoureux Challenge Trophy to The Truly Terrible Orchestra!! Handing it over to Truly Terrible Chairman, Anni Cole-Hamilton, he did murmur that he might never be able to visit the Highlands again.
Anni introduced their performance by telling several hundred local schoolchildren that the Terribles were about to provide their best ever music lesson: keep practising, or one day you might end up among their number.
Inverness Music Festival 2010
February 2010
The Truly Terrible Orchestra are back competing in the Inverness Music Festival for a third amazing (!?) year. We are performing in the Orchestra Music class on March 16th 2010 at 6.30pm in Eden Court, Theatre.
Our first attempt at the Festival saw us come first in our class (we won't mention the fact that we were the only entrants in that class...) and last year we came a respectable third place, competing against hordes of fantastically talented school pupils!
Do come along to cheer us on to victory!!
Second successful Christmas charity concert!
December 2009
Last Christmas 2008, the TTO attracted an audience of 120 discerning music lovers who kindly donated £650 to CLICSargent. This year, on Tuesday 15 2009, at the Drumossie Hotel, the audience figure was doubled, with some 240-250 people demanding seats, and they donated £1,352 to Place2Be and £633 to the Inverness’s MS Therapy Centre, tripling last year’s donations.
If the quality of the music was doubtful, the evening’s entertainment was deemed worthy of a standing ovation by dozens of members of the audience, some of whom were not even related to the players. The TTO had to admit that some of that applause was due to its Special Guest Stars, In Cahoots, led by Margaret Rae, the stellar singing teacher who can actually sing in tune.
Jon Hall, the Truly Terrible Music Director, did try to abandon ship at the halfway stage but was tempted back by his Christmas present from the TTO, a case of red wine, only some of which remained by the end of the evening.
Incredibly, large numbers of our audience have demanded another Concert next year. Watch this space!
