The Big Sing in McEwan Hall
Back in November 2018, the University of Edinburgh Festivals Team were lucky enough to be involved in a very festive filming project in the grand McEwan Hall.
The Big Sing came to the newly refurbished McEwan Hall in mid-November. It was the BBC Songs of Praise Christmas and New Year Specials hosted by Aled Jones and Katherine Jenkins with special guests such as Susan Boyle, Collabro, The Overtones, The Ayoub Sisters and Russell Watson.
It was the first time The Big Sing had been filmed outside of London, having previously been held in the Royal Albert Hall. As McEwan Hall is one of the University of Edinburgh’s most breath-taking, buildings it proved to be a perfect host for the event with a full house of performers and audience enjoying the festive carols and hymns.
Avanti Media were the Production Company who managed the operations and ran the production for the BBC, our team in the University of Edinburgh’s Festivals Office coordinated operations in order to facilitate them within the venue and Edinburgh First provided catering to the crew and the artists over the weekend. Following on from a number of site visits in the months leading up to the event, a large crew of over 70 people arrived to set up and dress the venue on the Saturday ready for rehearsals on the Sunday. The doors opened at 5.15pm to allow the audience in ready for the filming took on the Sunday evening.
As can be seen by the picture below, McEwan was showcased in all is glory and the venue was full of enthusiastic audience members singing and enjoying the whole experience.
