The concert, which starts at 7:30pm, will showcase a profusion of local talent including duo performances from Alan McKay & Robert Bennet, Johnny Polson & Lewie Peterson, and Brydon Williamson & Patrick Mainland, together with sets from Brian Nicholson & the High Level Music Students, and the inimitable Norman Goudie & Friends.

Bryan Peterson, Music Development Officer at Shetland Arts, said: “The guitar is probably the most popular instrument in Shetland, and the varied line-up reflects the broad range of genres in which it features. We have a wealth of fantastic guitarists in the isles – I only wish time allowed us to squeeze some more of them into the concert programme!”

The first Guitar Festival took place in 2005 and performers have included Martin Taylor, J P Cormier, Redmond O’Toole, Eduardo Niebla and, last month, Svara Kanti. In 2010 the festival was extended into an autumn season of concerts.

The Peerie Willie Guitar Season is dedicated to the memory of the late William Johnson, the highly regarded guitarist who pioneered the jazz influenced accompaniment style now prevalent in traditional Shetland music. Willie was heavily influenced by the jazz musicians he heard on the radio as a young man and the festival always has a healthy dose of jazz guitar in the mix.

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 Development Agency

bryan.peterson@shetlandarts.org 01595 745 760

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

The Shetland Young Promoters Group, in conjunction with SIC Youth Services and Shetland Arts’ ‘Band Camp’ project, is hosting ‘Rocktober’ – a gig featuring both some of Shetland’s best young bands and previously unheard collaborations created at the Band Camp event.

The gig will take place on Saturday the 22^nd of October in Isleburgh’s Room 16. It will run from 7:30pm till 11pm with doors opening at 7pm. The gig will feature a wide range of musical styles from indie pop to heavy metal from bands including Automatic Chicken, Metcarpal Love, Organised Chaos and Comet Conspiracy.

The collaborations will be a result of Youth Services and Shetland Art’s Band Camp which will be running over the same weekend. A group of young musicians will be taking up residence in the Bridge End centre in Burra on Friday night and, under the guidance of tutors Bryan Peterson, Fraser Mouat, Stevie Hook and Gary Smith, aim to write songs ready to perform at the Rocktober gig the following evening and record them the next day. The camp will provide a great opportunity for the young musicians to experiment with musical styles they wouldn’t normally pursue and to receive advice and encouragement from respected and experienced musical talents from around the isles.

Eilidh Jones, current chair of the Young Promoters, said: ‘The event will allow accomplished musicians to pass on their skills and allow the younger generation to benefit from their experiences. Rocktober, the culmination of the efforts of the bands throughout the weekend, will showcase all the different talents of this dynamic group of young artists.’

Bryan Peterson, Shetland Arts Music Development Officer and one of the Band Camp tutors, said, “It’ll be an intensive weekend for the young musicians – writing, arranging, rehearsing, performing and recording brand new material, but I’m sure they’ll rise to the challenge!”

Rocktober will be the third gig organised by the Young Promoters this year, following the success of their Talent Tournament in March in which young bands competed for the chance to perform at the Young Promoters Tall Ships Showcase in July.

Tickets for Rocktober cost £4 either from the Shetland Box Office or on the door. All ages are welcome and the group wishes to stress that the event will be alcohol free.

There will also be a free masterclass where people can learn about the group’s music and instruments in the Garrison Theatre at 3pm on the Saturday afternoon.

* Svara Kanti

Svara-Kanti brings together four acclaimed masters of Indian and Western music to play evocative ancient folk music re-imagined: virtuosic Indian classical traditions, the finest Bollywood film music (including compositions by Slumdog Millionaire Oscar winner AR Rahman) and new Indian music, all reinterpreted with contemporary Western, classical and jazz influences.

Svara-Kanti consists of Simon Thacker on classical guitar (Park Lane Group Award winner, RPS Award nominee, “startling virtuosity“: The Scotsman); incredible Carnatic South Indian violinist Jyotsna Srikanth, who has recorded over 200 Bollywood soundtracks and is a Trinity College of Music Fellow; internationally renowned tabla player Sarvar Sabri, who has a musical lineage stretching back ten generations to the Royal Court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and the beautiful voice of London based singer and actress Japjit Kaur. Japjit has performed extensively and written in various Indian languages and styles, including Bollywood, Bhangra and Indian classical, and was Musical Director and vocal coach for the Royal National Theatre’s production of Rafta Rafta.

Prior to the full group performance at each concert, Simon Thacker will also present a solo classical guitar recital.

Svara-Kanti is a virtuosic group of musicians whose members seamlessly blend Indian and Western styles. A taste of the exotic is the perfect antidote to autumnal blues.

The Guardian described Svara-Kantis’s music as “an exuberant virtuoso display” whilst the Glasgow Herald commented on the “marvellous interaction between Thacker and Srikanth …. strikingly intricate, powerful unison playing from all involved.”

Tickets for the concerts at Bigton on 14^th October and the Garrison Theatre on 15^th October, both starting at 7.30pm, are priced at £10 (£8 concessions) and are available from Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre, 01595 745 555, or online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org.

Bookings for Saturday’ masterclass can also be made through the Box Office.

The next event in the Guitar Season will be the Shetland ‘Guitar Hero’ concert at the Town Hall on Saturday 19th November.

Biographies

Simon Thacker is Head of Guitar at Napier University and Honorary Fellow in Music at the University of Aberdeen. He has been nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award and in 2006 was a winner of the 50th Park Lane Group Awards, resulting in his acclaimed solo Purcell Room debut. Simon has performed in Cuba, the USA, Spain, Malta, France and Belgium, and broadcast on Cuban TV and BBC Radio 3. He is founder of Camerata Ritmata, a unique collaboration with some of the UK’s leading jazz and world musicians, which he composes for. He is also a member of duo ¡Canto vivo! with opera star Claire Debono. In 2009 he led his ground-breaking East/West project The Nava Rasa Ensemble, featuring nine of Europe’s best Indian and Western classical musicians performing new concerti by Nigel Osborne and Shirish Korde, on a prestigious Tune Up tour across the UK.

Japjit Kaur was born in north India surrounded by classical and Bollywood music and dance. She first studied Indian classical music in Haryana at the age of 10 and was awarded a first class division as well as a distinction by the Pracheen Kala Kendra. Since moving to London she has performed extensively and written in various Indian languages and styles, including Bollywood, Bhangra and Indian classical. In 2004 Japjit worked with Flatline Team in collaboration with Motion Pictures on a project called ‘Dilruba’ as a singer-songwriter and an actress. This was also short listed for the LA short film festival. In late 2005 Japjit was appointed as a weekend prime time radio presenter by Panjab Radio and went on to study Hindustani vocals further at the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Institute with Smt. Chandrima Misra followed by tuition from Pandit Chiranjib Chakraborty. She has also been studying Qawalli and Sufi music from Ustad Ameer Khan Sahib. Since 2006 she has been working extensively with renowned composer Niraj Chag and was Musical Director and vocal coach for the Royal National Theatre production of Rafta Rafta.

Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth learnt the rudiments of the classical Carnatic music of southern India from her mother from the age of three and gave her first recital when she was just nine. Although she has a profound respect for her heritage and performs in the classical Carnatic style with an impressive combination of emotional expression and masterful technique, she refuses to be bound by tradition. She is also an accomplished Western classical violinist and Jyotsna has played violin for over 200 commercial Indian films and has released many albums internationally. She has received many national and international awards and was  recently conferred a Fellowship in Carnatic Music from Trinity College of Music, London.

Her many notable performances include: Queen Elizabeth Hall; WOMAD; BBC Radio 3; Red Violin Festival (Wales); Cleveland Music Festival; World Trade Auditorium (Singapore); East-West International Music Encounter (Bangalore).

Sarvar Sabri is an internationally renowned tabla player/composer whose versatility and passion for the rich diversity of the world’s musical traditions has spurred him to constantly experiment with other world-class musicians and composers, and to extend the boundaries of his own classical form. Sabri is proficient not only as a soloist but also works with many Indian classical vocalists, instrumentalists and Kathak dancers. He regularly participates in major music festivals held in India. He makes regular appearances at the South Bank, London and has also performed for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 including the South Bank Show. As a soloist, he has worked with the BCMG in collaboration with composer Judith Weir, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, East of England Orchestra and Sinfonia Baltica. In 2006, he appeared with CBSO and in March 2007, he worked with Viva Sinfonia (Derby). Sabri’s work can be heard on numerous CDs playing with some of the world’s finest musicians.

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

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

We hope everyone has a great time over the festival weekend, and congratulate the Folk Festival Committee on putting together another great line-up of groups and musicians.

• Shetland News article published earlier today – Tuning up for a five day spree