help us hold an unforgettable celebration of music in st andrews.
In April 2026, The University of St Andrews Music Society will be celebrating our 150th anniversary! To mark this occasion, we will be hosting a four-day festival (16 – 19th April 2026) to commemorate not just the rich history of our society but the wider music community within the town.
Over the duration of these four days, we have a packed schedule planned. The festival will feature a number of venues, both old and new, throughout town, showcasing the rich history of music in St Andrews. With a wide range of events including a dinner for alumni and current members alike, a ceilidh, and of course plenty of live music, there's something for everyone!
Who are WE?
The Music Society was established in 1876 and is both the University's largest and oldest music-making society. Through our six ensembles and regular social events, we not only focus on music-making and our ten annual concerts, but also on building life-long friendships between musicians.
Over the years the Society has changed a lot, but its purpose - to give every student the opportunity to make music and to encourage the appreciation of music throughout both the University and the wider town - has not.
HOW CAN YOU help?
To bring this ambitious vision of an event to life, we'll need your help. Every contribution, no matter how big or small, goes a long way to helping us ensure we can make the festival an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. Here's how your donations will help us:
£250 - Symphony Orchestra's "Play for a Day" (open to everyone!)
Hitting our minimum target will fund our orchestral conductor's fee for our "Play for a Day" event. This event will give alumni, local community members and students alike an opportunity to play alongside each-other, in a relaxed and fun environment. We'll be going through orchestral classics and other fun repertoire, all in the state-of-the-art venue of the Laidlaw Music Centre.
£850 - Late Night Ceilidh
If we can raise an additional £600 and hit our full target, we will use this to fund the hire fee for a ceilidh band for our toe-tapping headline event of the festival: a performance from our acclaimed jazz-group, The University of St Andrews' Big Band, followed immediately by a ceilidh to dance the night away; all in the grandeur of Younger Hall.
£850+ - What's next?
If we manage to surpass this (which would be amazing), we'll continue to use these generous donations to fund venue hire fees as well as other plans for the festival, such as:
- Our free-entry showcase performances, giving a number of music groups within the University and wider town an opportunity to perform to an audience at no-expense.
- The opening reception for the festival.
- A production company for sound and lighting for our events in Younger Hall.
- Commemorative programmes.
- And so much more!
What can we offer you in Return?
To thank you for helping us on our way to this exciting event, we've prepared a number of rewards you can choose from when donating (including content from the new album by our ukulele ensemble, Ukelear Fusion, merchandise and more).
Make sure to check out our rewards section to see what we have to offer!
CAN't Donate? You Can still help us!
Even if you feel that you can't donate to us, there are other ways that you can help us with our project!
You could share this page to friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested! Repost from our social media and stories to help spread the word about this exciting event! Or even just reach out to old friends from your time in St Andrews Music Society to plan your visit, we can't wait to meet you all!
StAy in touch!
Please do stay in touch to hear the latest news and updates about this event!
We'll be making sure to post regular updates to this page, as well as our social media. Follow us on Instagram at @stamusicsociety and on our 150th anniversary specific page @stamusicsociety_150 for news and updates on the events, opportunities, tickets, and more!
We also have a form for alumni to register interest for the event on our website, at https://www.stamusicsociety.org/150.
