www.list.co.uk/music
Saturday 25 Thursday 30
Glasgow ■ RSNO: New Season, New World Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£32 (concessions available). See Fri 24. Edinburgh ■ John Paul Jones: A Musical The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £15–£16 (£12–£14). See Fri 24. ■ Nicola Benedetti: Fantasie Recital Tour 2010 Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £14–£33. Certain to be a sell-out event, early booking is recommended as the celebrated Scottish violinist hits the road, accompanied by cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk. ■ Michael Shea Bursary Winner’s Recital Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 8pm. £10 (£5). Soprano Suzanne McGrath performs vocal works by Mozart, Debussy, Strauss and Chausson, accompanied on piano by John Cameron.
Sunday 26 Glasgow FREE Kelvingrove Sunday Organ Recitals Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 3–3.45pm. Sunday promenade concerts with different organists. ■ The Orchestra of Scottish Opera St Andrew’s in the Square, St Andrew’s Square, 0870 013 4060. 3pm. £11.50 (£8.50). The Orchestra of Scottish Opera’s popular Sunday afternoon concert series returns for the new season. This concert features the vocal talents of mezzo-soprano Leah- Marian Jones and baritone Thomas Oliemans. Francesco Corti conducts. ■ Late Night Passionate Tunes Trongate 103, 276 8380. 9–10pm. £6. Russian violinist Lev Atlas performs a selection from the classics including Sviridov’s Romance and Ponomarev’s Chardash. Booking advised.
Edinburgh FREE St Giles’ at Six: The Waverleys St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. An early evening performance of Stravinsky’s Four Russian Peasant Songs and choral works by Fauré, Duruflé and Bach.
Monday 27
Edinburgh FREE ecat: The New Music Experience The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.45pm. Janice Forsyth introduces the opening concert of ecat’s 2010-11 season, a mixed bag of things to come. Clarinettist Yann Ghiro, cellist Martin Storey and pianist Simon Smith perform music by Xenakis, Birtwhistle, Wolfgang Rihm and Claude Vivier, alongside three specially commissioned works by up-and-coming talents.
Tuesday 28
Edinburgh ✽✽ FREE Edinburgh Quartet Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University,
Bristo Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. Dvorak’s Two Waltzes are performed alongside the lovely, lyrical Piano Quintet in A major, in which the ensemble is joined by pianist Nicholas Ashton. FREE Danish Cultural Institute Concert Series: Ditte Hojgaard and Jakob Lorentzen National Gallery Complex, The Mound, 624 6200. 7.30–8.30pm. Ticketed. The soprano and pianist perform music from around the time of Christen Kobke, including works by Mozart, Grieg, Heise and Carl Nielsen.
Glasgow ■ Lunchtime Concert Merchants House, 7 West George Street, 649 5347. 12.45pm. £7 (£3–£6). Andrew Somerville on saxophone and Julia Lynch on piano perform music ranging from reflective to entertaining. FREE Lunchtime Concert Glasgow University Concert Hall, University Avenue, 330 4092. 1.10pm. Pianists Laurina Sableviciute and Nicholas Ashton perform a selection of piano duos: Mozart’s Larghetto & Allegro in E flat major, Hammond’s Strata and works by Chopin and Stravinsky. ✽✽ BBC Scottish Symphony Unbound City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£23 (£8–£21). Donald Runnicles conducts the first concert of the 2010/11 season, the passionate Act I of Die Walküre, featuring the vocal talents of Heidi Melton, Stuart Skelton and Reinhard Hagen. Vilde Frang replaces the originally-billed Janine Jansen as soloist in Sibelius’ lyrical and virtuosic Violin Concerto. Orchestra: Romantics
Edinburgh FREE Delius in Paris National Gallery Complex, The Mound, 624 6200. 7.30–8.30pm. Ticketed. Pianist Simon Lepper, soprano Sarah-Jane Brandon and the Solstice String Quartet give an all-Delius concert.
Friday 1
Edinburgh FREE Organ Recital Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. Organist Ben Sheen performs works by Buxtehude, Schnizer, Böhm and Scarlatti, finishing with Bach’s famous Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582. FREE Opera Circus: Naciketa Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 7pm. A work- in-progress performance of a work by composer Nigel Osborne and librettist Ariel Dorfman. Opera Circus performs alongside Opera North and the Hebrides Ensemble, with tabla player Sarvar Sabri and Indian Dhrupad singer Prakriti Dutta. A Q&A session follows the performance. ■ RSNO: Great Concertos – The Emperor Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £10–£32 (concessions available). See Thu 30.
Saturday 2
Glasgow FREE Happy Bi-centennial Chopin Britannia Panopticon Music Hall, 113–117 Trongate, 553 0840. 1pm. Pianist Mira Opalinska performs selected works by Chopin in the year of his bicentenary. ■ RSNO: Great Concertos – The Emperor Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£32 (concessions available). See Thu 30. Edinburgh ■ Don Giovanni Study Day Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 478 8353. 10.30am–4.30pm. £25. David Cairns, author of Mozart and his Operas, leads an in-depth look at Mozart’s much-loved opera, ahead of a performance of the work by the SCO on Thu 7 Oct, also at the Usher Hall.
Sunday 3 Glasgow ✽✽ A Time There was . . . City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 3pm. £12. Peter Donohoe and Martin Roscoe perform Bax’s Moy Mell and Holst’s The Planets arranged for piano duo.
Edinburgh FREE St Giles’ at Six: Organ Recital St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Retiring collection. Benjamin Sheen, Senior Organ Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, performs works by Vierne, Rheinberger, Alain and Duruflé. ✽✽ BBC Scottish Symphony Unbound Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £10–£26 (concessions available). See Thu 30. Orchestra: Romantics
Monday 4 Glasgow ■ A Rough Guide to Singing James Weir Building, 75 Montrose Street, 548 2682. 5–7pm. £8 (£6). So you have the singing voice of a strangled cat? Fear not: Alan Tavener and Phil Gault believe anyone can learn to sing, no matter how little experience. Must be booked in advance.
Tuesday 5
Glasgow ■ A Woman’s Life and Love Ramshorn Theatre, 98 Ingram Street, 548 2558. 1.15pm. £4. Pianist Katharine Durran and soprano Sandra Lissenden perform a modern English language take on Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, along with some of Schubert’s best-loved Lieder in their original German. Edinburgh FREE Piano Recital: Tanya Ekanayaka Reid Concert Hall, Edinburgh University, Bristo Square, 650 2427. 1.10pm. The pianist performs her own work Adahas: Of Wings Of Roots alongside Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No 7, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 15 (‘Pastoral’) and Ravel’s sparkling Jeux d’eau. FREE Chopin 2010 St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6.30pm. Professor Andrzej Pikul from Krakow’s Academy of Music in Krakow presents a recital in celebration in the 200th anniversary year of the composer’s birth. His students Gajusz Keska and Dominika Peszko will perform the two piano concertos, accompanied by string quartet.
Wednesday 6
Glasgow ■ Scottish Ensemble: Points of Departure CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 8pm. £5. Anti Atlas’ Ned Bigham and Alex Menzies (aka Alex Smoke) join forces with the Ensemble for an evening of live music, electronics and film, inspired by the lyrics of Carolina Oliphant, one of Scotland’s greatest poets and song writers. Edinburgh ■ Opera Camerata: Pearl Fishers Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, 229 6569. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). An amateur production of Bizet’s opera, after Carmen his most successful.
Thursday 7
Orchestra: Romantics Glasgow 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 Unbound City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10–£23 (£8–£21). The second concert in the series of Romantic masterpieces features Overture to Béatrice et Bénédict by Berlioz. Vilde Frang replaces Janine Jansen as soloist in Brahms’ much- loved Violin Concerto, and the concert finishes with the magnificent Symphony
CLASSICAL Music
✽✽ HITLIST
THE BEST CLASSICAL & OPERA
✽✽ A Time There was . . . New series of Sunday afternoon chamber music by some of the most distinguished musicians around starts off with pianists Peter Donohoe and Martin Roscoe, who perform Bax and Holst in keeping with the four concerts’ reflective theme of the golden years of English composition in the first half of the 20th century. City Halls, Glasgow, Sun 3 Oct. ✽✽ ecat: The New Music Experience Among the newest music in this free evening showcasing where music’s at in contemporary times is a piece by 35-year-old composer Jake Spence, who is a graduate of Edinburgh University’s prestigious composition course and now lectures in composition at the RSAMD. Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Mon 27 Sep. ✽✽ BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Romantics Unbound Just a few weeks after their triumphant Mahler at the Edinburgh International Festival, Donald Runnicles and the BBC SSO are back with a punch to start their 2010/11 season. A world-renowned interpreter of Wagner, Runnicles presents the first act of the second of the four operas which make up the Ring cycle, Die Walküre. City Halls, Glasgow, Thu 30 Sep; Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 3 Oct.
No 3 by Beethoven, widely regarded as the first Romantic composer. Donald Runnicles conducts. Edinburgh ■ Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Ticciati conducts Don Giovanni Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7pm. £9–£27 (concessions available). A performance 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 voices of the SCO Chorus. ■ Opera Camerata: Pearl Fishers Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, 229 6569. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). See Wed 6.
23 Sep–7 Oct 2010 THE LIST 89