In partnership with Live Music Now!, Shetland Arts and the Robertson Trust, the concert will feature performances of pieces from composers including as Ravel, Purcell, Rachminoff, Bizet, Rossini and more.

Born and brought up in Aberdeenshire, Maryam began learning piano at the age of six and the violin when she was seven. She received lessons at the North East of Scotland Music School, studying piano with Nigel Clayton and violin with Gillian Findlay. Enjoyment of classical music, traditional Scottish music and jazz led to a rich and varied musical upbringing and Maryam has been a member of a large number of ensembles including the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, the Garioch Fiddlers Strathspey and Reel Society and the North East of Scotland Music School string Quartet.

In 2006 Maryam graduated from the University of Strathclyde with BA (Hons) in Applied Music. She went on to study with John Thwaites at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, receiving a PGDip in piano accompaniment. It was during this time that she developed a particular interest in working with vocalists.

Jemma Brown studied with Patricia MacMahon and obtained a BMus (hons) from the University of Glasgow in 2007 where she graduated with the Hague prize for performance.  She completed her PgDip, MMus (performance), MMus (opera) and MOpera in 2011 and she won the John Ireland Prize for voice and piano with Adam Laslett and the Tony and Tania Webster Prize for Russian Song.

Jemma has appeared at the Glasgow International Visual Arts Festival, Max at 75, Plug and with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She also appeared on BBC Proms in 2010.

Jemma also has a busy teaching base in Glasgow and recently joined the staff of the National Youth Choir of Scotland Girls Choir.

Music Development Officer, Bryan Peterson said: “It’s a privilege to be hosting musicians of this calibre and to give local audiences a chance to experience such talent and proficiency.”

Maryam and Jemma are proud members of Live Music Now!, a scheme set up by Yehudi Menuhin to help young professional musicians at the beginning of their careers and to take quality live music into venues which have limited access to live performance, such as schools, nursing homes and prisons. During their visit to Shetland, the duo will also be performing at the Bells Brae nursery.

Tickets for the concert, priced at £10 (£8 concessions), are available from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, 01595 745 555 or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org

For more information contact:

Bryan Peterson, Music Development Officer, Shetland Arts

bryan.peterson@shetlandarts.org 01595 743 843

or

Lisa Ward, Marketing Officer, Shetland Arts

lisa.ward@shetlandarts.org 01595 743 742

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

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)

A Little Night Music Poster

This is an opportunity for lovers of song and opera to enjoy an evening of professional music making from some of Scotland’s finest emerging artists, all of whom have graduated from Scotland’s National Conservatoire and who have worked with Scotland’s National Opera Company.

Gillespie, who moved to Shetland aged five until joining the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama thirteen years later, will join fellow artists from Scottish Opera in this concert of voice, piano, opera and song. He is finishing his final year of conservatoire training at the RSAMD’s prestigious Alexander Gibson Opera School and, having studied at Brae High School, is delighted to be returning to the island:

“I’ve got such fond memories of growing up in Shetland and welcome the opportunity to put on this concert. It will also be a time to remember the terrible disaster in Japan and to do our own small bit to help.”

Warren is grateful for the support of Shetland Arts in the organisation of this concert: “It’s been a real help to have Shetland Arts supporting this concert and we hope as many people as possible are able to come and support us.”

Warren Gillespie

Bryan Peterson, Shetland Arts’ Music Development Officer added: “It’s a real pleasure to work with such talented young musicians and it’s an opportunity not to be missed for local audiences to hear the rising stars of Scottish classical music.”

The concert, titled ‘A Little Night Music’ will start at 7.30pm on Thursday 31^st March at Lerwick Town Hall. Doors will open at 7pm and tickets are £12 full price, £8 concession and free for students (booking required). Tickets can be purchased from Shetland box office; in person at the reception of Islesburgh Community Centre, over the phone by calling 01595 745 555 or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org/whats-on/a-little-night-music

Biographies

Born in Edinburgh, Warren James Gillespie graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with a BMus (Hons) and is now in his second year of the Masters Opera programme at the RSAMD’s prestigious Alexander Gibson Opera School.

Last year he won the Norma Grieg French Song Competition and recent Oratorio work has taken him as a soloist to Dublane Catherdral, Glasgow City halls and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall. In opera he has taken lead roles at the RSAMD’s New Athenaeum Theatre, Glasgow’s Theatre Royal and Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and has this year sung the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring.

Last year Warren sang with British Youth Opera and at the BBC proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He has also featured in masterclasses with Alan Opie, Karen Cargill, John Mark Ainsley, Malcolm Martineau and Julius Drake.

Marie Claire Breen is a recent graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, where she studied under Patricia Hay.

Last year she was the recipient of the Governors’ Recital Prize at the RSAMD, following which she recorded a special performance for BBC Radio Scotland’s Classics Unwrapped show. She recently appeared in the USA at St.Mary’s College of Maryland’s annual ‘River Concert’ series with John Wallace and other internationally acclaimed trumpeters.

She also performed in an RSAMD showcase concert in St. James’ Palace in front of Prince Charles and recently took part in a masterclass with Mark Padmore at the Wigmore Hall, as well as singing in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

Marie Claire is working with Scottish Opera as an ‘Emerging Artist’ for the 2010/11 season.

Japanese born Ayako Kanazawa studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before starting work as a repetitieur for Scottish Opera. She is a sought after solo pianist, repetiteur and recital accompanist.

Local musicians Donald MacDonald and Sally Prittie will be giving a fundraising concert for Shetland Community Orchestra in Lerwick Town Hall at 7.30pm on Friday 25^th March. They will be performing a rich variety of cello and piano music including works by Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Bruch and Kodaly.

Shetland Community Orchestra aims to offer local musicians performance opportunities and the chance to develop their playing, together with providing local audiences with a diverse and high quality program of classical music.  Anyone of any age who plays an orchestral instrument to a minimum standard equivalent to Associated Board Grade 4 will be welcome to join.  The orchestra will soon be up and running with rehearsals starting in the autumn.

Donald said “I am looking forward to some very enjoyable and rewarding music-making with the orchestra, which will I hope become a permanent part of our community”

Before Donald moved to Shetland in 2009 he founded the Scottish Borders Community Orchestra where he conducted performances with many internationally renowned musicians including Steven Isserlis and Peter Donohoe.

He studied the cello at the International Cello Centre in London with Jane Cowan and then moved to Hong Kong where he became Cello Associate Principal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has performed concertos with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Scottish Sinfonia orchestras and performed chamber music on radio and television in Hong Kong and the UK.

Burra resident Sally Prittie studied piano at Oxford University and then Reading where she gained a Masters degree in Piano Performance. Sally trained as a teacher at Westminster College and while in England taught piano in schools in and around Oxford and accompanied the Oxford Girls’ Choir.  She moved with her family to Shetland in 2003 where she continues to teach piano.

Tickets are £10/£8 and are available from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, 01595 745555 or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org

The event will take place at Islesburgh Community Centre on Sunday 20th September at 12.00 and will feature displays of rare, historical, unusual and valuable guitars from all over Shetland.

Sunday’s event will also feature guitar master classes from performers at this year’s festival, an open stage concert allowing young and emerging guitarists a chance to show off their skills and a trade fair to give visitors a chance to try out guitars, amplifiers and effects pedals.

Anyone who’d like to exhibit guitars at Sunday’s Classic Guitar Show or perform on the open stage are invited to contact me (Bryan Peterson) at Shetland Arts on 01595 743843 or Brian Nicholson at High Level Music on 01595 692618.

The Guitar Festival has a Gypsy Jazz theme this year, in keeping with Willie Johnson’s influences. Headline performers include Lulo Reinhart, grandnephew of the late great Django Reinhart who will be performing at the Garrison Theatre on Friday 19^th September and Bigton Hall on Saturday 19^th September, and Havana Swing, a ‘Hot Jazz’ quintet who will be performing in the Baltasound Hall on the Friday and the Town Hall on the Saturday. There will also be workshops and performances in schools throughout Shetland. See the Guitar Festival page for more info.

Tickets are available for all concerts priced £12 (£10 concessions) from

• High Level Music, 1 Gardie Court, Lerwick – 01595 692618
• Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, Lerwick – 01595 745 555 (tickets can be purchased by credit card over the phone and collected at the venue before the performance)

Shetland Arts in conjunction with the Italian Cultural Institute is bringing to Shetland the internationally acclaimed Italian Baroque Ensemble Arcomelo.

They will be performing in the newly refurbished St. Columba’s Church, Lerwick on Friday 24th April and Busta House Hotel, Brae, on Saturday 25th April.

The programme will feature a variety of music for voice, strings and organ by the composer Antonio Vivaldi. Their line up for the concerts is organ, violin, 2 violas, cello and a soprano singer.

Arcomelo Poster

They will also be leading two workshops; one at the Anderson High School on Friday 24th April and a public workshop at Lerwick Town Hall on Sunday 26th April 5-7pm. The workshop at the Town Hall is suitable for instrumentalists and singers of any age and ability and musicians are encouraged to take along their instruments.

The concert on Friday 24th April takes place after the first day of the Young Fiddler of the Year Competition. Shetland Arts are offering all participants in the competition complimentary tickets to the Friday evening concert.

Arcomelo was founded by the harpsichord player Michele Benuzzi and is composed of several musicians from different backgrounds who specialise in playing Baroque music on original period instruments. Their repertoire dates from the beginning of the 17th century to the classical period and is mainly concert music for harpsichord and orchestra from manuscripts or unpublished material preserved in European libraries.

Arcomelo have played for important music festivals all over the world including the “Tirol Festspiele” in Austria, the “Festival Internacional de Musica Antigua de Daroca” in Spain, and the Tochigi Kuranomachi Early Music Festival in Japan.

They are recording artists for the Milan record label La Bottega Discantica and in September 2008 they recorded the symphonies and concerts for harpsichord and orchestra by W.F. Bach. This year they are planning to record works by JS Bach for solo harpsichord and for harpsichord and strings.

Shetland Arts Music Development Officer Bryan Peterson said ‘The Arcomelo Ensemble musicians are really looking forward to their trip north; performing in some of Shetland’s best venue’s, learning about Shetland music and joining in a session or two while they’re here.’

Concerts:
Friday 24th April @ 7.30pm at St. Columba’s Church, Lerwick
Saturday 25th April & 7.30 at Busta House, Brae
Tickets £10/£8

Workshops:
Friday 24th April @ 2pm at Anderson High School, Lerwick
Free to AHS school pupils
Sunday 26th April @ 5pm at Lerwick Town Hall
Tickets £5 (under 16s free)

All tickets are available from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, Lerwick – 01595 745555

Further information
http://www.arcomelo.com/ing/home.html

Bryan Peterson, Music Development Officer, Shetland Arts
Toll Clock Centre, Lerwick, Shetland, ZE1 0DE
01595 743 843