Peter Mooney (18 September 1915 – 19 September 1983) was a Scottish educator and conductor of the renowned Glasgow Phoenix Choir. Born in 1915, Peter Mooney was to follow a career as a teacher of music and was to become the last principal of Music at

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a Boarding school, boarding and day school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was founded in 1588 as a boy's school and was open for nearly four centuries. In the late 19th century, ...

. In 1955 Mooney was appointed conductor of the Glasgow Phoenix Choir founded in 1951 by members of the former

Glasgow Orpheus Choir The Glasgow Orpheus Choir was founded in Glasgow, Scotland in 1906 by Hugh S. Roberton. It originated in the Toynbee Musical Association, which had been created in 1901. The Glasgow Orpheus Choir came to be considered without peer in Britain, an ...

, established in 1901 by

Sir Hugh Roberton Sir Hugh Stevenson Roberton (23 February 18747 October 1952) was a Scottish composer and, as founder of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, one of Britain's leading choral-masters in the first half of the 20th century. Life Roberton was born in Glasgow, ...

. Mooney was to serve as the conductor of the Glasgow Phoenix Choir until his death 28 years later. Under Peter Mooney's leadership the Glasgow Phoenix Choir "toured the United States and Europe, winning friends and prestigious awards on its travels", and since 1960 has engaged in many tours in Europe and North America and appeared at prestigious venues and events, including the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

, London. As Principal of Music at

, Mooney conducted the school's choirs. In December 1961 Hamilton Academy's mixed choir joined the Glasgow Phoenix Choir for a choral concert at Hamilton Town Hall (joining them again in a concert in 1967). In 1962 the school's mixed choir achieved the highest mark in the Glasgow Music Festival, in addition to the Festival's highest award, the Ailie Cullen Memorial Trophy, being won by Ian McGregor, a former pupil of Hamilton Academy. Under Peter Mooney's baton, Hamilton Academy's (mixed) Choir issued recordings and appeared on British radio and television programmes and performed internationally. In 1968 Peter Mooney and the Academy's choir undertook a tour of North America that included performances at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

, Washington, U.S.A., the

Seattle Opera House Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (often abbreviated to McCaw Hall) is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington. Located on the grounds of the Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are Seattle Opera and P ...

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

and the

Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhoo ...

, New York. Dubbed "the ambassadors of song" the choir and Mr. Mooney appeared on American television and were granted honorary citizenship by Washington State. Following his death at Hamilton in 1983, the Glasgow Phoenix Choir established in his memory the Peter Mooney Scholarship in the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

.Glasgow Phoenix Choir – Peter Mooney Scholarship – support for young singers
Retrieved 2011-08-27

References

External links

Glasgow Phoenix Choir {{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Peter 1915 births 1983 deaths Scottish conductors (music) British male conductors (music) 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century Scottish musicians 20th-century Scottish male musicians