The 50th anniversary season of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has been a triumph in many diverse ways, and current Associate Composer Jay Capperauld has been essential to them all, in work for families and in the community as well as on the concert hall stage.
The accent in the new season unveiled by Scottish Opera is unashamedly on accessibility. Although new work and premiere performances are part of the mix, the relatively light fare of Lehar’s The Merry Widow and Gilbert & Sullivan are the new shows in spring and summer of next year, while this autumn’s production revives the staging of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale first seen a decade ago.
This year’s Perth Festival of the Arts ended not with a touring orchestra as is usual, but with a mini-residency from adventurous Manchester ensemble The Fairey Band, under the baton of the Royal Northern College of Music’s Scottish Professor of Conducting, Mark Heron, with Dundonian Iain Culross the featured soloist.
Keith Bruce reviews il Giordano d'Amore at Perth Festival of the Arts
NOT only had the long-established Hebrides Ensemble not previously performed at the Perth Festival of the Arts during the event’s half century, but it has taken five years for Festival Director Helen Band to rectify that odd anomaly, with Covid 19 a major part of the reason for that.
AS its name suggests, the unique selling point of the Scots Opera Project is the language in which it performs. So it was a surprise that Michael Dempster’s translation of Shikaneder’s libretto for Mozart’s The Magic Flute is a very small part of the success of the opening attraction at this year’s Perth Festival, while still emblematic of the commitment of the ensemble cast.
ALTHOUGH it is not likely to boost the number of performances of his work, it is easy to see why Bearsden Choir alumnus George Swann leapt at the chance to orchestrate the work his fellow singers premiered a year ago.
Kholodenko is simply one of the best classical pianists working today
Ethan Loch at the City Halls, Glasgow reviewed
Dunedin Consort at Glasgow University Memorial Chapel reviewed by Keith Bruce
