list.co.uk/music for brass and percussion.
Edinburgh FREE Carols by Candlelight Destiny Centre, 52 Gorgie Road, 555 2707. 4pm & 7pm. See Thu 11. FREE Rudsambee St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226 0673. 6pm. Seasonal choral music.
✽Luke Fowler & Lee Patterson: Performance for Invented
Acoustical Tools and Synthesis Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Arboretum Place/Inverleith Row, 248 2971. 7–9pm. £5. Musical performance celebrating Tony Conrad’s invented instruments and their legacy.
Monday 15 Edinburgh St Mary’s Music School Christmas Concert St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road, 538 7766. 7.30–9.30pm. £8 (£5; children £1). End of term performance.
Tuesday 16
Glasgow FREE Family Carol Service with Chapel Choir Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, University Avenue, 330 5419. 6pm. Carol service featuring Kevin Bowyer (organ). Edinburgh Choir Of King’s College, Cambridge Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £12–£32. Christmas music including Poulenc’s Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noël. Edinburgh Royal Choral Union: Christmas with the Choral St Andrew’s and St George’s Church, 13 George Street, 473 2000. 7.30pm. £10 (students £5). The choir performs Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and a selection of traditional carols.
Wednesday 17
Edinburgh ✽ Ludus Baroque: Christmas Oratorio Canongate Kirk, 153
Canongate, 668 2019. 7pm. £20 (£16; under 5s £5). Ludus Baroque’s annual performance of Bach’s masterpiece is one of the few must-see Christmas concerts. Richard Neville-Towle conducts. CLIC Sargent Carol Concert Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7.30pm. £10–£18 (children £5). Charity concert in aid of young people with cancer and their families. Neil Houston conducts John Kitchen (organ) and Thistle Brass, with guest singer Anna McLuckie.
Thursday 18
Edinburgh James Gillespie’s High School Christmas Concert Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7pm. £6–£10. Student performances. Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Ticciati Conducts Schumann The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £10–£31. Robin Ticciati conducts Widmann’s Liebeslied for eight instruments, Schumann’s Violin Concerto featuring Christian Tetzlaff and Haydn’s Symphony No 103 – ‘Drum Roll’. Ayr BBC SSO: Christmas Classics Ayr Town Hall, New Bridge Street, 01292 611222. 7.30pm. £tbc. Christmas favourites presented by Jamie MacDougall and conducted by Stephen Bell.
Friday 19
Glasgow Celebration Choir: Come Messiah King SECC, Finnieston Quay, 248 3000. 7.30pm. £22.50. The Celebration
Choir are joined by a 20-piece orchestra as they celebrate the Christmas story. Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Ticciati Conducts Schumann City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £14.50–£28.50. See Thu 18. Dundee The RSNO Christmas Concert: The Snowman Caird Hall, City Square, 01382 434940. 7.30pm. £12.50–£16 (disabled £6.25–£8; under 26s/mature students/unemployed £6). Carols and seasonal tunes, including the now annual screening of the 1982 film of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman with live musical accompaniment, because nothing spells ‘Christmas’ like a magical fable about the transience of life. Christopher Bell conducts.
Perth ✽ Dunedin Consort: Handel’s Messiah St John’s Kirk, St John’s
Place, 01738 633192. 7pm. £19.00 (students £15.00). John Butt conducts the consort’s annual performance of Handel’s mighty chestnut.
Saturday 20
Glasgow The RSNO Christmas Concert: The Snowman Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 2pm & 6pm. £15–£35 (disabled/ under 26s/mature students/unemployed £7.50–£17.50). See Fri 19. Celebration Choir: Come Messiah King SECC, Finnieston Quay, 248 3000. 7.30pm. £22.50. See Fri 19.
✽ Dunedin Consort: Handel’s Messiah Kelvingrove Art Gallery
& Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. 8pm. £20 (£15). See Fri 19. ■ Milngavie Choir Cairns Church, 11 Buchanan Street, Milngavie, milngavie- choir.btck.co.uk 7.30pm. £8 (children & students £5). Amateur choir in concert.
Edinburgh FREE Jeremy Cull St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road, 229 1142. 12.30pm. Organ recital. Music for Christmas. Edinburgh Concert Band Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, edinburghconcertband.org.uk 7.30pm. £tbc. Amateur musicians play a selection of seasonal pieces. Jubilo St Cuthbert’s Church, 5 Lothian Road, 07780 324581. 7.30pm. £12 (£10). Christmas carols, conducted by Walter Thomson and accompanied by the Edinburgh Players directed by Philip Taylor, with a retiring collection in aid of Enable Scotland. Sunday 21
Edinburgh The RSNO Christmas Concert: The Snowman Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 3pm. £15–£35 (disabled/under 26s/mature students/ unemployed £7.50–£17.50). See Fri 19.
✽ Dunedin Consort: Handel’s Messiah The Queen’s Hall,
87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 4pm. £5. The Children’s Messiah is a special 45-minute shortened version for all the family.
✽Dunedin Consort: Handel’s Messiah The Queen’s Hall, 87–89
Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7pm. £12–£25. The full-length version; see Fri 19.
Monday 22 Glasgow Glasgow Philharmonic Male Voice Choir Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £15 (£12). Seasonal favourites, featuring Principal Guest Accordionist Ian Muir. André Rieu: And the Waltz Goes On The SSE Hydro, Exhibition Way, 248 3000. 8pm. £40–£90. The wavy-haired violinist plays tunes for his people.
Tuesday 23
Glasgow Bothwell Philharmonic Choir Christmas Charity Concert Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 7.30pm. £14. Opera favourites, carols and seasonal songs, featuring special guest soloists, conducted by Mark Donnelly with guest soprano Suzanne Murphy and the Gorgie Salvation Army Band.
Saturday 27
Glasgow Spectacular Classics: Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Orff, Ravel, Handel, Bizet, Rossini, Williams, Prokofiev Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £32.50–£39.50. Benjamin Pope and RSNO play classical favourites, including Tchaikovsky’s ’1812’ Overture, with added lasers.
Wednesday 31 Edinburgh Candlelit Concert in St Giles’ Cathedral St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 0844 573 8455. 7.30pm. £16.50. A musical journey from Christmas to New Year with some classic, well-loved pieces.
Thursday 1 Edinburgh Scottish Chamber Orchestra: New Year on the Danube Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. 7pm. £10–£31. Seasonal favourites conducted by Gergely Madras and with operetta selections sung by soprano Lucy Crowe. FREE Bach as Artist or Preacher? Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church, 1a Mayfield Road, 667 1522. 7.30pm. The Mayfield Singers and Players perform two Bach cantatas, BWV 21 and BWV 150. Part of Festival of Sacred Music.
Friday 2
Glasgow RSNO: Handel’s Messiah Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 3pm. £15–£35 (under 26s/mature students/unemployed £6; disabled £7.50–£17.50; under 16s free). Laurence Cummings conducts Handel’s blockbuster. Edinburgh Edinburgh Royal Choral Union: Messiah Usher Hall, Lothian Road, 228 1155. noon. £13–£27. The Union’s annual performance of Handel’s oratorio is, after 128 years, an Edinburgh institution. Featuring instrumental support from Edinburgh Pro Musica Orchestra.
Sunday 4 Glasgow Caledonian Voices St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, 339 6691. 8pm. £tbc. Rachmaninov’s Vespers.
Monday 5
Glasgow Kaleidoscope Keys Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £7.50–£9.50. Piano department showcase.
Wednesday 7 Perth RSNO: Viennese Gala Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, 01738 621031. 7.30pm. £11.00–£24.50. Waltzes, polkas, and arias, including Strauss favourites Voices of Spring and On the Beautiful Blue Danube. Jean-Claude Picard conducts.
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✽ Ludus Baroque: Christmas Oratorio A stellar lineup of soloists, along with some of the finest Baroque instrumentalists and singers around, set the scene for Christmas with all six of the cantatas that make up Bach’s wondrous Christmas Oratorio. Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, Wed 19 Dec.
✽ Dunedin Consort: Handel’s Messiah
Christmas isn’t quite Christmas without hearing Handel’s Messiah in the Dunedin Consort’s deeply sensitive interpretation of it, under the expert direction of John Butt at the harpsichord. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow, Sat 20 Dec; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 21 Dec.
✽ BBC SSO Discovering Music – Hans Gál’s Cello
Concerto A great opportunity to discover the music of Hans Gál, the Vienna-born composer whose work was banned by Hitler, and who escaped Austria to make Edinburgh his home, the Cello Concerto being written in Scotland just before the end of the Second World War. City Halls, Glasgow, Wed 14 Jan.
Friday 9
Glasgow Piano Prize-Winner Jonathan Fournel Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £8.50–£11.00. French piano virtuoso in recital. Saturday 10
Glasgow Johann Strauss Gala: A Viennese Party Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 3pm. £26.50–£31.50. Rainer Hersch conducts an evening of Straussian music.
Monday 12 Glasgow Arno Bornkamp: Born to Play Saxophone Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £8.50–£11.00. Dutch classical sax virtuoso is joined by Scott Mitchell (piano) for works by Debussy, Jolivet and Schmitt. Brass @ the Opera Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. 1pm. £7.50–£9.50. Works for brass by Bizet, Rossini and Mozart.
11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015 THE LIST 111