August

August 2013 has been filled with new musical experiences. I had a wonderful time tutoring at the Folkworks Junior Summer School - the children were just brilliant, and it was great to make new pals and catch up with some familiar faces too. I arrived back in Glasgow on the 12th. Dreams of the Summer School and even sleepwalking/teaching ensued, which just shows how much Folkworks takes a hold of you! 15th August saw an unusual last minute gig at Bellahouston Park with Admiral Fallow, opening for Kings of Leon. Special thanks to Jonny Scott of Olympic Swimmers for being our replacement drummer for the evening...

The following night I was really lucky to be involved in a special show at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, with Tigerstyle's live presentation of their album Digi-Bhang. The night featured lots of great musicians, including Ishmeet Narula, Nav Sidhu, Iain MacLeod, Blair McMillan, Michael Bryan, strings from the Paragon Ensemble and more.

While Admiral Fallow were playing at Tønder Festival, I spent ten days in the northern California redwoods, at the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School. I had an amazing time, learned a lot from inspiring tutors, and don't think I've never met such a big group of genuinely nice people in one place! I'm definitely going to make a return visit one day.

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Summer news

I've just got back from a flying visit to Northumberland, with a day spent at the Rothbury Music Festival. I spent quite a bit of time at the festival as a young 'un, but haven't managed to make it down for the past few years. It was great to go back, have a few tunes, watch the dance displays and competitions, and of course the evening concert at the former cattle mart. Lots of singalongs and familiar favourites! Going up north tomorrow with Admiral Fallow for the third of our group album writing sessions so far this year; I'm sure we'll find time for a barbecue or two, though... Here's an interview I did recently for The List, with a bit more information on what we've been up to recently.

The Folkworks Junior Summer School in Durham is fast approaching! I've been having a good think of tunes and songs to bring, and am really looking forward to what will be an amazing week. I'll be playing a solo set at this concert on the Thursday, too.

 

 

 

 

Northern Lights Wind Quintet visit Orkney

Preparations have begun in earnest for our wind quintet trip to Orkney for the St Magnus Festival. We'll be making an excursion to Flotta for an afternoon recital on Tuesday 25th June - and recently heard that it's sold out! Our programme is as follows:

Carl Nielsen - Wind Quintet Op.43 A classic work for this combination of instruments. Nielsen wrote this piece for the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, with the intention of capturing each player's personality in the music.  

Modest Mussorgsky - selections from Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Lisa Portus) A familiar favourite, this piece was originally written for piano, and has been arranged for a number of different settings, including orchestra, brass band, and now wind quintet. The music is based on a number of paintings by the composer's friend, Viktor Hartmann, and, with its Promenade movements, 'walks' the listener around the exhibition in question.

Berio - Opus Number Zoo Now for something completely different... This piece is in four short movements, each capturing a scene reminiscent of a children's fable. "A fusion of wicked and whimsy", each player is required to narrate the music with monologue and rhythmic speech, telling the following animal tales: a barn dance between a fox and a chicken, a fawn listening to 'the cry of bombs...the scream of distant fields', a grey mouse mourning the loss of her youth, and a David and Goliath-style battle between two tomcats. 

Christopher Gough - Durham Scenes We'll finish the concert with a world premiere by our very talented horn player, Chris. This three movement piece is based on fairytale-themed pictures created by a friend for an exhibition in Durham this year.

As well as our public concert, we'll be visiting five community venues, delivering participatory performances for Live Music Now. Graeme (bassoonist extraordinaire) and I have an extra day in Orkney, for an additional project with Drake Music Scotland and St Magnus Festival. It features newly-composed music for local schoolchildren with additional support needs, who will be performing using Figurenotes notation, skoog and soundbeam technology. We'll be playing two pieces alongside the children, clarsach player Fiona Rutherford, and BBCSO trumpeter Martin Hurrell.

It's going to be an action-packed few days!