SCO NEWS

IMPACT Centre

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS WITH THE IMPACT CENTRE

––––––March 2018 saw an important step forward for the IMPACT Centre with the release of initial designs at the second public consultation. Around 130 people attended the drop-in event, viewed display boards and models, and had the opportunity to speak to the architects and other key members of the design team, as well as representatives from IMPACT Scotland. The design, led by David Chipperfield Architects, is now being further developed and consideration of feedback is ongoing. The planning application is expected to be lodged this summer.

The final piece of the City Region Deal funding was also confirmed in February with £5 million from City of Edinburgh Council, bringing the funding through the City Region Deal to £25 million. IMPACT Scotland is carrying out a fundraising campaign for a further £10 million. The IMPACT Centre will include a 1000-seat auditorium, a 200-seat studio/rehearsal space, spaces for learning and participation, and a café/bar. It will be the new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Edinburgh, situated behind Dundas House in St Andrew Square.

––––––To stay up to speed with all the latest developments please check impactscotland.org.uk/news or follow on Twitter @ImpactScot

BBC YOUNG MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR 2018

––––––Our CEO Gavin Reid was delighted to be asked to judge the semi-finals of the 2018 BBC Young Musician of the Year. The responsibility to choose the musicians with that little bit of extra magic needed to get to the final, and go on to win was a truly thrilling experience.

It has always been a competition close to our hearts and minds. A certain oboist by the name of Robin Williams was a woodwind finalist in 1978, while the 2006 winner Mark Simpson is our soloist for four concerts in September, and of course it is always a thrill to welcome back 2004 winner Nicola Benedetti.

If you didn’t manage to watch BBC Young Musician, it will be available to watch again on iPlayer. Look out for judge Gavin!

Robin Williams

SWIM CHALLENGE

By SCO Sub Principal Bassoon Alison Green

––––––I try and swim regularly in order to avoid aches and pains caused by playing the bassoon. Exercise is a necessity and also helps me relieve stress. I never used to swim more than around 40 lengths of a 25m pool on each visit. Then all that changed! One of my friends posted a link on Facebook about the Swim22 Challenge. It involved swimming 22 miles, which is the distance of the Channel crossing, to raise money for Diabetes UK. I considered it and thought, maybe not. You had to complete the challenge between 22 February and 22 May. I had a look at my schedule. No way could I fit in that amount of swimming! I had teaching to schedule and also rehearsals and concerts with the SCO including a tour to Europe plus SCO Connect projects. However, the idea stayed in the back of my mind. I always sponsor friends who take on challenges and one day I just thought, “ok I’ll do it”. I contacted Diabetes UK and received my Swim22 swimming cap a few weeks later. I started swimming on 22 February and just kept going. It’s amazing what a bit of determination can do. In fact I completed the 22 miles in 5 weeks. I couldn’t stop and decided to try and swim back by 22 May. Not so easy. It is difficult to keep the impetus going, but support from my friends and colleagues, along with generous sponsorship, have really helped. I have swum 39 miles to date so will hopefully get to 44 before we head off on tour.

WIN £250

250 SOCIETY

To see our most recent winner and for more information please go to page 28

Alison Green

––––––To support Alison’s cause make a donation at Justgiving.com/ fundraising/alison-green36 CONNECT LATEST

––––––In the first part of 2018, SCO Family Concerts and the surrounding programme of activity in Edinburgh and Glasgow reached 2268 children and adults. Workshops took place at primary schools and children’s hospitals in each city, and at St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh and the Riverside Museum, Glasgow. Children and family members learned songs from The Chimpanzees of Happytown and had fun playing

orchestral instruments. As part of this programme, pupils at Murrayburn Primary School in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, were excited to receive a special visit from children’s TV presenter Chris Jarvis, SCO Family Concert narrator and SCO Wester Hailes Residency Champion.

Before each of the Family Concerts, venues came alive with wandering musicians, face painters, children trying out the SCO’s collection of multicoloured instruments, and craft activities including a fabulous Happytown tree which children decorated with their own handmade flowers and leaves.

Chris Jarvis at our Family Concert TheChimpanzees of Happytown

It was wonderful and something different to do with children that engages them and teaches them about instruments, sounds and what noises they can make … Something missing from early years learning. Parent, St Cecilia’s Hall Workshop, January 2018

The song workshop was really good, it gave me ideas about how we can enjoy reading stories at home (turning the words into songs and actions). It gave us a great first experience of the SCO. Parent, Riverside Museum Workshop, February 2018

Lively, friendly, informative – so many good things it’s difficult to pick a favourite. Watching my daughter try out a cello, seeing my son’s face as the live orchestral sound began, watching them laugh with Chris. Audience member, Edinburgh Family Concert, February 2018

––––––Incantations, the second in a series of Connect programmes delivered in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, took place in January. Two teams of SCO musicians and RCS students worked with expert music educator Fraser Trainer to lead two days of creative group music workshops for secondary school pupils at Springburn Academy, Glasgow and James Gillespie’s High School, Edinburgh. The project functioned as a creative learning opportunity for school participants, and as training and development for SCO musicians & RCS students. The project was documented on video and can be seen via the creative learning pages of the SCO website. sco.org.uk/latest

We all LOVED these workshops, they were so well led and supported by the musicians. They pitched it perfectly to include all pupils of all abilities, experiences and confidence level. I loved seeing the joy on their faces as they performed! Thank you – Please come back soon! Teacher, Springburn Academy

I have never created music before and the next week I started to write music. S1 pupil, Springburn Academy IN OTHER NEWS In other news, City of Edinburgh organist Dr John Kitchen presented an Explore Day in February, described by one participant as ‘Fascinating, rewarding, educational and entertaining (regardless of your level of musical knowledge)’. The day focused on Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor and was delivered in partnership with the University of Edinburgh at the newly refurbished St Cecilia’s Hall. ––––––The Wester Hailes Residency continues with our unique programme of weekly workshops for nursery and primary school children, delivered by teams of SCO musicians and specialist workshop leaders. In March, Big Ears, Little Ears toured to Fort William, Birnam and Dunblane, where Alison Mitchell, William Stafford and Alison Green delighted sold-out audiences with a sparkling musical programme for babies, toddlers and adults.

Incantations

Nikita Naumov

––––––Recent highlights of our Orchestra in Residence programme at the University of St Andrews included a brilliant lunchtime recital in April at the Byre Theatre by SCO Principal Double Bass Nikita Naumov. St Andrews and Fife Community Orchestra (StAFCO) performed Mozart’s Horn Concerto No 4 with SCO Principal Horn Alec FrankGemmill on the natural horn at this year’s StAFCO Spring Concert. And in March, Aisling O’Dea (SCO Violin) and a team of SCO musicians visited primary schools in Fife with an interactive day of music, movement and ocean science, based around the popular children’s book The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler. “The best day ever”, according to a happy participant from Anstruther Primary School! ––––––

SCO CONNECT AT PERTH THEATRE YOUTH TAKE-OVER – SATURDAY 23 JUNE 2018 This youth-led creative celebration rounds off the annual Youth Arts Festival with a range of workshops and performances throughout the day including a local bands stage, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s instrument armoury and Snail and the Whale workshops, Let’s Dance workshops for young people with disabilities, an under 18s after-party and lots more! For further details see horsecross.co.uk

EUROPE TOUR

––––––Following on from Season Concerts in Edinburgh and Glasgow, we are pleased to be touring further afield with Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski to the Cologne Philharmonie, Musiekgebouw in Amsterdam, Kursaal in San Sebastián and Bela Bartók Hall in Budapest between 16 and 22 May.

Anderszewski has a longestablished relationship with the SCO and play-directs two Mozart Concertos – No 17 in G, K453, and No 24 in C minor, K491. Complementing the concertos, the Orchestra’s leader Stephanie Gonley directs Poulenc’s lively Sinfonietta from the violin.

––––––Details of tickets and venues are available at sco.org.uk/whats-on

SUMMER CONCERTS AND TOURS

––––––We are looking forward to a busy summer of concerts and tours throughout Scotland.

The SCO Summer Tour programme (see diary on page 32) will travel the length and breadth of Scotland, featuring many of the Orchestra’s own superb players as soloists. On 7, 8 and 9 June, British conductor Duncan Ward conducts concerts in Duns, Greenock and Helensburgh. Come and hear Alison Mitchell and Brontë Hudnott perform Cimarosa’s operatic Double Flute Concerto, within a programme of Schumann, Puccini and Mendelssohn.

Next up, a tour to Thurso, Inverness and Dunblane (14, 15 and 16 June), directed by our Leader Stephanie Gonley, will showcase our fabulous clarinets Maximiliano Martín and William Stafford in Krommer’s Double Concerto, the centrepiece in an attractive programme of Haydn, Wagner and Mendelssohn.

Late June sees SCO Wind Soloists touring to Seil Island, Fort Augustus and Birnam (27, 28, 30 June) with a Summer Solstice programme featuring Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (wonderfully arranged by Andreas Tarkmann) as well as

music by Caplet, Ibert and Fauré. A perfect summer evening’s entertainment!

Robin Ticciati bows out in August

Saturday 30 June also sees the SCO Cello Ensemble join the magnificent Tallis Scholars and the great jazz bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons in the large and atmospheric spaces of The Bowhouse in St Monan’s, where together they will weave a musical tapestry of music by Arvo Pärt, Krzysztof Penderecki and Steve Reich, culminating in a performance of Allegri’s famous Miserere.

Also at East Neuk, on Sunday 1 July Festival favourite Christian Zacharias will lead the SCO in a festive closing programme at The Bowhouse. Opening with a colourful, vibrant suite from Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes and ending appropriately with Haydn’s ‘Farewell’ Symphony, the programme features SCO

Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín in Mozart’s sublime Concerto. For more details of the East Neuk programme please visit eastneukfestival.com.

We are very excited to be giving UK premiere performances of a new Theorbo Concerto by acclaimed composer Steve Goss, with the work’s dedicatee, international soloist Matthew Wadsworth. In a Strings programme directed by our Leader Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, the new concerto and works by Mendelssohn, Grieg and Warlock are complemented by pieces by Purcell and Geminiani. The Strings will appear at the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh thebrunton.co.uk on 18 July before touring to Oban, Portree and Fort William on 19, 20 and 21 July.

Bringing the month to a close, the compelling French-German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt makes his SCO debut as soloist and director, in a programme of Haydn, Veress and Beethoven which visits Stirling, Findhorn and Turriff (26, 27 and 28 July), kindly supported by Claire and Anthony Tait. ––––––The SCO has a strong presence in this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, starting with the Opening Concert on 4 August – Haydn’s dazzling oratorio The Creation, conducted by Edward Gardner and featuring the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

––––––Robin Ticciati gives his last concerts as the SCO’s Principal Conductor, with a survey of the four great Brahms symphonies on 18 and 19 August. The SCO’s recently-released recordings (Linn) of the symphonies have received international acclaim (see page 13); these concerts will be an opportunity for audiences to experience and celebrate the radiant music-making of the Ticciati/SCO partnership as he bids farewell to his formal role with the Orchestra.

On 22 August the Orchestra is back in the Usher Hall for Des Canyons aux Étoiles, Messiaen’s overwhelming work of praise, wonder and serene contemplation. Conductor Matthias Pinstcher makes his SCO debut and we are delighted also to be working with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard once again. Our own Principal Horn, Alec Frank-Gemmill performs the powerful and