Music Rock&Pop

✽✽ Scottish Opera: Carmen Citizens Theatre, 119 Gorbals Street, 429 0022. 7.30pm. £10.50–£17.50. See Thu 9. Neil Wilson City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 8pm. £12. Scottish guitarist Neil Wilson performs virtuosic pieces including Bach, Paganini, Piazzolla, de Falla, Torroba and more. Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9. Edinburgh FREE Organ Recital Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield Avenue. Noon. A free lunchtime concert by Simon Nieminski. FREE September Concert Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street, 529 6000. 7.30pm. The September Concert began as a small event in the US in 2002 to commemorate 9/11 and has since grown to include more than 200 free concerts the world over. This year Scotland hosts its first, directed by Andrew Russel and compered by Radio Forth’s Grant Stott. Performers include InChorus, the Lothian and Borders Police Choir, Big Country star Bruce Watson, who is joined by his son Jamie.

Sunday 12

Scotland City Halls, Candleriggs, Glasgow FREE Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Harp music Provand’s Lordship, 3 Castle Street, 553 2557. 2pm. Simon Chadwick gives a concert of historical music. ✽✽ National Youth Choir of 353 8000. 3pm. £10. Christopher Bell directs works by MacMillan, Fauré, Duruflé, Mäntyjärvi and Saint Saëns plus a selection of traditional Scottish pieces. ✽✽ Scottish Opera: Carmen Citizens Theatre, 119 Gorbals Street, 429 0022. 4pm. £10.50–£17.50. See Thu 9. Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9.

Edinburgh RSNO: Chamber Series Schubert’s Octet Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, 228 1155. 3pm. £16. This chamber concert opens with the String Quartet No 61 in D minor by Haydn followed by Poulenc’s sonatas for clarinet and bassoon, and finally Schubert’s much-loved masterpiece. FREE St Giles’ at Six St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. A recital by The Invergordon Singers. Phoenix Wind Band The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7pm. £12–£15 (£10). An uplifting concert on behalf of The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund and The RAF Association commemorating the Battle of Britain. Copland’s much-loved Fanfare for the Common Man rubs shoulders with the Dambusters march and more.

Monday 13 Glasgow Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9.

Tuesday 14

Glasgow Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9. Edinburgh Get Organised Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 1.10pm. £3. An all- Bach recital by John Kitchen, from ‘old

84 THE LIST 9–23 Sep 2010

CLASSICAL LAMMERMUIR FESTIVAL Go!, National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, East Lothian, Sat 18 Sep, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm Hitlist THE BEST CLASSICAL & OPERA*

It stopped flying in 2003, but the chance to step aboard Concorde is still available, albeit without any possibility of zooming off to New York. It is only one but perhaps the most unusual concert venue being used by the new Lammermuir Festival which takes place throughout East Lothian in mid-September. In celebration of the Festival, Edinburgh based composer Peter Nelson has been commissioned to write a new electro- acoustic piece of music to be premiered in what was the first flying Concorde and is now housed in Hangar 4 of the National Museum of Flight. ‘Concorde is a masterpiece of design and engineering but is actually very small inside,’ says Nelson. ‘In order in to go at high speed there are only two seats either side of the aisle. So it’s long and thin, which gives a sense of speed. There’s a lot of sound involved in Concorde, such as the enormous bang it makes when it flies past at supersonic speed.’

Thankfully, Nelson is not planning to recreate the supersonic bang as

such, but is using imagery of the sounds around Concorde in his new piece, entitled Go!. ‘Concorde flies very high, above normal airspace, almost in space, where there are all sorts of other sounds going on,’ he says, ‘like the spaces between radio stations you used to hear before radios were so well tuned. It’s what you would hear if you stuck your head out of the plane.’

What that might actually sound like Nelson is keeping a secret, but he says, ‘Concorde is old-fashioned and I’m trying to use old-fashioned electronics to create a sense of nostalgia and the aura of vintage technology.’ Every member of the audience will have their own set of headphones and take-offs are scheduled for several times throughout the afternoon. (Carol Main)

Bach’ to the works of his sons CPE and JC. Live Music Now: Emerging Artists Series Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 2.30pm. £2 (children/students free). Regular recital partners baritone Phil Gault and pianist Claire Haslin perform a selection of lieder and other works.

Wednesday 15 Glasgow Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9.

Thursday 16 Glasgow Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9.

Friday 17

Glasgow Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9. Edinburgh Lunchtime Concert St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. Retiring collection. A performance by the Florida Methodist Choir.

Saturday 18 Glasgow Scottish International Piano Competition 2010 Various Venues, 270 8322. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 9.

Sunday 19

Glasgow RSNO: Chamber Series Schubert’s Octet St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, 228 1155. 2.30pm. £12 (concessions available). See Sun 12. Scottish International Piano Competition 2010: Final City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 4pm. £20. The final of the prestigious event in which some of the most outstanding young pianists from around the globe. The final three are accompanied in the concerto of their choice by the BBC SSO.

Tuesday 21 Glasgow Anmut The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. 8.15pm. £7 (£5). Composer and cellist Greg Sinclair presents Anmut, a piece exploring the tonal differences between male and female voices. Part of Arches Live.

Edinburgh Get Organised Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 1.10pm. £3. A varied concert by John Kitchen, with works by Handel and Bach performed alongside

✽✽ Dunedin Consort: Mass in B Minor With the Dunedin Players, the renowned vocal ensemble gives audiences a chance to hear live the work which they have recently recorded to an extremely favourable response. Susan Hamilton, soprano, and Matthew Brook, bass, are among the strong line-up of soloists. St Mary’s RC Cathedral, Edinburgh, Fri 10 Sep. ✽✽ National Youth Choir of Scotland More choral singing, this time from the younger voices of NYCoS in the 73- strong group of 16 to 24-year- olds who have performed in Edinburgh and Dundee this year, but not in Glasgow until now. Their Europe-wide repertoire promises to be challenging and humorous. City Halls, Glasgow, Sun 12 Sep. ✽✽ Scottish Opera: Carmen First stop on a Scottish tour for an intimate new version of Bizet’s favourite opera. Love, passion and danger lie at the heart of conductor Derek Clark’s score, re-orchestrated especially for this production. The title role is shared by Scottish mezzo Annie Gill and Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Rebecca Afonwy-Jones. Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 9, Sat 11 & Sun 12 Sep.

Sullivan’s overture to The Pirates of Penzance and Jeremy Cull’s arrangement of Hamish MacCunn’s The Land of the Mountain and the Flood. A Russian Concert Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 225 1900. 7.30pm. £10 (£8). The Expromt Quintet perform Mozart, Verdi and Tchaikovsky interspersed with Russian folk music, in aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Wednesday 22 Glasgow Anmut The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. 8.15pm. £7 (£5). See Tue 21.

Thursday 23 Glasgow FREE The Millenium Quartet Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10–2pm. The Venezuelan Millenium Quartet performs Mozart’s Quartet in D minor, K 421 and Ginastera’s String Quartet No 1, Op 20.