Lothian Road. Tickets at door. 7.30pm. £3 (£1.50). George Heriot's School present The Snowman with special guest Mary Marquis. Also carols and other seasonal music performed by over 500 musicians in aid of the Musicians’ Appeal for Famine Reliefin Africa.

WEDNESDAY

Glasgow

0 Celebrity Concert Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. 7.30pm. From £4.50. Marti Webb. star of Cats. Evita and Song and Dance will appear with the Scottish Opera Orchestra in a programme of Music and Songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Edinburgh

0 The Hospitals Christmas Carol Concert Usher Hall. Lothian Road. 228 1155. 7.30pm.£1.50—£6. Massed choirs from Lothian. Tayside and Fife Hospitals. the SCO and Scottish soprano Isobel Buchanan get together for this huge annual event in aid ofthe Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children.

0 Bookshop Recital Waterstone‘s. George Street. 8pm. Free. lfbooks are on your Christmas shopping list. then you might like to shop for them to the sounds ofChristmas music courtesy ofCapella Nova. more usually heard singing music from the Renaissance.

0 Edinburgh Quartet Queen‘s Hall. Clerk Street. 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 7.45pm. £2.75 and £4. The E0 continue their series linked by Haydn‘s Op 76 Quartets this time

18

it's No 3. Also on the programme is

Brahm's Piano Quintet and the Quartet No 2 by Robert Crawford. a contemporary Scottish composer.

THURSDAY 19

Glasgow

0 Celebrity Concert Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. 7.30pm. From £4.50. International opera star. Isobel Buchanan. returns to her native land to give a concert with the Scottish Opera Chorus.

0 Evening Concert Stevenson Hall. RSAMD. St George's Place. 332 4101. 7.30pm. Free at door. A concert given by student chamber ensembles.

0 Christmas Concert City Hall. Candleriggs. 552 5961. 7.30pm. £1.50. An evening of Christmas music from the Lynn Choir.

Edinburgh

0 SCO/Scottish Philharmonic Singers Queen‘s Hall. Clerk Street. 2281155 (Usher Hall). 7.45pm. £3—£8. Just as well Handel made such a good job of composing The Messiah. otherwise who knows what orchestras and

choirs would perform at Christmas time. Graham Jenkins conducts and v soloists are Patricia Rozario. Derek

; Lee Ragin. Neil Mackie and Stephen Roberts.

FRIDAY

Glasgow

0 BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Henry Wood Hall. Claremont

20

MUSIC LIST

PAT FIFTY I

8-80

Celebrations are just about to get underway to mark the Fittieth Anniversary of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. They won’t simply be performing a special concert, but itwili be held in their new, long-awaited home -the Scottish Symphony Orchestra Centre in Broadcasting House in Glasgow, which is to be opened by the BBC's Director General, Alasdair Milne.

All this happens on Monday 16, and you can hear the concert broadcast live on Radio 3 and Radio Scotland. (Please note that the concert as such is not a public pertormance).

Since its inception in 1935, the orchestra has encouraged the work at contemporary Scottish composers, a tradition continued to the present day. This anniversary concert teatures the works of the two Scottish composers, John Maxwell Geddes and Thomas Wilson. Voyager by Maxwell Geddes has been specially commissioned by the BBC and receives its iirst performance, while Wilson’s

5 Street.330 2578(BBC Shop). 12pm. £2.50 (£1 .50 and 50p). Lots ofgood. : big. meaty tunes in this all Russian

programme of Romeo and Juliet.

Rachmaninov's First Piano Concerto and Borodin‘s Prince Igor Overture and Second Symphony.

Jerzy Maksymuik conducts and John Ogdon is the pianist.

0 Carol Concert Large Hall.

Shettleston. 7pm. Free at door. The Salvation Army give their annual

free Christmas concert.

j 0 Celebrity Concert Theatre Royal.

Hope Street. 331 1234. 7.30pm. From £4.50. David Jacobs introduces an evening of popular Melodies for All with soloist Moira Anderson.

1 Edinburgh

0 SNO Christmas Concert Usher Hall. Lothian Road. 228 1155. 7.30pm. Extra dates: Sat 21 and Sun 22 Dec Glasgow. £2—£7.20. With guest conductor George McPhee and soloist Peter Morrison, the SNO give

Touchstone was iirst pertormed at the Proms in the 60’s. Scots Opera star Isobel Buchanan joins the orchestra tor two concert arias by Mozart which represent the orchestra’s great love of playing this composer’s work. The Second Symphony of Sibelius makes up the second hall of the programme, all to be conducted by the orchestra’s own conductor, Jerzy Maksymiuk.

The Fittieth Anniversary, and the

: move to its own centre is an important

and significant time torthe BBC SSO,

which not so long ago was threatened

with extinction. Says Martin Dalby, BBC Scotland‘s Head of Music,‘The present size at the orchestra enables it to play works from both the earlier chamber orchestra and latersymphony

f orchestra repertoire, a tunction it

carries out with distinction tor Scotland

| and broadcasting alike. In its new

home, it will become even more accessible to the public, and provide a high standard of music-making for all

' ages tor many years to come.’ (See

Radio Listings). (Carol Main).

their contribution to Christmas music with 200 children from the SNO Junior and Youth Choruses. You can hear all the usual Christmas favourites and there‘s even a chance

to join in.

0 Edinburgh Renaissance Band St Cecilia's Hall. Cowgate. 7.30pm. Tickets at door. Foot-tapping favourites from the 16th century.

0 Operatic Concert Reid Concert Hall. Teviot Row. Bristo Square. 447 9341. 8pm. £2.50. Edinburgh Grand Opera Company is an amateur group operating in the city. Help them to raise funds for their forthcoming production of Verdi's Macbeth by going to this concert of operatic arias performed by members ofthe company.

SATURDAY

Glasgow 0 Junior Department Concert Henry Wood Hall. Claremont Street. 332

21

4101 (RSAMD). 3pm. £1.50(£1). A

concert given by soloists. choir and orchestra of the Junior School Music. 0 SNO Christmas Concert City Hall. Candleriggs. 552 5961. 7.30pm. Extra date: Sun 22 Dec. £2—£7. See Friday 20 Edinburgh for full description. A Christmas Ceilidh will follow this concert.

Edinburgh

0 Edinburgh Academy Dance Band Christmas Show Queen‘s Hall. Clerk Street. Tickets at door. 3pm. £2

3 (£1.50) Gershwin‘s Rhapsody in

? Blue. music by Glenn Miller and the i first performance of Fathers by

Francis Cowan and Kevin Anderson ; are all part ofthe entertaining

afternoon put on by pupils of

Edinburgh Academy. 7 0 Radio Forth Youth Orchestra and

Caledonia Brass Queen‘s Hall. Clerk

Street. 228 1155 (Usher Hall). 8pm.

£3 (£2). Radio Forth. the local independent radio station for East _ and Central Scotland. is unique in

having the only broadcasting youth

f orchestra in Britain. Each year. this . highly talented group of youngsters : from the Forth area. get together to

rehearse and perform with the recorded results of the performance

, being broadcast over the Festive

f period on Radio Forth. This year

their programme includes a specially written Fantasia on Christmas

5 Carols composed by the orchestra‘s

new conductor Alan Fernie. along

~ with The Merry Wives ofWindsor Overture. the New 'I‘own Suite and

the Capriol Suite for Strings. The

ever popular Scottish brass quintet. Caledonia Brass. join the orchestra for this Christmas concert for all the

family with their own arrangements

x ofChristmas and light music.

o Classical/Traditional Recital St Cecilia‘s Hall. Cowgate. 2281155 (Usher Hall). 8pm. £4 (£3.50). Jean

3 Redpath in concert with Kist of

Musick. An elegant mixture of European and Scottish classical and

E traditional music.

lsuquv

22

Glasgow

0 SNO Christmas Concert City Hall. Candleriggs. 552 5961. 7.30pm. £2—£7. See Fri 20 Edinburgh for full description.

Edinburgh

0 Bookshop Recital Waterstone‘s. George Street. 2.30—4pm. Free. A

: small choral group and a brass quintet provide the Christmas music

this Sunday afternoon as shoppers make their final (or almost) purchases ofChristmas books.

0 St Giles’ at Six St Giles' Cathedral. High Street. 7pm. Free at door. This week‘s St Giles‘ at Six is actually St Giles‘ at Seven. so make sure you don‘t arrive an hour early to witness this special Service of Lessons and Carols with the St Giles' Choir and Tom Fleming as reader.

0 City Carol Concert Usher Hall. Lothian Road. 228 1155. 7.30pm.£1. The Kevock Choir. conducted by Alex Elrick. join with the Salvation Army for their annual Carol Concert.

0 Prince Consort Queen‘s Hall. Clerk Street. 228 1 155 (Usher Hall). The List 13 Dec— 9Jan 21