OUR CONDUCTOR
Nicholas Wilks took up his post as Musical Director of Greenock Philharmonic Choir in summer 2023, having moved to North Ayrshire from Hampshire. He is also Musical Director of Edinburgh Bach Choir and Paisley Sinfonia, and regularly guest conducts Glasgow Orchestral Society.
Nicholas studied conducting and clarinet as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. His experience as a singer and conductor is wide and varied, and has included a range of musical directorships, including the Finchley Children’s Music Group (with whom he recorded works by Britten as well as a CD for the Milken Archive of Jewish Music), Aurum Vocale, New Youth Opera, the North Herts Guild of Singers, Petersfield Musical Festival, the Channel Islands Youth Orchestra, Hampshire County Youth Orchestra, Haringey Young Musicians, Winchester Philharmonic Choir and Winchester Symphony Orchestra.
Nicholas is committed to contemporary music, and has given the premièrs of music by such composers as Oliver Tarney, Francis Pott, Howard Goodall, Brian Chapple, William Cole, and Roderick Skeaping. His performances have included conducting the première of Alec Roth’s Earth and Sky at the BBC Proms, Brahms’s German Requiem with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Bryn Terfel. His Somm recording of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and A Ceremony of Carols with the Finchley Children’s Music Group, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Benjamin Luxon and David Wilson-Johnson was a Sunday Telegraph’s Critic’s Choice.
Nicholas has broadcast widely on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4, and has greatly enjoyed working with distinguished soloists including Alison Balsom, Joanna MacGregor, Roderick Williams, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Claire Rutter, Emma Kirkby, Peter Harvey, Joo Yeon Sir, Rosalind Ventris, and David Campbell. As Musical Director of the Finchley Children’s Music Group he worked closely with Sir Colin Davis, Sir Andrew Davis, Neeme Järvi and André Previn.
Nicholas is a passionate advocate for music education, and works as a volunteer for the Big Noise (Sistema Scotland) in Govanhill. He was for many years a trustee for Buskaid, a string teaching project in Soweto, South Africa, and is a Patron of the Finchley Children’s Music Group. Nicholas aims to ensure that rehearsals are an enjoyable and exciting process of discovery, and that by exploring the connection between the music and the text every singer in the choir comes to feel an essential part of recreating the composer’s intentions.
OUR ACCOMPANIST
Hebba Benyaghla is an active pianist and chamber musician based in Glasgow and a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she completed her Undergraduate and Masters Degrees. She was the first recipient of the Principal’s Scholarship, studying with Prof. Aaron Shorr and Graeme McNaught.
Hebba enjoys a diverse musical career, working with many of Scotland’s National companies including Scottish Opera, The National Youth Choirs of Scotland, RSNO Chorus and Junior Chorus, and as an accompanist and Lecturer in Piano for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Junior Department.
Hebba maintains a keen interest in music education and regularly collaborates with Music Co-Operative Scotland (McOpera) in their Education and Outreach Projects. She has performed as part of many events and festivals including the Oxford Lieder Festival, Aurora Chamber Music Festival (Sweden), The Lammermuir Festival, Music at Paxton, Haddo Arts, Forum Musikae Academia International de Musica (Madrid), The Young Classical Artists Programme at Queen’s Hall Edinburgh and on BBC Radio 3 as part of International Women’s Day, celebrating the work of female composers. She has also taken part in masterclasses with renowned pianists and musicians including Sir Antonio Pappano, Solomon Mikowsky, Julius Drake, Stephen Hough, Pascal Rogé and Martin Roscoe.
Hebba was a member of the London Sinfonietta Academy and was an Associate of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts programme for the 2021/22 season. This year Hebba was selected as a Britten-Pears Young Artist for Collaborative Piano 2022/23. Hebba first joined Greenock Philharmonic Choir as their accompanist in 2018, and has thoroughly enjoyed the wide range of repertoire the choir performs!
A TRIBUTE
It was with deep sadness that the choir learned of the death of our Honorary President Alistair Massey aged 93 at his home in Fairlie in early 2025. It is fair to say that there are few - if any - people who have made a greater impact on the musical life of those from the Inverclyde area than Alistair. He was revered and respected by the many people who were fortunate enough to experience his skills and talents as a conductor, teacher and musician.
Alistair first conducted the choir in A German Requiem back in 1968 when he filled in at short notice for the then conductor Tom Walton, who had been involved in a car accident.
It was not until 1989, however, that Alistair was appointed as permanent conductor following his retirement from teaching at The High School of Glasgow, when he also moved back down the coast to Fairlie.
Alistair was always keen to explore new repertoire, and many members of the choir will have fond memories of singing with him in Dvorak's Mass in D, Elgar's The Kingdom, Poulenc's Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noel, Charpentier's Christmas Eve and Mozart's Solemn Vespers de Confessore.
Even after Alistair retired as conductor and became our Honorary President, he continued to take a keen interest in the works chosen by the conductors who followed him, and he showed his support by attending rehearsals as well as Come and Sing events. He was a regular and enthusiastic audience member at choir concerts with his wife and musical soulmate Eleanor, as well as generally keeping in touch with what was going on. It would be fair to say that while his musical career covered more than just the Inverclyde area, in retirement he probably looked back at his time in Greenock with the most affection.
Throughout his long life he remained a keen advocate of the benefits - both physical and mental - of choral singing and as a conductor he was always at great pains to ensure that voices were not strained during rehearsals and/or performances.
Sadly, Alistair's seat is to be empty at choir concerts now - but the deep and lasting impression on the many people who were fortunate to have been part of his music-making will continue long after his passing.
HONORARY PRESIDENT
Following the death of Alistair Massey, Archie Shearer was appointed in 2025 as Honorary President of the Choir.
Archie has been a major figure in the music of Inverclyde, as a hugely accomplished singer, pianist, organist and choirmaster. He was accompanist of Greenock Philharmonic Choir for over 40 years, and he continues to lead music in Wellpark Mid Kirk in Greenock.
Shortly before our performance of Britten St. Nicolas in the Town Hall, Archie said “I’m privileged to have been given the honour of being Honorary President of the Greenock Philharmonic Choir. Singing has been important to me from my earliest years. My father was a tenor soloist, and I was encouraged to study playing the piano and organ. I joined the Greenock Philharmonic Choir when I was appointed as their accompanist, and it was there that I first met Eileen who became my wife.
"The choir’s ‘finest hour’ was the performance of Verdi’s Requiem in 1970, and my own special day was playing the piano part in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.
"I am now enjoying the opportunity of singing in the tenor section of the choir and the comradeship which this provides. Long may this continue!”
PREVIOUS CONDUCTOR
Andy McTaggart graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2012, where he attended the Alexander Gibson Opera School and studied with George Gordon and Kathleen McKellar Ferguson.
He received many awards at the RCS including the David Knox Memorial Prize, the Governor's Recital prize for singing, and the Florence Veitch Ibler Prize for Oratorio Singing.
Andy has a very wide and varied repertoire having sung in Belshazzar's Feast with the Scottish National Orchestra, Messiah at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and in Howard Goodhall's Eternal Light with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast.
Andrew has been heard on BBC Radio 3 performing Finzi's 'Let Us Garlands Bring' as part of the Crear Scholarship with Martin Martineau, Vaughan William's Five Mystical Songs and Eternal Light with the National Youth Choir of Scotland. He is also a former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist, with roles in La Traviata, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Pirates of Penzance and Carmen to mention only a few and is presently also conductor of Cumnock Festival Choir for James McMillan.
In 2017 and 2018 Andy's engagements included Gasper for West Green Opera. He continues to work on community outreach programmes with Scottish Opera.
Andy was already an old acquaintance of the Phil, having been a soloist at our performance of Rossini's Messa Di Gloria in 2012. He had a very informal style, and believed that rehearsals should be fun, while having a clear idea in his mind of what he is aiming for.
His first appearance with the choir was at the Christmas concert on the 9th December 2017 when the programme included the Vivaldi Gloria, but mainly Christmas melodies of all the favourite songs and carols which everyone loves. Andy’s last season with the choir culminated in a performance of Elijah by Mendelssohn with the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra.
.jpg)
LIFE MEMBER
Margaret Forbes joined the choir when she was 18 and continued up until the performance of Mozart’s Requiem in 2024.
Other aspects of her musical development included competing in Inverclyde Music Festival in the days when it was highly competitive and demanding. This included sight-reading with only 10 minutes of preparation, and she recalls winning the silver medal.
She was accustomed to singing solo in Greenock Town Hall and is remembered for holding her own alongside professional soloists.
Among her favourite works are Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s Creation. Two of her many achievements were stepping in at the last minute to sing solo parts of the Messiah under Tom Walton when the professional soloist was ill, and also her rendition of Sing Ye to the Lord from Handel’s Israel in Egypt.
In 2025, Margaret was awarded life membership of the choir in recognition of her many years of service and dedication. The photo shows her receiving her certificate from Choir President, Lynne MacMillan.