I’m always slightly resistant and a bit reluctant to write about good causes for a variety of reasons, not least that there are so many of them out there. Even as I write this, I’ve just received an email about yet another one which will feature a well-known artist; and so to appear to favour any one such event over another might court envy or resentment. But I’ve decided to give this one a look because, apart from any other reason, it gives me the opportunity to point a spotlight at a remarkable young musician I have encountered. I have, in fact, already mentioned him en passant in the course of orchestral concert reviews, but he’s destined for big things, and the event I’m writing about today will see him front of stage, very much in the limelight; more of him in a moment.
I’m also interested in the volume of such charitable activities in which Scotland’s professional musicians involve themselves. You should know, if you do not, that many of the country’s professional musicians are not that well paid. Of course, there are promoted posts, same as in teaching and some other professions. And if you are an assistant leader or a section leader, you will be paid proportionately more. But the bulk of orchestra players, particularly string players, will be found in the “bulk” section – or the rank and file, as it is known – and will not receive that much money for their expertise, experience and excellence. That's one of the reasons you will find so many orchestral players slogging it out at the teaching coal-face to supplement their income, while others will work as freelances on their nights off to pick up a fee.
Yet, over the decades, I have experienced dozens of events and occasions where musicians have upped tools and gone out for another night’s work on top of their contract hours, willingly foregoing the fee upon which they would normally insist. And such an event will take place a week tomorrow, Sunday September 27, at 7pm in St Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Newlands, on Kilmarnock Road.
String players from four of the Scottish orchestras will give up their night off and combine in a concert to help raise funds for the charity, Epilepsy Scotland. I know a little about epilepsy, at second hand, as my best mate at university was affected by the condition which, a couple of times, I had to deal with when we shared a flat. It might not be widely known, but there are 54,000 people across Scotland today living with this neurological condition. The concert is to raise money towards the charity fund and its support services, which include a community support service, adult and youth training groups, information and awareness groups throughout the country, a confidential Freephone helpline, and so on.
The string players for the concert are from the RSNO, BBC SSO, Scottish Ballet Orchestra and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. They will be joined by tenor Jamie MacDougall, for many people the voice of music in Scotland through his presentations for Radio Scotland and Radio 3, and, of course, through his own Radio Scotland show, Classics Unwrapped. Conductor for the night will be Michael Bawtree, who is the music director and organist at St Margaret’s, but is also a pivotal figure in musical Scotland, where he is musical director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union and the Glasgow Chamber Choir, as well as a teacher at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and an organist, pianist, conductor and musician-at-large, whose services are much in demand: just last Saturday Michael was playing piano in the City Hall, in accompaniment to mezzo Karen Cargill and Christopher Bell’s National Girls Choir of Scotland.
The programme he conducts in St Margaret’s will feature string classics, including Holst’s Brook Green Suite, Ravel’s Pavane and Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances. And then Jamie MacDougall will join the orchestra to sing Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, a piece of extraordinary beauty, in which the horn soloist will be Christopher Gough. Chris is a stunning horn player, not that long graduated from the RCS, but already with a reputation at 24 years old. He’s currently trialling as principal horn with the RSNO (a vacant post for which there is a very high demand, with around 90 top players from around the world after that one job). Whatever the outcome, Chris will not be short of work. Hear him as a soloist in St Margaret’s.
Entry to the concert is free. But bring some dosh with you to get out, as all donations to the charity are needed, and there will folk collecting.
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