Music FOLK/CLASSICAL
■ Ceilidh Club The Lot, Grassmarket, 225 9922. 8pm. £6. Ceilidh dance with callers to lead you through the steps, featuring live music from Heeligoleerie.
Wednesday 20
Glasgow ■ Oxjam Big Ceilidh Grosvenor Hotel, Grosvenor Terrace, Byres Road, 01592 611101. 6pm. £6 (£5 in advance). Enjoy two ceilidh bands for a fundraising evening at the Hilton. Reel the night away and fight global poverty. Edinburgh FREE Easy Chair The Jazz Bar, Chambers Street, 220 4298. 6pm. See Wed 13. ■ Taiko Drumming Course St John’s Church, Princes Street, 01357 522008. 7.30–9.30pm. £120. See Sat 9. ■ Martyn Wyndham-Read Edinburgh Folk Club, Cabaret Bar, The Pleasance, 650 2458. 7.30pm. £8 (£7). Veteran performer, laid-back singer- songwriter - and an expert on Australian music.
Thursday 21
Glasgow ■ Skyhook St Andrew’s in the Square, St Andrew’s Square, 0870 013 4060. 8pm. £8 (£6). Traditional music from Scotland, Ireland and Cape Breton from this skilled Sheffield acoustic trio. Edinburgh FREE Nobles Folk Night Nobles Bar, Constitution Street, Leith, 629 7215. 9pm. See Thu 7. Thursday
CLASSICAL Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to suzanne@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Carol Main & Tasmin Campbell. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Thursday 7
Glasgow FREE Kelvingrove Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 1pm. Free lunchtime organ recitals every day by different organists. FREE Lunchtime Concert Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10pm. Violin and piano duo Barbara Downie and Havilland Willshire perform Janácek’s Sonata and Fauré’s Sonata in A major. ■ BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Romantics Unbound City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£23 (£8–£21). The BBC SSO’s second concert of Romantic masterpieces features Overture to Béatrice et Bénédict by quintessential Romantic, Berlioz. Vilde Frang is soloist in Brahms’ much-loved Violin Concerto, and the concert finishes with Beethoven’s groundbreaking Symphony No 3. Donald Runnicles conducts.
Edinburgh ✽✽ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Ticciati conducts Don
Giovanni Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7pm. £9–£27 (concessions available). In memory of Sir Charles Mackerras, the SCO’s Conductor Laureate and world-renowned interpreter of the works of Mozart, who sadly died in July. Florian Boesch stars as Mozart’s philandering anti- hero, joined onstage by Maximilian Schmitt, Kate Royal and Susan Gritton, and supported by the SCO Chorus. ■ Opera Camerata: Pearl Fishers Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, 229 6569. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). An amateur production of Bizet’s opera.
80 THE LIST 7–21 Oct 2010
Friday 8
Glasgow ■ Lunchtime Concert RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £10 (£7). Cellists Robert Irvine and Erkki Lahesmaa are joined by pianist Fali Pavri for works by Scottish composer Bill Sweeney and Schumann’s Fantasiestücke. ✽✽ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Giovanni City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7pm. £11.50–£25 (concessions available). See Thu 7. Ticciati conducts Don
Edinburgh FREE Organ Recital Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo
Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. John Kitchen performs Frescobaldi’s Toccata nona, Buxtehude’s Praeludium in G minor and works by Reinken, Walther and Pachelbel. ■ Charity Concert Central Hall, West Tollcross, 669 2246. 7.30pm. £10 (£8; family ticket £25). A charity concert by the Dunedin Wind Band and The National Youth Choir of Scotland in aid of the Samaritans of Edinburgh and The Lothians and Leith Acorn Centre YMCA. ■ Nice and Easy with the RSNO Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £12–£32 (concessions available). Your favourite chilled out hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s, performed by the RSNO and Big Band with conductor
REOPENING CELEBRATION USHER HALL Houston Symphony Orchestra, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 10 Oct
When some plaster fell from the ceiling of Scotland’s grande dame of concert halls over 14 years ago, who’d have known it was the start of major redevelopment which has just reached completion and is celebrated in style on 10.10.10? Tackled in two phases, the challenge of bringing the early 20th century hall into the 21st century has had its difficulties. With preparations well underway for the official reopening, general manager Karl Chapman is unsurprisingly, ‘feeling delighted and relieved. We are really happy to be open, to have music back on in the hall and to be able to welcome audiences.’ As he says, ‘It has been such an elongated, stop-start process, as things that were wrong with the building meant additional delays.’
The list of improvements is a long one. ‘Access is much better now,’
says Chapman, ‘with the outside being levelled out all the way round and a great sense of openness. We’ve also got the glass wing, which houses the new cafe/bar and office space. These things were so tight before. The auditorium is huge, but the footprint is actually tiny.’ There are also improved backstage facilities, new external lighting, lifts to every floor and a helical staircase connecting all levels in place of the past practice whereby audiences in the cheap, but acoustically acclaimed, upper circle seats could only gain access by dingy stairways. ‘We’ve done very little to the auditorium,’ says Chapman, ‘as everyone said to leave it alone.’
For the Usher Hall’s first major own promotion in its newfound glory, the Houston Symphony Orchestra plays Holst’s Planets Suite accompanied by plasma-screened NASA images of outer space. ‘The Usher Hall is one of the world’s best concert halls,’ says Chapman. ‘It’s unique. After this, we’ll be looking forward to its 100th anniversary in 2014.’ (Carol Main)
Eliot Murray and vocalists Lisa Stokke and Peter Grant. ■ Opera Camerata: Pearl Fishers Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, 229 6569. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). See Thu 7.
Saturday 9
Glasgow ■ Nice and Easy with the RSNO Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £12–£32 (concessions available). See Fri 8. Edinburgh ■ Schumann Festival Canongate Kirk, 153 Canongate, 5.45–10.15pm. £12 (£6–£8). An evening celebration of the best of Schumann. After a lecture on the composer’s life, a three-part concert features works including Fantasiestücke, Violin Sonata in A minor and Piano Trio in D minor. A reception with drinks provided by the German Consulate precedes the final section, which is performed by candlelight. ■ The Met: Live in HD Cameo Cinema, 38 Home Street, 0871 704 2052. 6pm. £25 (£19.50–£21.50). Wagner’s powerful Das Rheingold, the first of his Ring cycle of four operas, introduces the 2010–11 season live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A new production by Robert Lepage with James Levine conducting. ■ Opera Camerata: Pearl Fishers Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, 229 6569. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). See Thu 7.
Sunday 10
Glasgow FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3–3.45pm. Sunday promenade concerts with different organists. Edinburgh ■ Meadows Chamber Orchestra The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 3pm. £11 (£1–£9). The orchestra performs under the first guest conductor of the season, Robin Page. Maxwell Davies’ Ojai Festival Overture is followed by Nielsen’s Symphony No 1 and Sibelius bow-shreddingly virtuosic Violin Concerto, with guest soloist Alexandra Wood. FREE St Giles’ at Six: Philomusica of Edinburgh St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. Lawrence Dunn directs a performance of works by Thomas Erskine, 6th Earl of Kelly (1732–1781). ■ Houston Symphony Grand Gala Concert Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £15–£35. The internationally acclaimed Houston Symphony performs Holst’s The Planets, accompanied by images recorded from space. A collaboration between the orchestra, NASA and award winning producer/director Duncan Copp. ■ Schumann Festival: Workshop/Masterclass Stewart Melville College, Queensferry Road. Times vary. £25. Improve your musicianship – pianists with Helena Buckmayer and singers with Julie Martin-Carter. Email admin@buckmayer.com to take part.
Monday 11
Glasgow ■ RSAMD String Department Prize Winners’ Recital RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £6 (£4). A performance by the RSAMD’s top string players. Edinburgh FREE Lunchtime Concert St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 12.15pm. Retiring collection. The