This will be the first of two concerts planned within the first year, with an intensive period of rehearsals leading up to each performance. The Orchestra draws from the wealth of instrumental skills to be found across the Isles with some players travelling from Yell and Unst to take part. Musicians represent a wide age range and this is seen as a very positive feature of the group. String players are drawn from both classical and traditional fiddle-playing backgrounds, including award winning local musician Maggie Adamson, who will be leading the orchestra. Nigel Hayward and Neil Morris share the conducting duties.

Players have a say in the concert planning and this is reflected in the range of music in their first programme. The first half features a swashbuckling selection from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and some well-known James Bond themes, but it also offers some more mellow moments.  “Fantasy on Greensleeves”  by Vaughan Williams features Shetland’s only classical harpist, and Deirdre Hayward plays solo piano accompanied by strings in Finzi’s beautiful “Eclogue”. Haydn, that most cheerful of German composers, crops up twice in the programme, with a short Divertimento for woodwind in the first half, and a full symphony in the second entitled ‘The London’ after the capital city he loved to visit.

The Shetland Community Orchestra is a fantastic initiative, with a richly varied membership from all areas of Shetland who come together to perform well loved and timeless music. We urge anyone with an interest in classical music to come along and support the ensemble and maybe even get involved themselves.

Shetland’s Community Orchestra gives listeners the chance to hear over 40 local musicians of all ages playing together. The concert is at 7.30pm on Saturday 1^st October in St Columba’s Kirk in Lerwick and tickets are priced at £8 and £5 for concessions available from the Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre – 01595 745 555 – or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org

This event is part funded by “Scotland’s Islands”

Violinist Masayuki Kino has had a long and illustrious career including performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Kino has won numerous awards including the top prize and an Audience Award at the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in London and received the award for exceptional salon music at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition.

In Japan, after finishing his career as the Concertmaster for the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Kino became the Concertmaster for the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in April 1993 and since July 2002 he plays as the Solo-Concertmaster for this Orchestra.

Along with his numerous lectures at international venues around the world, Kino teaches at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, Musashino Academia Musicae and the Tokyo College of Music.

Pianist Mami Shikimori gained numerous distinctions during her studies at Purcell School of Music and Royal College of Music, graduating with the highest honours as well as the Hopkinson Gold Medal and other major prizes for solo piano.

Shikimori also won the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Prize for Outstanding Diploma Recital for which she was awarded the maximum mark as well as gaining the highest distinction of all students graduating in 1999, and additionally won the Principal’s Special Award for solo piano. Thereafter, she won a full scholarship to attend Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

Hailed by Japan’s foremost newspaper, The Daily Yomiuri, for her “astonishing beauty of tone and virtuoso technique”, she has given recitals at numerous world-renowned concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, London’s St. John’s, Smith Square, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and, in 2008, gave a highly-acclaimed solo recital at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. She has also played at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields and at the Goethe Institute in Bangkok.

During her varied career as a solo recitalist, chamber music player and concert soloist, Shikimori has performed with such notable ensembles as Japan’s Kyushu Symphony Orchestra and with conductors including Alexander Walker, Adrian Shepherd, Keith Marshall and Yukio Kitahara.

This is an exceptional opportunity for local audiences to experience a performance by two of the world’s foremost instrumentalists in the grand surroundings of the Town Hall. Truly a concert not to be missed

Tickets, priced £12 / £9 are available from the Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, 01595 745 555 or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org

The Craigiebuckler String Ensemble was formed in 2010 and brings together seven very talented young musicians who study and work across Europe from Germany to Switzerland as well as the UK. To date the ensemble has performed works by Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Vivaldi and Haydn throughout Scotland.

The performers include cellist Abby Hayward, one of Shetland’s most talented music students. She recently graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music with a first class honours. Last year she received a scholarship to study on the prestigious Guildhall Artists masters programme in London, studying under Pierre Doumange. The other performers are Erica Buurman and Kay Stephen on Viola and Violin, Violinist Josie Robertson, Viola player Liam Redmond and cellists Laura Sergent and Barbara Misciewicz.

Abby said, “It’s a real pleasure for me to be playing for a Shetland audience again and the sextet is excited to be performing at St Columba’s in Lerwick. As someone who has grown up in Shetland it’s lovely to be able to bring home and share some of my favourite music.”

Bryan Peterson, Shetland Arts Music Development Officer said, “We’re delighted to support talented young musicians such as Abby and her colleagues. It’s an excellent opportunity for local audiences to experience a programme of beautiful pieces performed with enthusiasm and passion.”

The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets (£10/£8) are available from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre – 01595 745 555

' Harris Playfair Youth Big Band

Fiddle Frenzy’s showcase concerts will feature Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham headlining the opening night concert on Sunday 7th August with Bodega, Harris Playfair’s Youth Big Band Project, Nordic Fiddler’s Bloc featuring Kevin Henderson, Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson, Fullscelidh Spelemannslag and more performing through the week.

The event is based in venues around Lerwick most of the week; on Tuesday the activities will take place in Ollaberry and on Friday, Aith.

Evening dances will feature the Jim Halcrow Band on Sunday 7th, the James Leask Band on Tuesday and Leeshinat on Friday.  Each evening there will be a festival club and late night session at the Garrison Theatre.

Bodega's Ross Couper

Daily music workshops will be hosted by some of Shetland finest performers and tutors including Ross Couper, Bryan Gear, Cathy Geldard, Andrew Gifford, Kevin Henderson, Jim Leask, Bernadette Porter and Pauleen Wiseman delivering their skills, knowledge and enthusiasm across the classes, throughout the week.  Once again Ryan Couper will be leading the guitar classes.

Together with the musical activities, there will be a range of artistic workshops including drawing and paining with Blue Sky Studios, Contemporary Knitting with Jennie Bradley and Creative Writing with T.S. Eliot Prize winner Jen Hadfield.

` Nordic Fiddlers Bloc

This year Fiddle Frenzy will be welcoming young scholarship musicians from Orkney and the Western Isles to take part in the Harris Playfair Big Band Project and all the weeks activities thanks to financial support from the Scotland’s Islands fund.

For the full programme of events visit www.shetlandarts.org/events/fiddle-frenzy or for further information contact Shetland Arts on 01595 743 843.

Bookings for concerts and workshops can be made at Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, Lerwick 01595 745555 or visit www.shetlandboxoffice.org

Scholarship students will participate in The Harris Playfair Youth Trad Big Band Project and Fiddle Frenzy, our renowned fiddle school that comprises a week long programme of tuition from some of Shetland’s finest musicians, showcase concerts, dances and cultural activities. The scholarship project is supported by Scotland’s Islands www.scotlandsislands.com

Fiddle Frenzy

Fiddle Frenzy, Sunday 7th to Sunday 14th August, is a summer school and cultural festival that concentrates on Shetland’s unique sense of place, and is designed to teach and pass on traditional Shetland musical styles and tunes.  As well as fiddle tuition, Shetland style guitar accompaniment is offered, and classes are available in Traditional Shetland Knitting techniques, Creative Writing and Art Workshops that will feature our spectacular land and seascapes.  The music tutors include some of Shetland’s most proficient musicians including Ross Couper, Bryan Gear, Cathy Geldard, Andrew Gifford, Kevin Henderson, Jim Leask, Bernadette Porter and Pauleen Wiseman, who will pass on their skills, knowledge and enthusiasm. The fantastic Ryan Couper will once again lead the guitar classes.

Shetland storytellers and historians will host the daily cultural trips, and there will be concerts and dances every evening together with a festival club. Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham, Bodega, Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, Fullsceilidh Spelemannslag, Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson, Hom Bru, Bryan Gear with Violet Tulloch are some of the acts who will perform during the evening concerts.

Harris Playfair Youth Trad Big Band Project

The Harris Playfair Youth Trad Big Band Project, which will take place between Wednesday 3rd to Tuesday 9th August, is a youth ‘super group’ featuring some of the islands’ finest young musicians who, under the tutelage of Harris Playfair and Margaret Scollay will focus on material that spans jazz and traditional Shetland music with ‘big band’ style arrangements (view video footage of the band at the bottom of this page).

Harris has a track record of producing astonishing results with groups of young musicians. He has a deep understanding and appreciation of jazz and traditional Shetland styles, and the connections between the two. This is a great opportunity for young musicians to be part of an exciting and progressive ensemble, and for audiences to hear the inventive new material, that will result from the rigorous and thoroughly enjoyable workshops.  Harris hopes the group will provide “a platform upon which the young musicians can experience the kind of eclectic musical diversity which characterises the music of such groups as The Unusual Suspects, the True North Orchestra, the Treacherous Orchestra, and more locally connected groups such as Fiddlers Bid and Filska.”

The group of young musicians will push back musical boundaries and gain an invaluable range of experiences, collectively and individually, while learning just how exciting being part of such a creative ensemble can be.  The project will use traditional and contemporary melodies from each of the participating island groups with multi-textured arrangements influenced by the jazz big band idiom. Another aim will be to encourage the young musicians to produce their own material: both melodies and group arrangements.  The Big Band workshops will run from Wednesday 3rd to Sunday 7th August with a performance on Mon 8th at the Fidddle Frenzy  opening concert in the Garrison Theatre, Lerwick, followed by a second performance in Ollaberry in the north Shetland Mainland on Tuesday 9^th.

Scholarship

Each year Shetland Arts provides two free scholarship places to the winners of the Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year competition. This year the titles went Hannah Adamson and Martha Thomson. Thanks to funding from Scotland’s Islands, the scholarship programme has been widened to include participants from each of the Scottish island groups.

The scholarship is designed to encourage an understanding of the music of Shetland and to promote its continued development, highlighting living traditions and modern influences, and educating young musicians to ensure that traditional music continues to evolve.  It also aims to strengthen the ties between the island groups and provide musical collaboration opportunities for the participants.

The scholarship is open to young people aged 14 to 26 and best suited to fiddle players, although Shetland Arts will consider guitarists, bassists, or any musician able to take part in the workshops.  Shetland Arts welcomes applications from the following regions: Highland (Eigg, Muck, Raasay, Rum, Skye, Canna); North Ayrshire (Arran, Great Cumbrae); Argyll & Bute (Bute, Iona, Coll, Colonsay, Gigha, Islay, Jura, Kerrera, Lismore, Luing, Mull, Seil, Tiree); the Outer Hebrides (Eday, Barra, Uist, Lewis/Harris); and Orkney. Scholarship students must be available to attend the full range of events from 3rd to 14th August.

The scholarship will include costs for all travel, accommodation, food and participation fees. The students will be accommodated in our award winning youth hostel.  A liaison officer, with a musical background, will be staying in the youth hostel and will be on hand to assist them.

Bryan Peterson, Shetland Arts’ Music Development Officer said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for young musicians to come to Shetland and immerse themselves in our culture, and share the music of their islands with Shetlanders.”

If you wish to apply or nominate someone, please download, complete and return this application form (Youth Scholarship Application.doc) or contact Shetland Arts for further information: Shetland Arts, Toll Clock Centre, Lerwick, Shetland, ZE1 0DE – 01595 743 843 –  info@shetlandarts.org – www.shetlandarts.org

The deadline for application submission is midday Monday 4th July.

Links

• Fiddle Frenzy
• Harris Playfair Trad Big Band news

Video footage of Harris Playfair Youth Trad Big Band

This project has been supported by Scotland’s Islands – www.scotlandsislands.com

The route will include Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh together with Shetland, Orkney  and Lewis.

The torch is expected in Shetland on Sunday 10th June, day 23 of the relay.

More news to follow….!

Links

• (BBC) London 2012: Scottish route unveiled for Olympic torch
• (STV) Olympic torch to travel through Scotland

One of the big successes at the last Glasgow Jazz Festival was the performance of the Nova Scotia Jazz Band in the special showcase of Scottish bands. This is an exceptionally good band, primarily for the playing of cornet player Mike Daly, described as ‘the best kept secret in Scottish jazz’. I went to Glasgow, representing Shetland Jazz Club, and though my usual tastes are for a more modern form of jazz, Mike Daly just took my breath away. From the moment I heard him I was keen to book this excellent band for Shetland and now the jazz club have secured appearance on the weekend of 13-14 May.

- Nova Scotia Jazz Band

Mike Daly has echoes of Alex Welsh and Red Nichols in his playing, but most of all the name Bix Beiderbecke springs to mind when you hear him play and this is not some limp comparison, Mike Daly really does play with that amount of genius. Of all the things I might have gone to see at the Glasgow festival, I went to see the Nova Scotia band twice.

The band is firmly in the tradition of the groups led by Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier, Red Nichols, Alex Welsh.and the said Bix Beiderbecke. They were described by the Glasgow Herald as presenting music ‘with direct, bluesy concision and presented with humour and creativity’. As well as the world class cornet of Mike Daly, the Nova Scotia Jazz Band features three other world class players.

Duncan Findlay has also got that jazz star quality. He is one of the most sought after session guitar and banjo players in Scotland, having recorded on thousands of  radio and TV sessions and is  on more than 500 jazz and traditional albums. Duncan has also performed with a virtual ‘who’s who’ of the finest jazz talent including Oscar Peterson, Benny Carter, Kai Winding, Annie Ross and Carol Kidd. His extraordinary facility on banjo and his effortless and fluid guitar playing are always the highlights of a Nova Scotia set.

Ken MacDonald began playing double bass in Edinburgh in the mid 1970′s with the Climax Jazz Band the globe trotting Scottish Society Syncopators. His elegant, forceful and above all, swinging bass has made him a favourite for visiting musicians and over the years he has played with saxophone legends  James Moody, Buddy Tate and Benny Waters,  and with trumpeters Doc Cheatham and Joe Newman. Ken is in addition to being a wonderful bassist a highly regarded luthier who keeps most of the double basses in central Scotland in excellent repair.

John Burgess is an illustrious and highly regarded player of clarinet and saxophones. He has played with a virtual who’s who of the country’s top players at jazz clubs and festivals all over Europe, north Africa and the Middle East. He has six CD’s under his own name and has appeared on over 65 albums as a sideman with a diverse array of artists, but is now back doing what he has always loved most, playing clarinet in the classic jazz style.

This sweet and hot quartet are a fresh take on the classic jazz style and a welcome addition to the long list of excellent groups from Edinburgh, Scotland which includes bands of the quality of Sandy Brown, Alex Welsh, The Climax Jazz Band, Old Bailey’s Jazz Advocates and the Archie Semple Jazz Band. Some tradition, eh? I cannot recommend these gigs enough.

You can see the Nova Scotia Jazz Band at Bigton Hall on Friday 13 May and at the Islesburgh Centre on Saturday 14 May. Tickets as usual from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, Lerwick – 01595 745 555

• Bigton – www.shetlandboxoffice.org/whats-on/the-nova-scotia-jazz-band-0
• Islesburgh – www.shetlandboxoffice.org/whats-on/the-nova-scotia-jazz-band

The orchestra is planning concerts to take place in October 2011 and Spring 2012 featuring well-known guest soloists and high profile conductors, performing a varied and exciting repertoire of music. Rehearsals for the concerts are due to commence in August this year.

The Shetland Community Orchestra provides an opportunity for orchestral instrumentalists of any age.  No auditions are required and anyone who is of a standard of Grade 4 and above is very welcome to join.  Less experienced players will have the opportunity to develop their playing skills alongside professional and experienced amateur players.  The ethos of the orchestra is to unite people – both experienced and inexperienced – in the performance of great music.

Those who do not play instruments but who love listening to orchestral music can become a non-playing member.  Membership is a great way to support the orchestra and will entitle the member to concessionary tickets for each concert.

The next General Meeting of the Shetland Community Orchestra is to be held on Sunday 15 May 2011 at 2.30pm in the Islesburgh (Room 9), Lerwick. The meeting is open to the general public.

For further information or to enquire about becoming a member of the orchestra, please contact group Chairman Donald MacDonald on 01595 859172 or email donaldclanranald@tiscali.co.uk

Notes:

The project is supported by ‘Scotland’s Islands’ – a yearlong celebration of all that’s special about our people and their culture. Scotland’s Islands is a programme of events, exhibitions and conferences showcasing the opportunity, diversity and excitement of island life, running from April 2011 to April 2012 – www.scotlandsislands.com

The event culminates with a concert and prize-giving ceremony on Saturday evening starting at 7.30pm.

The full programme of events can be viewed / printed here – Shetland Folk Society – Young Fiddler of the Year 2011 programme (.pdf)

Tickets for the Saturday evening event are £6/4. Entrance to the Friday and Saturday competition events are free. For more information visit Shetland Box Office – www.shetlandboxoffice.org/whats-on/young-fiddler-of-the-year.

Young Fiddler of the Year is organised by Shetland Folk Society (01950 477 308).

A Little Night Music Poster

Full details of the event can be found here – Opera concert by ex pat in support of Japanese relief effort

Part 1

• Comfort ye & Every valley (Warren Gillespie) From Messiah, George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)
• Tornami Vagheggiar (Marie Claire Breen) From Alcina, George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)
• Das Fischermädchen (Warren Gillespie) Franz Peter Schubert (1797 – 1828)
• The Sailor’s Song, (Warren Gillespie) Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)
• Tom Bowling, (Warren Gillespie) Charles Dibdin (1740-1814)
• Sure on this shining night (Marie Claire Breen) Samuel Osborne Barber, (1910 – 1981)
• Come ready and see me (Marie Claire Breen) Richard Hundley (born September 1, 1931)
• The Second Lute Song of the Earl of Essex (Warren Gillespie) From Gloriana, Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (1913 – 1976)
• Norina’s aria (Marie Claire Breen) From Don Pasquale, Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (1797 – 1848)
• Ideale (Warren Gillespie) Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846–1916)
• As steals the morn upon the night (Marie Claire Breen & Warren Gillespie) From L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759)

Interval

There will be a short interval where wine and soft drinks will be available.

Part 2

• À Chloris (Warren Gillespie) Reynaldo Hahn, (1874 – 1947)
• Elégie (Warren Gillespie) Henri Duparc (1848 – 1933)
• Green, & Spleen (Marie Claire Breen) Claude-Achille Debussy (1862 – 1918)
• Piano solo (Ayako Kanazawa)
• Silent Noon (Warren Gillespie) Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958)
• 3 Scot Songs (Marie Claire Breen) Francis George Scott (1880 – 1958)
• Bonnie wee thing, The Deil’s awa (Warren Gillespie) Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)
• Ae Fond Kiss (Marie Claire Breen & Warren Gillespie) Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)