Big Ears, Little Ears on Tour

Since 2011, babies and toddlers have experienced the joy and excitement of live music at Big Ears, Little Ears concerts around Scotland. The concerts feature a small ensemble of SCO musicians who perform short, accessible programmes of classical and popular repertoire, interspersed with spoken introductions. The concerts are intimate and informal, and include opportunities for the audience to meet the players and see the instruments up close. Big Ears, Little Ears concerts take place at venues ranging from city centre museums and galleries to village halls and community centres around the country, including the National Museum of Scotland, Wester Hailes Education Centre and the Byre Theatre, St Andrews.

SCO Big Ears, Little Ears concerts have proved extremely popular so in 2015 we embarked on our first tour, taking the concerts to rural and remote parts of Scotland. Our first tour featured a string quartet - David Chadwick, Sarah Bevan-Baker, Brian Schiele and Eric de Wit - performing in Dingwall, Tain and Balintore. The venues were very excited about hosting our quartet and all six concerts were fully booked. The audience reaction, from both little ones and grown-ups, was fantastic, with people commenting –

“I enjoyed being able to experience something different with my daughter. The music was fantastic and she was mesmerised! Was lovely seeing the older kids having fun as well.”

“Thank you very much for coming up to Dingwall, lovely to have something like this locally.”

Following the success of this Highland tour, in 2016 Big Ears, Little Ears toured to the north east, visiting Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Whitehills near Banff. These concerts were performed by a wind trio – Alison Mitchell, William Stafford and Alison Green – who played in churches and village halls. Our audiences included large groups from local nurseries as well as individual family groups, including a tiny baby with mum, dad and a very proud grandmother, who commented. “I was thrilled this event was taking place in my village when my grandson happened to be staying. It was such a delight!”

Audiences take great pleasure from these concerts and our SCO musicians thoroughly enjoy being able to share their music with young audiences in rural areas. William Stafford, a regular Big Ears, Little Ears performer, said “It is always a joy to take part in the Big Ears, Little Ears tours. I particularly enjoy the relaxed and friendly concert atmosphere where our music seems to be appreciated by big ones and little ones alike.”

––––––Our Big Ears, Little Ears 2017 tour will see our wind trio perform in Alness (Monday 13 March), Elgin (Tuesday 14 March) and Grantown-on-Spey (Wednesday 15 March). We will also be holding Big Ears, Little Ears concerts in Blairgowrie (Saturday 28 January) and St Andrews (Friday 10 February). For more information and to book tickets, please visit www.sco.org.uk.