Perth Festival of the Arts 1972 to 2024

JUMP TO

2018

  • Val McDermid in discussion with Fred MacAulay 2018

    Event Date: 26th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

     

    An afternoon with Scottish crime-writer Val McDermid interviewed by Fred MacAulay
     

    Val McDermid is one of the biggest names in crime writing. Her novels have been translated into 30 languages, sold over 10 million copies worldwide.


    Val has created many notable characters such as journalist, Lindsay Gordon; the private investigator, Kate Brannigan; and psychologist, Tony Hill. Her books include three main series: Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan, and, beginning in 1995, the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series, the first entry in which, The Mermaids Singing, won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. The Hill ⁄Jordan series was adapted for the highly successful television drama; Wire in the Blood, starring Robson Green.

  • Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra 2018

    Event Date: 26th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra 

    Conducted by Michael Sanderling

    With Jennifer Pike (violin)
     


     

    Programme
       - Weber Euryanthe Overture
       - Bruch Violin Concerto
       - Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

     

    Renowned for her dazzling interpretative flair and exemplary technique (Classic FM), violinist Jennifer Pike has taken the musical world by storm with her unique artistry and compelling insight into music from the Baroque to the present day. In 1989 at the age of 12 she became the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the youngest major prizewinner in the Menuhin International Violin Competition. 

     

    The Dresden Philharmonic can look back on a 150-year-tradition as the orchestra of Saxony’s capital Dresden. Ever since 1870, when Dresden was provided with its first large concert hall, its symphony concerts have been an integral element of the city’s cultural life. The Dresden Philharmonic has remained a concert orchestra to this day, with regular excursions into concert performance and oratorio. Its homestead is the state-of-the-art concert hall inaugurated in April 2017 in the Kulturpalast building at the heart of the historic district. The principal conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic since 2011 is Michael Sanderling.

     

    18.30 Pre-concert talk by Stephen Johnson “How Shostakovich changed my Mind”. Free but ticketed.
    BBC music broadcaster and composer Stephen Johnson explores the power of Shostakovich’s music during Stalin’s reign of terror, and relates how it gave form to the fears and hopes of an oppressed nation. Johnson writes of the extraordinary healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness and tells of how the music of Shostakovich gave him unexpected strength after struggling with bipolar disorder since adolescence. 
     

    Through interviews conducted with surviving members of the Soviet orchestras, through his reading of philosophers, psychoanalysts, and neurologists, Johnson paints a compelling picture of one man’s music and its power to validate and sustain another man’s life.
     

    ‘What I’m talking about is not simply my personal ‘journey’: rather, it’s a testimony to the sustaining, uplifting, ultimately restorative power of Shostakovich’s music.’  
     

    Yet there is no escapism, no false consolation in Shostakovich’s greatest music: this is some of the darkest, saddest, at times bitterest music ever composed. So why do so many feel grateful to Shostakovich for having created it – not just Russians, but westerners like Stephen Johnson, brought up in a far safer kind of society? 
     

    Johnson draws on interviews with the members of the orchestra who performed Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony during the siege of Leningrad, during which almost a third of the population starved to death. In the end, this book is a reaffirmation of a kind of humanist miracle: that hope could be reborn in a time when there was only ‘hope against hope’. 

    • Johnson explores recent findings on the subject of the ‘musical brain’ in which the profound effect of music on the brain is coming to light
    • Publication ties in with the high profile tour of the St Petersburg Symphony, the same orchestra who played during the siege of Leningrad 
    • Planned collaboration with the Dresden Philharmonic who are performing Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in the UK in May 2018


    Author ​B​io: Stephen Johnson has taken part in several hundred radio programmes and documentaries, including Radio 3's weekly Discovering Musicseries. He is also presenter on the Classic Arts podcast series Archive Classics. Stephen has made numerous appearances on TV, contributing as guest interviewee on BBC4 coverage of The Proms, ITV’s The South Bank Show, and more recently on BBC1’s The One Show. He also made an important contribution, both as commentator and narrator, to Tony Palmer’s controversial film about the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, Oh Thou Transcendent, and more recently to Palmer's film about Gustav Holst, In the Bleak Midwinter

  • Hannah Fisher and Friends 2018

    Event Date: 26th May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth


    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 26th March 2018.  Friends book 10am Monday 19th March. Only £10 to join.

    Children go free at this concert.

     

    This is the latest in our series of concerts where we feature musicians, who from the area, and have decided to make their careers in music.

    Since becoming a finalist in the BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition in 2013, Hannah's own music has taken a step away from traditional and towards contemporary, to include a wide range of genres.

     

    The past six years have seen her grow to be one of Scotland's most in demand session musicians as both fiddle player and vocalist, recording and touring across Europe, America and Japan with over ten different bands and as permanent fixture with Scottish indie acts Idlewild, Roddy Woomble and King Creosote. She has recently been writing music for TV & film and performing as part of some large scale productions including King Creosote's BAFTA nominated music to film 'From Scotland With Love'. 

     

    In 2014 she recorded her debut EP 'Watching Time' on the Isle of Mull, where she now lives, and is now working on an album with her longstanding friend and guitarist Sorren Maclean, of whom she'll be joined by on the day. 

     

     The secret weapon of Scottish Indie-folk'  The Herald 

     

    Undeniably flawless' Fame Magazine 

     

    'A commitment to musical excellence'  Redrospective.com

     

    www.facebook.com/hannahfishermusic

     

  • Scottish Opera Roadshow 2018

    Event Date: 26th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

     

     

    The Scottish Opera Trailer rolls back into town on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th  May to give free shows throughout the day. Earlier in the week local Primary Schools children will be able to get a taste of opera.

    More details to follow. Tickets are free but you need to book in advance.

     

    12.00 A Little Bit of Eugene Onegin Book here

    14.00 A Little Bit of H.M.S. Pinafore Book here

    15.30 A Little Bit of H.M.S. Pinafore Book here

     

  • An Evening with Donald Maxwell (baritone) 2018

    Event Date: 25th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    An Evening with Donald Maxwell
     

    Yes , But you don't go !
     

    Donald Maxwell launches his first farewell tour at this year's Perth Festival. Unlike Elton John there are however only two dates on his tour- all the more reason therefore to catch his final concert in the Fair City !
     

    He has had two careers. One as a Geography teacher at Perth Academy, and the other, rather longer lasting and marginally more successful, as an opera singer. When he realised that a number of his former pupils had retired, it seemed like a good time to hang up his  larynx.

     

    Tonight's programme has a few friends helping Donald to highlight some of the musical milestones of the last 40 odd years. Expect some humour, a touch of nostalgia and of course " On the Road to Mandalay"!
     

    Read more about Donald's career in opera here.

  • Scottish Opera Trailer 2018

    Event Date: 25th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

     

     

    The Scottish Opera Trailer rolls back into town on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th  May to give free shows throughout the day. Earlier in the week local Primary Schools children will be able to get a taste of opera. More details to follow.

    Tickets are free but you need to book in advance.

     

    12.00 A Little Bit of H.M.S. Pinafore Book Here

    14.00 A Little Bit of Eugene Onegin Book Here

    15.30 A Little Bit of Eugene Onegin Book Here

  • David Jones "Song Cycle" - free ticketed concert 2018

    Event Date: 25th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Norie Miller Room, Perth Concert Hall
     

    This event is free but ticketed
     

    En route from John O’Groats to Land’s End on his Brompton folding bike, prize-winning baritone David Jones pauses to perform Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel alongside folksongs from his journey. Song Cycle is in support of Yehudi Menuhin’s charity Live Music Now.

     

    For more information about David’s thousand-mile musical journey, visit www.song-cycle.com or follow @davidjonesbari on Twitter

     

    Song Cycle is firstly an exploration of Vaughan Williams’s song cycle Songs of Travel, with
    words by Robert Louis Stevenson. How does the experience of a long and arduous journey
    change the singer’s approach to these songs?


    With their Scottish words and English music, the Songs of Travel are a quintessentially British
    expression of the emotions associated with travel and being in nature. On his thousand-mile
    journey, David will pass close to the birthplaces of both Stevenson and Vaughan Williams and
    through the landscapes that inspired their work, developing and deepening his interpretation of
    the songs as he goes.

     


    Alongside the Vaughan Williams songs, he will perform folk songs from the regions he passes
    through, in a mixture of existing settings and newly-commissioned arrangements, with a focus
    on the region in which the concert is being given.

     


    This second strand of the project relates to Vaughan Williams’s own work in collecting folk
    songs across Britain in the early twentieth century. In addition to research at the English Folk
    Dance and Song Society before the project, there are plans to open an online portal for people
    to submit examples of their favourite local songs.

     

    A prizewinner in the 2015 AESS Patricia Routledge
    English Song Competition, David Jones is equally
    at home in song, oratorio and opera. He has a
    particular interest in new music, and has given
    premieres of works by Nick Bicât, Stephen
    Deazley, Louis Mander and Josh Spear.

     


    Recent highlights have included Papageno in Die
    Zauberflöte and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte for the
    Lyric Opera Studio Weimar and Sharpless in
    Madam Butterfly for the King’s Head Theatre. He
    toured the UK as part of Joshua Sofaer’s innovative
    Opera Helps project and is a soloist on Yehudi
    Menuhin’s Live Music Now scheme.

  • Perth Grammar School Concert

    Event Date: 25th May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Perth Grammar School Programme - 25 May 2018

     

     

    Orchestra

     

    In The Hall of the Mountain King

     

    Greig

     

    Piano Solo - Niall Robertson

     

    Nocturne in E Flat

     

    Chopin

     

    Vocal Solo - Amellia Menmuir

     

    A Gaelic Blessing

     

    Rutter

     

    String Orchestra 

     

    Clocks

    Viva Vivaldi

    Martin

    Vivaldi

     

    Euphonium Solo - Alex Dow

     

     

    In Dreams

     

     

    Shore

     

    Choir

     

    Hallelujah

     

    Buckley

     

    Flute Solo - Rebecca Anderson

     

    In The Playground with Erica

     

    Pucihar

     

    Brass Ensemble

     

    Hallelujah Drive

     

    Hazell

     

    Vocal Solo - Ben Leathley 

     

    Running Home to You

     

    Pasek and Paul

     

    Clarinet Solo - Nicola Orr

     

    Modal Blues

     

    Templeton

     

    Orcherstra and Choir 

     

    Let There Be Peace

     

    Raybould

     

     

    Music Teachers- C Simon and L Waterson

     

    Instrumental Tutors- S Barker, T Mitchell, M Young, J Whiteman, E MacFarlane

  • Between The Crosses 2018

    Event Date: 24th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    This show will be held in the Joan Knight Studio in Perth Theatre
     

    Between the recorded interviews, between the military records, between the silence, this new play explores a soldier’s untold emotional journey. Between the battles of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele, this soldier’s great nephew explores the guilt of slipping between the crosses, of being a survivor in the war to end all wars.
     

    "The script is a real strength... The best history lesson most of us never had... a performance of dignified timelessness and respect."  Wales Arts Review

     

    This show is timed at 18.45 so that the audience can go on to see An Evening with Eric and Ern show in the main house of the Theatre at 20.00 if they choose to.

     

     

  • An Evening of Eric and Ern 2018

    Event Date: 24th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

     

     

    FROM THE OLIVIER NOMINATED DUO BEHIND THE HUGELY CELEBRATED

    CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED WEST END HIT ERIC & LITTLE ERN
     

    This is a brilliant homage crammed full of renditions of those famous
    comedy sketches, that hits all the right notes! From Greig's Piano
    concerto to Mr Memory, Arsenal! It’s a show full of Morecambe and
    Wise's most loved routines. This wonderful show, evokes memories of
    times when whole families would huddle around the telly on Sunday
    evenings. You'll feel you've seen the real thing and taken back to a world
    of sunshine and laughter.
     

    It’s very hard not to warm to the sweet silliness of Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens.   The Guardian
     

    Identical: The pair are dead ringers for the dynamic duo. The Daily Mail

     

  • Glenalmond School Concert

    Event Date: 24th May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Glemalmond College Programme - 24 May 2018

     

    Ben Bradshaw (clarinet)

     

     Pot-pourri

     

    Gordon Langford

     

    Abigail Strickland (voice)

     

    Deine blaues Auge

     

    Johannes Brahms

     

    Alexander Wallace (piano)

     

    Reverie (Eight Concert Etudes)

     

    Nicolai Kapustin

     

    Niall Dundee (voice/guitar)

     

    Last thing on my mind

     

    Tom Paxton

     

    Angus Grierson (trombone)

     

    Cavatine

     

    Camille Saint-Saëns

     

    Conrad Ihering (violin)

     

    Adagio (Sonata No. 1 in G minor), BWV 1001

     

    J. S. Bach

     

    Ellie Ridley (recorder)

     

    Moderato semplice (Sonata, Op. 121)

     

    York Bowen

     

    Charlie Bradshaw (trumpet)

     

    Andante & Allegro

     

    Joseph Ropartz

     

    Alexander ace (organ)

     

     WallFête, Op. 51

     

    Jean Langlais

     

    Choral Group Londonerry Air

     

    Trad. Irish

     

    arr Bob Chilcott

     

    Conrad Ihering (Violin)

     

    Perpetuum Mobile

     

    Ottokar Nováček

     

     

    Tim Ridley (Director of Music)

     

    Jasmine Nicholson (Assistant Director of Music)

  • Elephant Sessions, Siobhan Miller and Fara 2018

    Event Date: 23rd May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

     

     

     

    Enjoy an evening of Celtic and Scottish music at its very best from three multi award winning Scottish acts. All three of this evening’s performers were winners or nominees at the Scots Trad Music Awards 2017 and have won various other prestigious awards.
     

    Elephant Sessions hail from the Highlands and have exploded onto the indie trad folk scene in 2017, winning Album of the Year at the Scots Trad Awards. Passionate about their culture and their origins, they are sensational to see live and have appeared at some of Europe’s most notable festivals to huge acclaim. “Absolutely Superb” - BBC Radio.

     

    Siobhan Miller, recently named Scots Singer of the Year for an unprecedented third time, has a unique vocal style and diverse range through traditional, contemporary and self-penned material. She has toured extensively fronting her own band, appeared on Broadway in New York and has guested on the US/UK TV drama, Outlander.

     

    FARA are a band of four girls who have been friends and playing music since early childhood. They produce a fiery sound rooted strongly in their upbringing amidst the music of Orkney which won them a BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. With vibrant arrangements full of rich harmonies, energetic playing and driving piano, their show is an exciting one.

     

     

     

  • Emma Johnson - Clarinet Goes to Town 2018

    Event Date: 23rd May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

    Finish time 9.30pm

    Emma Johnson Clarinet Goes to Town - A Night of Swing

    When clarinettist Emma Johnson won BBC Young Musician of the Year the musical world discovered an artist of unique charm, skill and charisma.   Widely regarded as Britain's favourite clarinettist, Johnson is still one of the most popular figures on the concert scene with an unparalleled ability to speak straight to an audience's heart.
     

    In Clarinet Goes to Town Emma Johnson traces the roots of traditional American jazz whilst paying tribute to some of the greatest clarinettists of all time - Sidney Bechet, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw - with the help of John Lenehan (piano) and Paul Clarvis (percussion).

  • St John's Academy School Concert

    Event Date: 23rd May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    St John’s Academy Programme – 23 May 2018

     

    Secondary Brass Ensemble

     

    Hallelujah Drive 

     

    Chris Hazell

     

    Ulla Gingule (Voice)

     

    The Trolley Song

     

    Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane

     

    James Finnon (Clarinet)

     

    What’s Up

     

    Christopher Gumbley

     

    Tamzin Longhorn (Violin)

     

    Niel Gow’s Lament

     

    Niel Gow

     

    Charlie Doogan (Cornet)

     

    Folk Song

     

    Lucy Pankhurst

     

    Instrumental Group

     

    Game of Thrones

     

    Ramin Djawadi

     

    Robert McCall (piano)

     

    Dead Things

     

    Philip Glass

     

    Weronika Piotrowska(Clarinet)

     

    Landler

     

    Diabelli

     

    Primary Brass Group

     

    Movie Buster and 24/7

     

    Sarah Watts

     

    Maria Foley (Violin)

     

    Tarantella Napoletana

     

    Italian Folk Song

     

    Jack Dailly (Voice)

     

    Wild Mountain Thyme

     

    Francis McPeake

     

    Fiddle Group

     

    Set of Waltzes

     

    Traditional

     

  • Tenebrae Choir 2018

    Event Date: 22nd May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    We Will Remember Them
    Elgar: They are at rest 
    Tavener: Song for Athene 
    Gurney: Since I Believe in God the Father Almighty 
    Judith Bingham: A Walk with Ivor Gurney 
    Howells: Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing 
    Holst: The Evening Watch 
    Parry: Songs of Farewell 

     

    The British seem to have an instinct for remembrance, deep in the collective psyche. It is in the
    fabric of our towns and cities in the form of inscribed memorials, and just below the surface
    there is a respect for sacrifice, particularly in active service. The minute’s silence, the sight of
    falling poppies, crowds lining streets for a cortege, and of course the music of consolation
    and respect which has a sound which so many recognise. From the first two notes of the Last
    Post from a lone bugler to the emotive first chords of Elgar’s Nimrod, we have a culture of
    commemoration in music and the choral tradition possesses an unmistakable role in giving
    voice and words to these sentiments.

    Tenebrae offers the finest pairing of poetry and music in a range of works, some already
    treasured in the heart of the nation, with other masterpieces which might well join them.

     

    Please note seats in the front and rear nave will be reserved for the concert. Seats in the side will be unreserved and have resticted view but screens are available.

     

    Supported by

    DUNARD FUND

     

     

  • Perth High School Concert

    Event Date: 22nd May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Perth High School Programme - 22 May 2018

     

     

    Pipes

     

    Traditional Piping Set

     

    arr. G. Mulholland

     

    Orchestra

     

    A Tribute to Henry Mancini

     

    C. Custer

     

    Solo Bassoon

     

    Bassoon Concerto (movt. 3)

     

    W. A. Mozart

     

    Girls’ Choir

     

    I Believe I can fly R. Kelly

     

    arr. R. Monk

     

    String Orchestra

     

    Adagio (extract) from Double Violin Concerto

    Slumdog Millionaire A. R. Rahman

     

    J.S. Bach

    arr. L. Moore

     

    Brass Band

     

    Summon the Sword

     

    J Blyth

     

    Solo Piano

     

    Deux Arabesque no. 1

     

    C. Debussy

     

    Mixed Choir

     

    Fix You

     

    M. Berryman

    arr. J. Wikeley

     

    Wind Band

     

    West Side Story

     

    L. Bernstein

    arr. J. Bocock

     

     

     

    Soloists:

    Bassoon-Shona Rae(S6) Piano-Sam Mclellan(S6)
    Violin-Erin Hull(S6) and Shona Rae(S6) Organ-Lewis McGoldrick(S4)

     

     

    Accompanists:

    Maureen Rutherford and Sam McClellan

     

    Conductors:

    Catherine Black Allan Kelman Alison James
    Patrick Smyth Phili Alexander Willie McMullen
    Ilse MacFarlane Lyndsey Paterson Jill Smyth
    Joe Whiteman Graeme Mulholland Maureen Rutherford

     

  • The Rev Richard Coles 2018

    Event Date: 21st May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

     

    The Rev Richard Coles is one of the few celebrities to have successfully bridged the gap between pop music and the pulpit, but whatever the medium, the message he broadcasts is essentially witty, thought-provoking and always interesting.

     

    A multi-instrumentalist who partnered Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band The Communards - achieving three Top Ten hits, including the biggest selling hit of 1986 Don't Leave Me This Way - Richard subsequently left the pop world to train for a priesthood in the Church of England. He is probably best known as the regular host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live programme and from Strictly Come Dancing. He appears regularly on Newsnight and QI and Have I Got News For You, where his quick and inventive verbal humour is always to the fore.

     

  • Perth Academy School Concert

    Event Date: 21st May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Perth Academy Programme - 21 May 2018

     

    Bagpipe Duo: Brodie Barrie and Dominic Bews – “Traditional Scottish Medley

     

    Fiddle Group:

    March - Grand March

    Set Of Reels- (De’il among the Tailors, Staten Island, Mrs MacLeod’s Reel)

    Slow Air  - Peace of Remembered Hills

    March – Fiddler’s to the Fore

     

    Freya Edington S3 – “Lucy Long” by Fred Godfrey

     

    Junior Brass Ensemble

     

    Niamh Barlow S2 – “Friend Like Me” by Alan Menkin

     

    Jenni Gillespie S6 – “Chanson Triste” by Koussevitsky

     

    Sophie Chisholm S6 –“Concertino for Xylophone”  Mov. 1 & 2 by Toshiro Mayuzumi

     

    Perth Academy Junior Choir:

    “Blackbird” by Lennon & McCartney

    “Wayfaring Stranger” Arr. C Rutherford

    “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson

  • Festival Service

    Event Date: 20th May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    One of the great traditions of Perth Festival of the Arts, is our annual Festival Service in St John’s Kirk.

    This is an inspirational and uplifting event, and also, a great civic occasion. The members of Perth Youth Orchestra join the choir and organist of St John’s Kirk to lead the music and raise the roof of this historic building.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ruby Wax Frazzled 2018

    Event Date: 20th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled.

    Drop dead gorgeous, sassy and smart, Ruby Wax brings her new one-woman show to the stage. Based on her number one best seller, 'A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled'.
     

    She’s been honoured with the title of poster girl for mental illness; once crazy now less so, she gives a tour of the mind – how to use it, not lose it. Ruby Wax, if you don’t know, is a much loved, U.S. born comedy-actor-writer of incredibly successful books and TV shows including script editor of 'Absolutely Fabulous', and is a mental health campaigner. By the way, she graduated from Oxford with a Masters in Mindfulness–based Cognitive Therapy (at a late stage), three years ago - so she should know her stuff! 
     

    Recommended age 14+

     

  • Royal Northern Sinfonia 2018

    Event Date: 20th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 26th March 2018.  Friends book 10am Monday 19th March. Only £10 to join.
     

    Please note 8pm start time

     

    ‘There is no better chamber orchestra in Britain’ The Guardian

     

    Conductor / piano: Lars Vogt

    BEETHOVEN: Prometheus Overture

    BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto no. 1, op.15, C major

    BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto no. 5, op. 73, E-flat major (Emperor)


    Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of Sage Gateshead, is the UK’s only full-time chamber orchestra. Founded in 1958, RNS has built a world-wide reputation for the North East through the quality of its music-making and the immediacy of the connections the musicians make with audiences. The orchestra regularly flies the flag for the region at the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms, this year performing Handel’s Water Music at The Stage @ the Dock in Hull – the first Prom performed outside of London since 1930. They appear frequently at venues and festivals in Europe, and recently toured to South America, China and South Korea.

  • Grimethorpe Colliery Band 2018

    Event Date: 19th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     


     

    The Grimethorpe Colliery band was formed in 1917 as a leisure activity for the workmen at the colliery. International fame came to the band with the making of the 1995 film Brassed Off. Since the release of the film the band has toured extensively in Europe, including a film festival in Norway, the World Cup in Paris and the Eurovision Song Contest to an estimated television audience of 50 million!
     

    The band was honoured to appoint Dr Robert Childs as Principal Conductor and Music Director in January 2014.
     

    'A thoroughly entertaining show and a must for all music enthusiasts!' (The Guardian)

    'Sensational - performing your favourite classics in spectacular style!' (The Times). 

     

  • Children's Classic Concerts 2018

    Event Date: 19th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 26th March 2018.  Friends book 10am Monday 19th March. Only £10 to join.

     

    Children’s Classic Concerts’ Essential Orchestra is back with a brand-new concert for 2018 featuring Prokofiev’s iconic fairytale Peter and the Wolf brought to life on stage by our very own musical characters.​ Join us on a fantastical adventure of musical storytelling as our musicians transport you from Peter's enchanted forest to Romeo and Juliet’s castle stopping off for a spin around Sleeping Beauty’s ballroom. And we'll need your help in the Wizard's dungeon conjuring up some magic to help the Sorcerer’s Apprentice​ get those brooms under control!​

     

  • The Nutcracker and I by Alexandra Dariescu 2018

    Event Date: 19th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

     

     


    ‘The Nutcracker and I’ by Alexandra Dariescu, is a new and innovative 50-minute live performance based on the magical Christmas story, for anyone who dares to dream with a pianist, ballerina and exquisite digital animations. 

     

    Alexandra inspires the audience by telling us her own story as Clara: from little girl to concert pianist and invites us to use our own imagination, to hope, work hard and never give up.
     

    On stage will be a grand piano, played by Dariescu herself, and ballerina Désirée Ballantyne behind a see-through gauze screen. Projected onto the gauze and bringing the story to life are exquisite digital animations, all hand drawn and created in advance by Yeast Culture. They follow the music and engage live with the pianist and ballerina as they ‘dance’ across the screen. The audience will feel like they are actually in and a part of The Nutcracker story.
     

    Tchaikovsky’s enchanting ballet music features throughout and includes favourites such as Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Arabian Dance, Chinese Dance, Pax de Deux, and the Flower Waltz, in 15 virtuosic arrangements by composers such as Mikhail Pletnev, Stepan Esipoff, Percy Grainger and three brand new adaptations by Gavin Sutherland.

     

     

     

  • Soapbox Art and Science 2018

    Event Date: 19th May 2018

    Venue: Various Venues In Perth

     

     

    No tickets required for this show as it will be in the High Street in Perth.

     

    Local scientists and artists take to the streets of Perth! Come and hear about the new, world-changing discoveries happening across Scotland, directly from the researchers themselves. Leading women scientists have stepped out of the lab alongside amazing artists to tell you what inspires them and how art and science can work together to smash stereotypes! Expect hands-on demonstrations, visual art, performance and some cutting-edge science.


    Soapbox Science is an international, public outreach platform for promoting women scientists and the science they do. Their events transform public areas into an arena for public learning and scientific debate. Soapbox Science want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy, learn from, heckle, question, probe, interact with and be inspired by some of our leading scientists.


    www.soapboxscience.org/

     

  • Illustration Workshop with Jill Calder 2018

    Event Date: 19th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Illustration Workshop with Jill Calder. Jill has designed this year's Festival brochure.
     

    This event is free but you will need to book a ticket in advance at the Box Office at Perth Concert Hall. Tickets will be available to Festival Friends from 19th March and for General Booking from 26th March.

     

    Join award winning illustrator Jill Calder who will introduce you to her latest children’s book, ‘The Picture Atlas’ and take you on an incredible journey from one side of the globe to another! 
     

    During this workshop you’ll have the chance to get creative and become an illustrator yourself and with expert help from Jill you’ll learn how to draw some amazing creatures and THEN...make your own picture book!

     

    Suitable for ages 5-12

    Materials provided

    length of time: 1.5 hrs

     

  • Rossini's Greatest Arias - English Touring Opera 2018

    Event Date: 18th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

     

     

    English Touring Opera
     

    A concert of sparkling vocal displays

    Conductor John Andrews

    Tenor Luciano Botelho

    Mezzo Catherine Carby

    Tenor John-Colyn Gyeantey

    Soprano Gillian Ramm

    Soprano Elena Xanthoudakis

     

    Sung in Italian and French with English surtitles
    Running time: approx. 2 hours 40 minutes (incl. 20 minute interval)
     

    Concert Programme
    Semiramide
    Act 1, Overture

    Maometto II
    Act 2, Trio: “In questi estremi istanti”
    Act 1: Preghiera (“Giusto cielo”) and Scena (“Ahi, padre!”)
    Act 2, Aria: “Non temer: d’un basso affetto”

    Ermione
    Act 2: Gran scena

    Otello
    Act 2, Duet: “Ah vieni, nel tuo sangue”
    Act 3, Aria: “The Willow Song”

    Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra
    Act 2, Scene: “Della cieca fortuna”, to “Deh! Scusa i trasporti”
    Act 2, Aria: “Dov’è Matilde”
    Act 2, Chorus: “Qui soffermiamo il piè”

     

    A thrilling concert of highlights from Rossini’s greatest operas – his serious ones! These were the operas of which Rossini was most proud, and which contain his most brilliant writing for orchestra, and his most challenging vocal fireworks. John Andrews will conduct the full ETO orchestra in exciting scenes from Rossini’s Otello (including his melting ‘Willow Song’), La donna del lago (a Walter Scott feast), Maometto II (the most testing of them all), Elisabetta (the story of Queen Elizabeth I of England) and Ermione.
     

    “I have a great admiration for Rossini. For me, he occupies an essential place in the history of music. His freedom, his life and his genius have always impressed me. He took opera out of its yoke by offering a new freedom to the voice: he completely reinvented lyrical singing. From Barbiere to Il viaggio a Reims through Cenerentola, he created an irresistible style – but I am also sensitive to his serious operas, such as Moses or Maometto II, which are given so rarely.”

    — EMMANUEL MACRON
     

     

  • Jools Holland 2018

    Event Date: 18th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The Brewin Dolphin Festival Concert

     

    Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

    featuring GILSON LAVIS
    with special guest MARC ALMOND

    and guest vocalists RUBY TURNER, LOUISE MARSHALL & ROSIE MAE

     

    With support Galia Arad

     

    Doors: 7 pm.
    Support act on stage: 7.30 pm - 7.50 pm.
    Jools Holland on stage: 8.20 pm. Finish time approx 10.30pm 

     

    We are delighted that this concert will be recorded and broadcast on Radio 2 on Friday Night is Music Night as part of the BBC Biggest Weekend.

     

    Pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, television presenter and multiplatinum recording artist Jools Holland returns this year accompanied by special guest Marc Almond and the unforgettable Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. This will be Jool’s ninth visit to Festival. He first came in 1998 to play in Perth City Hall. He is a great favourite with the Festival audience.

     

    We also are delighted to welcome Marc Almond back. Marc first began performing and recording with the new wave duo Soft Cell.  Some of their hits included Tainted Love, Bedsitter and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. He has also had a diverse career as a solo artist and has sold over 30 million records worldwide. 

     

    Jools Holland with be performing tracks spanning his entire solo career as well as songs taken from his new duets album ‘Sirens Of Song’, released November 2014. With a catalogue that reaches through decades, a night with Jools Holland will bring you the greatest boogie-woogie party in town.

     

    Also featuring the astounding vocal power of Ruby Turner, the soulful tones of Louise Marshall and the tireless drums of original Squeeze member Gilson Lavis, along with the inimitable musicianship of the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Jools’ boogie-woogie party is not to be missed!

     

    Jools Holland OBE DL was born Julian Miles Holland on January 24, 1958 in Blackheath, South East London. At the age of 15 Jools was introduced to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford; together they formed Squeeze, and shortly afterwards they were joined by Gilson Lavis (who had already played with, among others, B. B. King, Chuck Berry and Max Wall), who still drums with Jools. Up The Junction and Cool For Cats gave Squeeze meteoric success and their popularity rapidly extended to America, where their tour included performances at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

    In 1987 Jools formed The Jools Holland Big Band, comprising himself and Gilson Lavis. This has gradually metamorphosed into the current 20-piece Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which consists of pianist, organist, drummer, three female vocals, guitar, bass guitar, two tenor saxophones, two alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, three trumpets, and four trombones.
    Jools' career as a television presenter has run parallel to his musical career. He started in the early 1980s when he interviewed The Police for a documentary that was made while they were recording at George Martin's Montserrat studio. Jools then auditioned to become co-presenter (with Paula Yates) of The Tube, which achieved almost immediate cult status and discovered a whole new generation of musicians and comedians between 1981 and 1986. 

    As always, Jools continues to dazzle audiences across the UK with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and their exuberant live performances.  They have just come off an extensive UK tour and, for the 21st year in a row, celebrated the dawn of the new year with the whole nation on BBC2’s New Year’s Eve TV Show ‘Jools’ Annual Hootenanny’.

     

    Sponsored by

    Brewin Dolphin

  • Perth & Kinross Schools

    Event Date: 18th May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Bagpipe Solo

    Lucy Jamieson – Perth High School 

     

    Highland Cathedral

     

    U Roever and M Korb

     

     

    Perth & Kinross Piano Orchestra

    Parade of the Tin Soldiers

     

     Leon Jessel

     

    Mirror Lake    

     

    Laura Shur

     

    Hong Kong Market

     

    Laura Shur

     

    Conductor: Allan Young

     

    Piano Duet

    Ulla Gingule, Mr Liam O’Hare– St John’s Academy

     

    Country Gardens Piano Duet

     

    arr. P Grainger

     

     

    Flute Solo     

    Ellen Lacoux  - Abernyte Primary

    Aria                 

     

    A Haughton

     

    O Soldier Soldier

     

    Bullard

     

     

    Guitar Ensemble

    I Get Around

     

    Wilson/Love Arr. Nicholson

     

    Thingamagic

     

    Nicholson

     

    Concerto in D

     

    A Vivaldi

     

     

    Piano Solo

    Robert McCall - St Johns Academy

     

    "Dead Things " From the film "The Hours"

     

    P Glass

     

     

  • English Touring Opera - The Marriage of Figaro 2018

    Event Date: 17th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

     

     

     

    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 26th March 2018.  Friends book 10am Monday 19th March. Only £10 to join.


    English Touring Opera presents an energetic new production of one of the world’s most beloved operas, Mozart’s classic comedy The Marriage of Figaro. During the course of one eventful day, Figaro and Susanna must overcome every obstacle put in their way by Count Almaviva and his cronies before they can finally be united as man and wife. Blanche McIntyre (Tosca, 2017) returns to direct this most warm-hearted of operas, equally acclaimed for its sublime music and huge sense of fun.

    Featuring a first-class BAME cast, including Ross Ramgobin (Patience) as Figaro, Rachel Redmond as Susanna and Nadine Benjamin as the Countess, this promises to be a production like no other.

    Sung in English

     

    Running time 2 hours 50 minutes including the interval

     

    Supported by The Cross Trust

  • ArTay 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th May 2018

    Event Date: 17th May 2018

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

    ArTay

    Curated by Frames Gallery
    10.00 - 19.30 Thursday 17th May
    10.00 - 19.30 from Friday - Saturday 18th & 19th May
    10.00 - 18.00 Sunday 20th May
    Beside Perth Concert Hall
    Admission Free

    Perth Festival is delighted to announce the return of arTay. This large exhibition of Contemporary Scottish Art and Craft was a big success when it ran from 2000-2005 and it is with great anticipation that we have decided to bring it back.

    See some of the 2018 paintings click  ArTay

    •    It is called “arTay” and consists of a very large marquee erected outside of Perth Concert Hall and will hold an exhibition of Scottish Contemporary Art and Craft.
    •    It will feature the work of over 80 artists and makers drawn from all over Scotland and there will be around 300 works on show
    •    This is quite a unique event as it’s not an art fair and is much bigger than any normal commercial gallery could hold.
    •    It is on for four days and admission is free.
    •    Using the contacts that I have built up over the 30 odd years that I’ve been involved in Scottish Art, we will have an impressive range of work on show. From RSA members such as Gordon Mitchell, Doug Cocker and Reinhard      Behrens, RSW members such as Sandy Murphy, Charlie MacQueen, Christine Woodside alongside lesser known but still excellent artists.
    •    The main aim of arTay is to make Contemporary Art as accessible as possible to as many people as possible and all the work will be for sale.
    •    Perth Festival first held this event in 2000 and ran it for five years and now in 2014 it has been re-instated. It was one of the Festivals most successful events with around 5,000 people visiting the tent over the four days.
    •    Perth Festival has been running for over 40 years and is one of the biggest festivals outside of Edinburgh but it has a reputation for being mostly performance based so this very costly investment in visual arts is a big commitment for them.
    •    Below is a list of the artists who have currently agreed to take part.
    •    Please contact me for more information  and images if required: Hugh Goring: hugh.goring@framesgallery.co.uk  01738 631085

    10am - 7.30pm
    Free Admission

     

     

  • Schools Concerts 2018

    Event Date: 17th May 2018

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.
     

    Thursday 17th May - Perth and Kinross Big Band

    Friday 18th May - Perth and Kinross Schools

    Monday 21st May - Perth Academy

    Tuesday 22nd May - Perth High School

    Wednesday 23rd May - St John's Academy

    Thursday 24th May - Glenalmond

    Friday 25th May - Perth Grammar

  • 2017

  • Moscow Philharmonic

    Event Date: 27th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

    Conducted by Yuri Botnari with pianist Freddy Kempf
    Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Suite

     

    Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3

     

    Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

     

    Freddy Kempf is one of today’s most successful pianists, performing to sell-out audiences all over the world. Exceptionally gifted with an unusually broad repertoire, Freddy has built a unique reputation as an explosive and physical performer not afraid to take risks as well as a serious, sensitive and profoundly musical artist. Freddy came to national prominence in 1992, when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition.

     

    The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1951 by Samuil Samosud, as the Moscow Youth Orchestra for young and inexperienced musicians, acquiring its current name in 1953. It is most associated with longtime conductor Kiril Kondrashin under whom it premiered Shostakovich's Fourth and Thirteenth symphonies as well as other works. Yuri Simonov has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 1998.

    Scheduled Finish Time: 9.30pm

  • Scottish Opera Pop-up Roadshow 26th & 27th May

    Event Date: 27th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall


    Scottish Opera is packing up its theatre on wheels and bringing two pop-up operas out on the road to Perth.

    Performed by a storyteller, singers and instrumentalists, and supported by a set of colourful illustrations, each show gives a fantastic introduction to opera. It will be in a converted trailer, recreating the Theatre Royal in Glasgow and parked beside Perth Concert Hall in Mill Street.
     

    There will be three shows a day. These shows are free but it is essential to reserve a ticket at the Box Office in advance. Each show lasts 25 minutes and is suitable for a family audience. A maximum of four tickets per booking as seats are limited.
     

    Friday 26th May

    12.00 A Little Bit of La bohème

    14.00 A Little Bit of The Pirates of Penzance - Sold out

    15.00 A Little Bit of La bohème

     

    Saturday 27th May

    12.00 A Little Bit of The Pirates of Penzance - Sold out

    14.00 A Little Bit of La bohème

    15.00 A Little Bit of The Pirates of Penzance - Sold out
     

    Local schools will be visiting the trailer on the Wednesday and the Thursday.

     

     

      

  • Children's Classic Concerts 2017

    Event Date: 27th May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Children’s Classic Concerts presents ‘Tartan Tales’

     

    Join the clans of the Children’s Classic Concerts mighty mini-orchestra for a musical journey through the swirling mists of Scottish storytelling. CCC’s irrepressible hosts, Owen and Olly, will be your musical guides as they take you galloping on Tam O’Shanter’s horse, through the stormy waters of Fingal’s Cave, all the way to the battlefields of Braveheart – you might even be lucky enough to spot Nessie along the way!

     

    Children’s Classic Concerts introduce classical music to 4 – 12-year-olds in a jam-packed hour of musical storytelling, well-loved tunes and lots of participation!

     

    With support from Creative Scotland and the Gannochy Trust.


     

  • Justin Currie and The Pallbearers 2017

    Event Date: 26th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    ‘This Is My Kingdom Now’ is the new album from Justin Currie, to be released May 12, 2017 on Endless Shipwreck Records. Currie will support the release with a headline tour with his band The Pallbearers, culminating at Islington Assembly Hall on June 2.

     

    After 22 years toiling in the moderately successful pop/rock outfit Del Amitri, Justin Currie made the rash decision to go it alone in 2003, spending the next four years fannying about writing, drinking and doing any weird non-rock gig he was invited to participate in; jazz shows, folk shows and soul shows added more saggy strings to his collection of bows. In 2008 he finally pulled his finger out and pushed the button on a solo career with the release of his masterpiece of maudlin, ‘What Is Love For’. The question mark was missing, perhaps denoting an answer reached: "the future is miserable and I shall sing it".

     

    His fourth album of this series, ‘This Is My Kingdom Now’, follows on from follow-ups ‘The Great War’ (2010) and ‘Lower Reaches’ (2013). The pop sensibility of Del Amitri's sprightly hits was largely missing from this solo oeuvre, replaced by a tone Currie himself describes as "suicide in a saucy shirt". Over time audiences have begun to divine hit-type hooks buried within the gloom and now flock to hear epics such as "No, Surrender", "If I Ever Loved You" and "Falsetto" with an alacrity some find surprising in an age where distraction from modernity's inferno is a kind of medical emergency.

     

     

    Currie lives and breathes in Glasgow, collects beer mats and makes his own cushions. 

    Scheduled finish time: 10.45pm

     

  • Stathallan School

    Event Date: 26th May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

    Friday 26th May - Stathallan School

    Perth Festival Lunchtime Concert

    Strathallan School Programme

    26th May 2017, 12.30pm

    St John’s Kirk, Perth

     

    Golliwogg’s Cakewalk C. Debussy

    Saxophone: Poppy MacGeachy

     

    Morning Mood, from Peer Gynt Suite E. Greig

    Piano: Karen Leung

     

    I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Misérables C-M. Schoenberg arr Hare

     

    Junior Chamber Group

    Violin: Madeleine Sayce; Viola: Daisy Richards; Cello: Tinley Dorje; Flute: Ishbel Lapslie; Clarinet: Ben Morrison

     

    Idyll, from Suite de Trois Morceaux B. Godard

    Flute: Ishbel Lapslie

     

    The Swan C. Saint-Saëns Tuba: Mungo Brown

     

    Canon in D J. Pachelbel Senior String Quartet

    Violin: Bella Boyd, Johnny Boyd, Madeleine Sayce; Cello: Karen Leung

     

    Pie Jesu, from Requiem A. Lloyd-Webber Duet: Emma Burnett & Pippa Hay

     

    Dirait-on, from Les Chansons des Roses M. Lauridsen Strathallan Chapel Choir

     

    On my own, from Les Misérables C-M. Schoenberg Eponine: Ella England

     

    This is the moment, from Jekyll & Hyde F. Wildhorn Voice: Sam Steele

    Bring Me Sunshine A. Kent, arr. P. Harvey

    Junior String Quintet

    Violin: Madeleine Sayce, Rhianna Mitchell; Viola: Daisy Richards; Cello: Tinley Dorje; Double Bass: Katherine Higginbottom

  • Treacherous Orchestra, Adam Holmes and The Embers and Rachel Sermanni

    Event Date: 24th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall


    Enjoy an evening of lively, diverse Scottish and Celtic folk-rock, from gentle ballads to foot stomping reels, performed by a trio of outstanding Scottish acts.  

     

    Treacherous Orchestra are nothing short of a Scottish supergroup who are big in numbers and perform in epic style. Their story is one of many strands, a tale told spanning the length and breadth of Scotland.  An undefinable collective force fusing people, concepts, styles and influences, shaping a musical supergroup that defies description.  From the North to the South, East to the West they came, converging in the musical melting-pot of Glasgow, trading ideas over beers and playing music with ferocity, verve and passion. Be prepared to be blown away.

    Adam Holmes is one of the brightest rising stars on the Scottish folk scene. He crafts lyrics that resonate like old folk songs, set to melodies rooted in haunting slow airs. Like John Martyn’s strum and sting, laced with a slice of Celtic soul and a touch of traditional folk. His first album with the Embers in 2014 was nominated for both Scottish Album of the Year and Best Album at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards. He has been singer/guitarist with the popular powerhouse band RURA, on their critically acclaimed albums and touring widely. His latest album with the Embers, Brighter Still has been recently released.

    Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish folk musician from Carrbridge. An accomplished storyteller, she writes rich, thoughtful lyrics which belie her twenty something years. Her folk noir style ranges from gentle to grungy. Both her 2012 debut album, Under Mountains, and latest album, Tied to the Moon in 2015, were released to critical acclaim. Tied to the Moon was nominated for Scottish Album of the Year.


     

    Scheduled finish time: 10.45pm

     

     

  • Perth Academy

    Event Date: 24th May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Wednesday 24th May - Perth Academy

     

    Wind Band Cajun Folksongs

     

    Wind Composition Sophie Chisholm (S5): Cabeswater

     

    Brass Band Hoots Mon: H. Robertson, arr. A. Fernie

    Ghostbusters R. Parker, arr. R. Hume

     

    Piano solo Eilidh Paterson (S6): Debussy Arabesque

     

    String Orchestra Andante Festivo J. Sibelius Sanseneon Robert S. Frost

     

    Clarinet Solo Robert Barker (S6): Stranger on the Shore

     

    Violin Quartet Concerto for 4 violins

     

    Orchestra Barber of Seville Rossini, arr. R. Meyer

    Satchmo (a tribute to Louis Armstrong) T. Ricketts

  • Swinging at The Cotton Club

    Event Date: 23rd May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    ‘Swinging at The Cotton Club’ is the action-packed show celebrating the music, dance, and songs of the Cotton Club – New York City’s legendary nightclub of the 1920s and ‘30s. The exciting dance and music of the Cotton Club is recreated by the fabulous The Lindy Hop Dance Company, the world’s premier jazz dance company and Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra featuring vocalist Marlene Hill and compere/vocalist Megs Etherington.

    Scheduled finish time: 10pm

     

  • Perth & Kinross Schools

    Event Date: 23rd May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

     

    Tuesday 23rd May - Perth & Kinross Schools

     

    Piano Ensemble – (from Jnr Camp) Various Schools • Disney Selection

    Heigh Ho (from Snow White) – Churchill and Moray

    Supercalifragilistic (from Mary Poppins) – The Sherman Brothers

    Mexican Clapping Song – Trad arr T. Kenny

    Spicy Salsa – Pam Wedgewood

    Baroque Prelude – Pam Wedgewood

    Thank you for the Music – Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus

     

    Michael Mauchline – Bagpipe Solo Perth Academy The Sleeping Tune - Traditional

    Greenwood Side - Traditional

     

    Ulla Gingule – Piano solo St John’s Academy Valse Lente - Oskar Merikanto

     

    Niamh Martin – Violin solo Perth Academy Meditation - Massenet

     

    Percussion Ensemble Perth Academy Xylophone Selection - various

     

    Catriona Ross Perth Academy Bach (unacc.)

    Allemande from Suite No.1

    - J.S.Bach

     

    Katherine Gray St John’s Academy Madrigal by Gaubert

    – accomp Mo Rutherford

     

    Andrew McDowall & Keir Barbary Perth High School Piano duet “Caprice”

    Paganini ” Minuet” - Borodin

     

    Folk Fiddlers Newhill, St Stephen’s, North Muirton, St Ninian’s Primaries

    Farley Bridge – D Chisholme arr Mattner

    Waltz of the Grey River – D Chisholme arr Mattner

    MacIain of Glencoe – Kerr arr Mattner

    Ye Jacobites by Name – Trad attrib McNeil

  • Tenebrae Choir 2017

    Event Date: 20th May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    The reserved seats in the front and rear nave are all now sold out. There are still unreserved seats at the sides at £25.
     
    Russian Treasures - Rare choral gems and celebrated sacred music from the Russian Orthodox Church
     

    You’ll never forget the first time you hear the choral music of Russia. From the subterranean bass notes to the melodies that soar above them, this is singing that simply has to be experienced in the flesh.
     

    This concert features popular favourites and little known gems, rarely heard outside Russia. St John’s Kirk will be a marvellous setting for a Perth Festival of the Arts debut of the critically acclaimed choir
     

    TENEBRAE

    Songs from Rachmaninov’s ‘All night Vigil’ and his ‘Liturgy of St John Chrysostom’ will be performed alongside pieces by Glinka, Chesnokov and Tchaikovsky and many others. Tenebrae Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae, under the direction of Nigel Short, is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles renowned for its passion and precision. Tenebrae has twice secured the award for Best Choral Performance in the BBC Music Magazine Awards (2012 and 2016), and its recording of Fauré’s Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra was nominated for the Gramophone Awards (2013). Tenebrae is renowned for its highly-acclaimed interpretations of choral music with repertoire ranging from the Renaissance through to contemporary choral masterpieces and has appeared at major festivals including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and Montreux Choral Festival (Switzerland). This season, in order to mark Tenebrae’s fifteenth anniversary, the choir is touring its first major commission, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles, as well as launching its inaugural Holy Week Festival at St John’s Smith Square.
     

    Supported by DUNARD FUND 

     

  • The View 2017

    Event Date: 20th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The View is the hottest indie band to come out of Dundee. Don’t miss them.

    The band consists of Kyle Falconer, Kieren Webster, Pete Reilly, Steven Morrison and Paul Band. The album 'Hats Off to the Buskers' was released in early 2007 and featured four top 40 singles, including their highest peaking release to date 'Same Jeans' which entered the UK top five upon release. Chart success came again in 2012 with 'Cheeky For A Reason' which entered the UK top ten chart and topped the chart in Scotland. In 2013 the band also released a compilation album entitled 'Seven Year Setlist' which featured their most played live tracks along with some new material.

     

    In collaboration with DF Concerts

    Scheduled Finish Time: 10.45pm

  • Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra 2017

    Event Date: 19th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

    featuring GILSON LAVIS
    with special guest CHRIS DIFFORD

    and guest vocalists RUBY TURNER, LOUISE MARSHALL & BETH ROWLEY

     

    Support Lewis and Leigh

     

    Doors: 7 pm.
    Support act on stage: 7.30 pm - 7.50 pm.
    Jools Holland on stage: 8.20 pm. Finish time approx 10.30pm 

     

    Pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, television presenter and multiplatinum recording artist Jools Holland returns this year accompanied by special guest Chris Difford. He will be accompanied by the sound of Jools’ unforgettable Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.

     

    Jools Holland with be performing tracks spanning his entire solo career as well as songs taken from his new duets album ‘Sirens Of Song’, released November 2014. With a catalogue that reaches through decades, a night with Jools Holland will bring you the greatest boogie-woogie party in town.

     

    Also featuring the astounding vocal power of Ruby Turner, the soulful tones of Louise Marshall and the tireless drums of original Squeeze member Gilson Lavis, along with the inimitable musicianship of the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Jools’ boogie-woogie party is not to be missed!

     

    Jools Holland OBE DL was born Julian Miles Holland on January 24, 1958 in Blackheath, South East London. At the age of 15 Jools was introduced to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford; together they formed Squeeze, and shortly afterwards they were joined by Gilson Lavis (who had already played with, among others, B. B. King, Chuck Berry and Max Wall), who still drums with Jools. Up The Junction and Cool For Cats gave Squeeze meteoric success and their popularity rapidly extended to America, where their tour included performances at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

    In 1987 Jools formed The Jools Holland Big Band, comprising himself and Gilson Lavis. This has gradually metamorphosed into the current 20-piece Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which consists of pianist, organist, drummer, three female vocals, guitar, bass guitar, two tenor saxophones, two alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, three trumpets, and four trombones.
    Jools' career as a television presenter has run parallel to his musical career. He started in the early 1980s when he interviewed The Police for a documentary that was made while they were recording at George Martin's Montserrat studio. Jools then auditioned to become co-presenter (with Paula Yates) of The Tube, which achieved almost immediate cult status and discovered a whole new generation of musicians and comedians between 1981 and 1986. 
    As always, Jools continues to dazzle audiences across the UK with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and their exuberant live performances.  They have just come off an extensive UK tour and, for the 21st year in a row, celebrated the dawn of the new year with the whole nation on BBC2’s New Year’s Eve TV Show ‘Jools’ Annual Hootenanny’.

      

  • Perth & Kinross Big Band

    Event Date: 19th May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour. These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

    Friday 19th May - Perth & Kinross Big Band

  • 'Tosca' English Touring Opera 2017

    Event Date: 18th May 2017

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Conductor: Michael Rosewell
    Director: Blanche McIntyre

    Designer: Florence de Maré

    Lighting Designer: Mark Howland
     

    Puccini’s Tosca is one of the world’s best-loved operas, brimming with lust, corruption and intrigue.

     

    When the firebrand revolutionary Cavaradossi is imprisoned, Tosca is faced with an impossible choice: submitting to the desires of the sadistic chief of police, or letting her lover be executed.

     

    Directed by award-winning Blanche McIntyre, and featuring a trio of powerful British artists for Tosca, Cavaradossi and the malevolent Scarpia, ETO’s new production is sure to be a night of passion.

     

    A new production. Sung in Italian with surtitles.

     

    There will be a pre-show talk at 18.30 in the Norie Miller Room. Please reserve a free ticket at the Box Office.

    English Touring Opera will also be performing shows at Fairview School for Children with Special Needs and for Primary Schools while they are visiting Perth.

    Read the 4 star review of this production from The Stage from Hackney Empire click here
     

    English Touring Opera seeks opera fans for role in brand new production of Tosca
     

    English Touring Opera are seeking opera fans to play the walk on role of the cardinal in the English Touring Opera’s new production of Puccini’s Tosca.
     

    A classic Puccini opera, Tosca is the story of Floria Tosca, the wife to a painter who is called upon to hide an escaped political prisoner. The chosen cardinal will contribute to Puccini’s heart-breaking story of double crossings, love and betrayal. At the climax of act one, the chosen cardinal will lead the Te Deum procession, a group of young choristers, through Rome, fully kitted out in clerical vestments, in this new opera directed by award winning theatre director Blanche McIntyre and conducted by ETO’s Music Director, Michael Rosewell. Don’t worry, no singing is actually required!
     

    This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for an opera lover to tread the boards in one of the world’s most recognisable and much loved operas, where you will join an exclusive group of 31 first-time performers from across the country. If you’re interested in performing the role, whether you’re an opera star, an actual cardinal or have never been on the stage before, please email Rebecca at rebecca.ryan@englishtouringopera.org.uk with a short paragraph on why you should play the cardinal, and your choice of performance date.

    Scheduled finish time: 10pm

     

  • Perth High School

    Event Date: 18th May 2017

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Daily Lunchtime Concerts by Perthshire Schools will take place in St John's Kirk. These concerts are free and donations are most welcome. They generally last about an hour.These concerts showcase the wonderful talent of our young musicians.

    Thursday 18th May - Perth High School

     

    WELCOME MUSIC Perth High School Pipers

    ORCHESTRA Chicago arr. Lopez

    CHOIR (The Motley Crew) Skyfall Adkins/Epworth arr.Crawford

    Sloop John B Trad. arr. Crawford

    STRING ORCHESTRA Andante Festivo Sibelius The Best of Abba arr. Ricketts

    SAXOPHONE SEXTET First movement from Serenade Op.44 Dvorak

    BASSOON SOLO Sonata for Bassoon and Piano Hindemith Soloist: Shona Rae (S5)

    SWINGBAND It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing Ellington arr. Cook

    BRASS BAND Theme from “Rocky” arr. Macpherson Smoke On The Water arr. Murtha

    GIRLS CHOIR You Raise Me Up Graham/Loveland

    WIND BAND Dixieland Jam arr. Lowden

     

    CONDUCTORS, INSTRUMENTAL INTRUCTORS, ACCOMPANISTS

    CATHERINE BLACK, VERONICA KINAHAN, ALLAN KELMAN, PATRICK SMYTH, PHILIP ALEXANDER, WILLIE McMULLEN, ELISE CLARK (S6) ILSE MACFARLANE, LYNDSEY PATERSON, JILL SMYTH, ZOE PERMAN, GRAHAM MULLHOLLAND.

    ACCOMPANISTS: MAUREEN RUTHERFORD and SAM McCLELLAN (S5)

  • Martin Taylor and Alison Burns - 100 Years of Ella Fitzgerald

    Event Date: 17th May 2017

    Venue: The Loft

    Celebrating 100 Years of Ella Fitzgerald

    to be held at The Loft in 145 South Street, Perth, PH2 8NY
     

    Please note the venue is on the first floor and there is no lift.
    Please note that seats are unreserved and the ones in the balcony have resticted view.

     

    When you think of legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald, you think of the some of the greatest music ever performed. 2017 marks a very special year as one of the most loved entertainer of all time Ella Fitzgerald will be celebrated around the world with a series of commemorative centennial events.

     

    As part of these celebrations multi-award winning guitarist Martin Taylor and Scottish-Canadian jazz singer Alison Burns will be touring the UK for a series of concerts highlighting the Grammy-award winning collaboration between Ella and jazz guitarist Joe Pass.

     

    Taylor and Burns who have performed for Prince William and whose fans include Sir Michael Parkinson and Downtown Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, will present a concert inspired by the intimate 1960's duo recordings of Joe Pass and Ella Fitzgerald. 

     

    Martin Taylor

    Collaborations with artists including Jeff Beck, Tommy Emmanuel, Jamie Cullum and Bill Wyman have seen him garner two honorary doctorates, a BBC lifetime achievement award, Top 10 albums in both the USA and Europe, a record 14 British Jazz Awards and in 2002 he was appointed MBE ‘For Services to Jazz Music’ by Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain. As one of the world’s most recognized online guitar teachers his innovative online guitar school with its headquarters in Napa, CA has been featured on NPR, BBC, Fox News and the LA Times and is subscribed to by guitarists in over 58 countries.

     

    Alison Burns
    There are singers and there are jazz singers. There are jazz singers and there are a few artists who bring more to the microphone – their life, love, heartaches and joy. Alison Burns is one of those artists. Her debut album, Kissing Bug, was received with universal acclaim and became the first album by a Scottish jazz singer to reach the Jazz Top 10. So far she has played in far-flung destinations such as Tokyo, New York, Cannes, Italy and Shanghai and guested with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and BBC Big Band. 

     

  • More Going on in Perth

    Event Date: 15th May 2017

    Venue: Various Venues In Perth

    See what else there is to do when you are in the area click Perth and Perthshire
     

    Perth Art Trail brings together all the events and exhibitions taking place at Festival time. Many are within easy walking distance of Perth City Centre during the Festival. 

    ArTay Contemporary Art Marquee Curated by Frames Gallery 10.00-19.30 Thursday 18th May, 10.00 - 19.30 from Friday 19th May - Sunday 21st May (inclusive) Beside Perth Concert Hall - Admission Free. Perth Festival is delighted to announce the return of arTay. This large exhibition of Contemporary Scottish Art and Craft was a big success when it ran from 2000-2005 and it is with great anticipation that we have decided to bring it back.

    Also Exhibitions at Perth Museum and Art Gallery, exhibitions at the The Ferguson Gallery, Perthshire Art Association's Exhibition at the North Church, exhibitions at Frames Gallery (Victoria Street) and The Tayberry Gallery (Princes Street).
     

    Perthshire Art Association Exhibition 20th and 21st May
    North Church, Mill Street
    Saturday 10-5pm
    Sunday 12-5pm
    Work by both professional and amateur members of the Association will include watercolours, acrylics, landscapes, portraits, still lifes and ceramics. Watch the artist in residence hard at work. Check www.perthshireartassociation.org for latest information.

    Frames Gallery, Victoria Street, Perth PH2 8LW.
    www.framesgallery.co.uk


    Boo Vake 5 Watergate, Perth, PH1 5TF

    Exhibition of contemporary craft from some of Scotland's top designer makers. Also permanent display of gifts & homeware from British based designers and small design companies.
     

    Tayberry Gallery
    19, Princes Street, Perth
    Open Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 – 17.00

     

    There will be some art and craft stalls in the City Centre on Saturday 27th May organised by Perth Farmers Markets. Click here for more information Perth Craft Market  - contact Adeline to book a stall 01738 582159 or 07732483729 or email Adeline@perthfarmersmarket.co.uk

     

    Imax Playhouse Perth - Brilliant cinema 

  • 2016

  • The Halle - Beethoven's 5th May 2016

    Event Date: 29th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The Hallé with Elena Urioste conducted by Jamie Phillips 

    Don Juan. Op. 20.                                     Richard Strauss
    Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47.          Sibelius
    Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67.         Beethoven


    Finish time will be around 9.05pm.


    The Hallé was founded in Manchester by Sir Charles Hallé in 1858 and is now resident at the Bridgewater Hall. It ranks among the UK's top symphonic ensembles, with a distinguished history of acclaimed performances in this country and around the world; award-winning recordings, radio broadcasts and educational outreach programmes; and a visionary commitment to building audiences and developing orchestral repertoire. 

     

     

    Elena Urioste, recently selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and featured on the cover of Symphony magazine, has been hailed by critics and audiences alike for her lush tone, the nuanced lyricism of her playing, and her commanding stage presence. Since first appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age thirteen, she has made acclaimed debuts with major orchestras.She has performed recitals in such distinguished venues as Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle, and the Mondavi Center at the University of California-Davis. 

     

     

    Jamie Phillips, Associate Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic Dudamel Fellow, has already developed a strong guest-conducting profile. With a clear, expressive technique and innate musicality, he demonstrates a natural authority and confidence on the rostrum.


    Engagements in the 2015/16 season include debut concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Nash Ensemble, Residentie Orkest, Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Kammerakademie Potsdam and Västerås Sinfonietta. 

    In recent seasons, Phillips has conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Brussels Philharmonic. In 2015 Jamie Phillips also conducted the Hallé in subscription concerts at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester in a programme of Glinka, Beethoven and Rachmaninov.


    He is also Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra and is heavily involved in many of the Hallé’s education programmes and concerts.

    “Phillips already has little to fear from comparison with most visiting conductors on the circuit. That he can persuade the Hallé to play with such affection, energy and swing is equal tribute to their professionalism and his gifts.” The Telegraph

     

  • Scottish Opera Pop-up Opera Roadshow

    Event Date: 28th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Each show lasts about 45 minutes.

    These shows are free. It is recommended to reserve a free ticket in advance as places are limited.


    Scottish Opera is packing up its theatre on wheels and bringing three pop-up operas out on the road to Perth.

    12.00 A Little Bit of Northern Light

    14.00 A Little Bit of Figaro

    15.00 A Little Bit of Mikado

    Performed by a storyteller, singers and instrumentalists, and supported by a set of colourful illustrations, each show gives a fantastic introduction to opera. It will be in a converted trailer, recreating the Theatre Royal in Glasgow and parked beside Perth Concert Hall in Mill Street.
     

    A Little Bit of Figaro and A Little Bit of Mikado are cleverly re-written versions of the full operas and are suitable for all ages.

     

    A Little Bit of Northern Light tells the story of one lonely little lighthouse standing firm against the storms of the North Atlantic tide specifically created for 4 to 8 year olds.
     

    Local schools will be visiting the trailer on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th May.

     

     

  • Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra 2016

    Event Date: 28th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
    featuring GILSON LAVIS
    with 
    Pauline Black & Arthur “Gaps” Hendrickson from  The Selecter

    and guest vocalists RUBY TURNER & LOUISE MARSHALL
    Supported by Purdy
     
    Doors: 7 pm.
    Support act on stage: 7.30 pm - 7.50 pm.
    Jools Holland on stage: 8.20 pm. Finish time approx 10.30pm
     
     
    Pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, television presenter and multiplatinum recording artist Jools Holland returns this year accompanied by special guests, The Selecter’s Pauline Black and Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson and they will be accompanied by the sound of Jools’ unforgettable Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
     
    Jools Holland with be performing tracks spanning his entire solo career as well as songs taken from his new duets album ‘Sirens Of Song’, released November 2014. With a catalogue that reaches through decades, a night with Jools Holland will bring you the greatest boogie-woogie party in town.
     
    The Selecter released their debut album ‘Too Much Pressure’ in 1980 and it still remains a milestone in British music history. Fresh from celebrating their 35th anniversary, vocalists Pauline Black and Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson return to the stage this year and will make a unique addition to the tour line-up.
     
    Also featuring the astounding vocal power of Ruby Turner, the soulful tones of Louise Marshall and the tireless drums of original Squeeze member Gilson Lavis, along with the inimitable musicianship of the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, Jools’ boogie-woogie party is not to be missed!
     

    Jools Holland OBE DL was born Julian Miles Holland on January 24, 1958 in Blackheath, South East London. At the age of 15 Jools was introduced to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford; together they formed Squeeze, and shortly afterwards they were joined by Gilson Lavis (who had already played with, among others, B. B. King, Chuck Berry and Max Wall), who still drums with Jools. Up The Junction and Cool For Cats gave Squeeze meteoric success and their popularity rapidly extended to America, where their tour included performances at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
    In 1987 Jools formed The Jools Holland Big Band, comprising himself and Gilson Lavis. This has gradually metamorphosed into the current 20-piece Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which consists of pianist, organist, drummer, three female vocals, guitar, bass guitar, two tenor saxophones, two alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, three trumpets, and four trombones.
    Jools' career as a television presenter has run parallel to his musical career. He started in the early 1980s when he interviewed The Police for a documentary that was made while they were recording at George Martin's Montserrat studio. Jools then auditioned to become co-presenter (with Paula Yates) of The Tube, which achieved almost immediate cult status and discovered a whole new generation of musicians and comedians between 1981 and 1986. 
    As always, Jools continues to dazzle audiences across the UK with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and their exuberant live performances.  They have just come off an extensive UK tour and, for the 21st year in a row, celebrated the dawn of the new year with the whole nation on BBC2’s New Year’s Eve TV Show ‘Jools’ Annual Hootenanny’.

     

  • The Allan Young Trio May 2016

    Event Date: 28th May 2016

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Music on a Saturday Morning

    Allan Young (guitar), Stuart Barker (double bass) and Billy Weir (drums)

    The programme will include
     a selection of jazz pieces from the Great American Songbook arranged for jazz trio, as well as some Beatles songs and some original contemporary jazz compositions.

    The band was set up by guitarist Allan Young after graduating from the Birmingham Conservatoire in the Summer of 2015 and features two of Allan's closest friends and fellow Conservatoire graduates playing the role of the rhythm section.  The band originally formed as a platform to play Allan’s own original compositions but has since extended it’s repertoire. In addition to the original compositions, the band now performs a real mix of music including jazz, rock, folk, experimental and anything else in between!

    Allan grew up in Perthshire and attended guitar lessons in Edinburgh with guitarist Mike McGeary. He then went on to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire on the Jazz course and graduated in 2014. He has been lucky enough to perform alongside many respected names in Jazz including Jeff Ballard, Dave Holland, John Taylor, George Colligan, Julian Arguelles, Tim Garland, Gwylym Simcock, Mike Walker, Liane Carroll, and many more. In 2012 he performed Mark-Anthony Turnage's "Blood on the Floor", an ambitious cross-genre work for jazz quartet and large ensemble under the direction of renowned conductor Sian Edwards and composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. Allan also appeared on E4's 'Made In Chelsea' with function band 'The Quartones'. He is also a member of Birmingham-based group 'The Mourning Suns' as well being involved with many other side projects around Birmingham. As well as performing and composing, Allan also teaches privately and at Pro Music Tuition in Rowley Regis.

    Allan’s original trio recordings can be heard online at www.soundcloud.com/allan-young-8

     
  • KT Tunstall with support Stevie McCrorie, The Voice winner. May 2016

    Event Date: 27th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Timings for tonight 

    ·         19:30 Doors to auditorium open 

    ·         20:00 Stevie McCrorie, 2015 winner of The Voice.
    ·         21:00 KT Tunstall onstage

    ·         22:30 end gig

    KT Tunstall is back with a new album out in May, she will be playing a mixture of new and old hits.

    BBC The Voice winner in 2015 Stevie McCrorie will support KT Tunstall.

    There will be free entry into The Loft Nightclub in South Street for an aftershow party. Bring your ticket with you.

     




    Seats and standing available. No under 14s in the standing area. 14-16s should be accompanied by an adult.

     

    Way out in the desert KT Tunstall found herself. There she was, in cactus-country, Arizona, far from the adoptive London scene that provided the backdrop to four albums, 4 million sales, one Ivor Novello and one Brit Award, and further still from the Scottish folk heartland that had nurtured her. She was working with Giant Sand frontman Howe Gelb; maverick, desert punk spirit, a storied musician and producer. In Tucson’s Wavelab Studios, the pair were recording a set of songs that had bloomed into life, almost without Tunstall knowing it, and that foreshadowed two momentous events that would make summer 2012 a turning point in the 37-year-old singer/songwriter’s life.
     

    “I’d always had this yearning to crack open my ribcage and be able to let everything out,” she reflects. She had attempted it through her personal journal writing, but had never had the confidence – the unselfconsciousness – to do it in song. “And then last year led to it all happening without even trying anymore,” says Tunstall. She’s referring to the death of her dad last August, then, the following month, her split from her musician husband. “But you know, the first half of the record was written before any of that happened, so there is a kind of weird savant quality to it.”
     

    The result: an album of two halves, both temporally and physically. Invisible Empire//Crescent Moon straddles either end of 2012, the year KT Tunstall’s world was rocked from its axis before settling on a new emotional orientation. Each was recorded in Arizona, and both are swaddled with atmosphere, poignancy and, yes, hurt – but, also, hope. One, oddly, prefigures the losses that were to come; the other, beautifully, captures a new, reinvigorated state of being in the aftermath. Together, they combine to create the album of Kate Victoria Tunstall’s life.
     

    At the beginning of last year, the Scottish singer, songwriter and musician had no immediate plans to make a new album. After touring the world in support of 2010’s Tiger Suit, she had intended to take things easy for a while. Circumstances, and frustrations, and desire, though, wouldn’t let her rest.
     

    “The last record was the beginning, I think, of a bit of a rebellion. I’d spent at that point six years on a pretty full tilt ride…whilst doing what I was doing within a very pop formula. So while I wasn’t always producing typical pop music, the way I was recording it, and the way those albums were getting to people, were in a pretty standard fashion in terms of being a pop artist signed to a major label. I needed things to change.”
     

    In the wake of the electronic-flavoured Tiger Suit, Tunstall decided to go “absolutely the other way”. In 2011 she recorded an EP, The Scarlet Tulip. Just her, at home, with a picked guitar. “So easy and so relaxed,” she beams. “It was great. And that fed into enjoying the idea of stripping back completely.”
     

    Around the same time her old Fife musician friend King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) asked if she’d be a vocal partner as he and Jon Hopkins toured their Mercury-nominated album Diamond Mine (2011). Popping up on the occasional stage in support of an album she felt was “astounding” was another palate-cleansing experience for a singer who had been on an album-tour-album treadmill for over half a decade.
     

    “Singing with Kenny again feels like a bit of a seminal moment for me,” she admits. Firstly she was honoured to help out on the Diamond Mine tour, having sung with Anderson on various projects for almost 20 years. And secondly, she loved travelling round the UK, experiencing these “totally silent and emotional” audiences. “Seeing people really desperate for something meaningful and something beautiful,” she elaborates. “And something executed passionately and with real craft. It was just such an antidote to a lot of stuff that’s out there at the moment."
     

    Then came another collaboration: Jools Holland asked her to join his big band. It was her voice he was after, not just her personality. For the first time, Tunstall began to consider herself not just as a musician but specifically as a singer.
     

    “So this album is about singing,” she states, and readers would here be directed towards the graceful, gently orchestral triumph that is the song Crescent Moon as evidence of Tunstall’s sublime on-mic skills, “and it’s about my voice. That was what I wanted to be the centrepiece of the album, which I’d not done before.”
     

    Then, the third in a triptych of turning-point hook-ups. Robyn Hitchcock asked Tunstall to join a touring show called The Floating Palace. It was Hitchcock, Tunstall, Martin and Eliza Carthy, Krystle Warren and Howe Gelb. “Completely opposing musicians!” she smiles, “but we all played as each other’s band, and it was great.”
     

    She and Gelb, whom she’d never met before, hit it off, “mostly over a bottle of whiskey at the Glasgow gig, actually. And he’s just such good fun. He’s mischievous and he’s a maverick and he’s got a great bad attitude towards convention and is musically very exciting.” It was a union of distant but, as it transpired, confluent minds. “It was like aliens from different planets meeting each other for the first time.”
     

    Gelb invited Tunstall to record in his favourite studio in Tucson, Wavelab. Last February she travelled to Arizona for a two-week session. She laid down sketches for eight songs, based on “some pretty dumb guitar patterns and incredibly simple chord progressions”.
     

    How You Kill Me emerged that spring, a woozy, hypnotic blues. “Lifting me up to those branches, letting me look on the world…” sings Tunstall, leaning in close to the mic. “Just as I sing like a bird, you, you shoot me down for your fun…”
     

    “It’s about basically knowing your potential – knowing you’re great – but not being able to see it through because of your own insecurities and not feeling a support system around you."
     

    Made Of Glass was another song from that period. As the title telegraphs, it’s a song about the fragility of life. “That was written way before my dad died,” she says of a composition about a friend who suddenly died from pancreatic cancer aged only 34. Just before he died he’d gifted her a cut-glass vase. The irony hit home afterwards. “I was like, you absolute bastard!” she laughs. “The one thing I’ve got that you’ve given me is the most breakable thing I own.”
     

    Months later, before the loss of her dad, she would write Carried, a drifting, chamber piece that seems to bottle the desert atmospherics. It’s about being transported over the threshold of life, inspired by her fathers' physical struggle, but soon to be unusual in it's clairvoyant nature.
     

    Feel It All, the album’s first single, is absolute torch-song and twang, and appears on the album in two versions; the original album version, with PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish on drumming duty and recorded at his Bristol studio and the ‘band jam’ version which was recorded live in Tucson. “It’s probably the most personal song for me on the album,” she says of a song that sits alongside Crescent Moon and rippling piano-ballad Yellow Flower as showcasing Tunstall’s best ever vocals, rich and intimate. “I started that just before dad died and I finished it just after my split. So it was absolutely birthed out of the intensity of those two things happening. It was real medicine for me, that song.
     

    She offers listeners a tonic, too, on the closing No Better Shoulder, a surging acoustic number that builds and builds to a belting, squealing, country-psych rocker that should catalyse a cathartic outburst of emotion when Tunstall starts touring her new, split-but-united album later this spring.
     

    “After the mood of the record I really wanted something that took you out at the end, and woke you up from this spell, if you like. Because I found that anything uptempo I was trying to fit into the tracklisting burst the bubble. And I wanted to stay within that. So No Better Shoulder is the way out at the end.”

     

    For sure, Invisible Empire//Crescent Moon is an album coloured by melancholy. But it’s not a grief album, she insists, and nor is it a break-up album. Not one of the songs on the second half directly references her divorce. Still, it is, as she says, an album in which she self-administers open-heart surgery. “Invisible Empire is probably the most relevant in terms of what was going to happen,” she says of the album opener, a song that wheezes into life before settling into an unsettling jaunty rhythm. “In that song I think there was a subconscious realisation that things weren't as they should be – my subconscious was ahead of me, and I was catching up.”
     

    The song, she admits with a laugh, could be her in a nutshell: a cloud on the horizon but a skip in her step.
     

    “A big thing about the album for me,” concludes KT Tunstall, who – prior to a summer run of festival band shows – will be touring solo, unaccompanied, “is that I don’t care if it’s sad. I want it to be an emotional experience. But I don’t actually think it is a sad album. Melancholic is probably quite a good description of it. But it really is me now coming from a place where I don’t feel the need to please anybody but myself. I always liked to think that’s where I was before – but I don’t think I was."

     

    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 28th March 2016. 
    Friends book 10am Monday 21st March only £10 join online.

  • Nina Conti - In Your Face May 2016

    Event Date: 26th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall



    She’s won a
     British Comedy Award, stormed Live at the Apollo, Russell Howard’s Good News, Sunday Night at the Palladium, and made a BAFTA nominated film – all without moving her lips.

    This year, Nina will create a new show each night by plucking inspiration from the audience. Strap into the mask as Nina gets in your face. With the help of Monkey and a bag of tricks, truly anything can happen in this unmissable improvised adventure of hilarious witchery.

    “Uproariously hilarious” ★★★★ The Scotsman
    “Put simply, Nina Conti is a genius” Mirror
    “A gem… funny, poignant, novel” Guardian

    Age recommedation 12 plus

    Sponsored by
    CALA Homes

     

  • Aquarelle Guitar Quartet May 2016

    Event Date: 25th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Michael Baker, Vasilis Bessas, James Jervis and Rory Russell

    Programme
    Overture from L'Italiana in Algeri, arr. Richard Safhill
    Opals - Philip Houghton
    Lento, from Three Welsh Dances – Dalwyn Henshall, arr. Mike Baker
    Quiccan – Andrew York
    Themes from Frida - Elliot Goldenthal, arr. Mike Baker
    Il Postino - Luis Bacalov, arr. Rory Russell
    De Usuahia a la Quiaca - Gustavo Santaolalla (from Motorcycle Diaries), arr. Vasilis Bessas
    Cumba-Quin - Carlos Rivera
    Folias - Ian Krouse

    Recognised as one of Britain’s leading chamber music groups, the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet is a dynamic and innovative ensemble known for its extraordinary ensemble in performance, expansive repertoire and ground breaking work in developing the guitar quartet medium. The quartet has performed extensively across the UK and abroad to critical acclaim, and is admired for its original arrangements of music from a wide range of styles, periods and cultures. The group also frequently performs new works by internationally renowned composers such as Clarice Assad (Brazil), Phillip Houghton (Australia), Stephen Dodgson (UK) and Nikita Koshkin (Russia) as well as drawing on existing repertoire.

     

    Formed originally at the Royal Northern College of Music (in 1999), under the guidance of Craig Ogden and Gordon Crosskey, the quartet went on to study with renowned guitarists such as Sérgio Assad, Oscar Ghiglia and Scott Tennant. Since then, they have received many awards and in 2009 were signed exclusively to Chandos Records. The first two albums, “Dances” (released in June 2010) and “Spirit of Brazil” (March 2009) both received excellent reviews from the press. BBC Music Magazine awarded “Spirit of Brazil” five stars for both performance and recording, commenting:   “With outstanding playing and infectious spirit, this is no mere niche guitar CD, but a luscious and lively general-appeal winner”  and International Record Review said of the quartet: “If one guitar quartet can give a traditional string quartet a run for its money in terms of abundant technique and breathtaking artistry, it is the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet”.  

    Their subsequent disc ‘Final Cut’, featuring the group’s own arrangements of celebrated film themes, was chosen as Classic FM Drive’s CD of the week, on its release in June, was given a five stars review by Time Out Magazine and has since been given exceptional praise by Sinfini Music (Universal), International Record Review and American Record Guide.
      


    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 28th March 2016. 
    Friends book 10am Monday 21st March only £10 join online.

  • The Sixteen 2016

    Event Date: 24th May 2016

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Our 16th Choral Pilgrimage celebrates the work of William Byrd and Arvo Pärt, composers from very different eras, both of whom are considered masters of sacred music despite having faced considerable persecution for their work. Although separated by over four centuries, the music of William Byrd and Arvo Pärt makes for a perfect match. Both spent many years facing adversity and persecution and both sought solace through their sacred music.
     

    Byrd       Diliges Dominum
    Byrd       Miserere mihi Domine
    Part        Deer’s Cry
    Byrd       Emendemus in melius
    Part        the woman with the alabaster box 
    Byrd       Tribue Domine
    Byrd       Christe qui lux es et dies
    Tallis    Miserere nostri
    Byrd       O lux beata Trinitas
    Part       Nunc Dimittis
    Byrd      Ad Dominum cum tribularer
    Byrd      Laetentur coeli 


    After 36 years of worldwide performance and recording, The Sixteen is recognised as one of the world’s greatest ensembles. The Sixteen’s total commitment to the music it performs is its greatest distinction. A special reputation for performing early English polyphony, masterpieces of the Renaissance, bringing fresh insights into Baroque and early Classical music and a diversity of 20th and 21st - century music, is drawn from the passions of conductor and founder Harry Christophers CBE.

     

    Supported by Dunard Fund 


    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 28th March 2016. 
    Friends book 10am Monday 21st March only £10 join online.

  • The Unthanks May 2016

    Event Date: 24th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and the only British folk representation in The Guardians and Uncuts best albums of last decade (worldwide, all genres), The Unthanks have an army of notable fans, including actor Martin Freeman, Elvis Costello, Colin Firth, Robert Wyatt, Ben Folds, Ryan Adams, Rosanne Cash, members of Portishead and Radiohead, Dawn French, Paul Morley, Ewan McGregor, Ade Edmondson and Nick Hornby. The Unthanks is a family affair for Tyneside sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, with Rachel married to pianist, producer, arranger and composer, Adrian McNally. Using the traditional music of the North East of England as a starting point, the influence of Steve Reich, Miles Davis, Sufjan Stevens, Robert Wyatt, Antony & The Johnsons, King Crimson and Tom Waits can be heard in the bands 8 albums to date, including Mount The Air, released to huge critical acclaim earlier this year.

     

    There are no easy one-liners to capture who or what The Unthanks are. You might find them singing in a Tyneside folk club one night, and playing to 2000 Londoners the next, having performed to a primary school in the afternoon. You might find them collaborating with Adrian Utley (Portishead) one moment, and writing the score to an archive film about the shipyards the next. Or visiting Africa with Damon Albarn, Flea and Joan As Policewoman and then presenting a TV programme for BBC4 about traditional dance. Rubbing shoulders with Robert Plant, Adele, Elbow and Radiohead at the Mercurys, or in a bunkhouse on the coastline of Northumberland cooking for 50 fans on one of their residential singing weekends. Running singing sessions in the back of a pub on a Monday before heading off to tour America or Australia on the Tuesday. Signing licensing deals with EMI while continuing to record vocals in broom cupboards under the stairs. Spending 9-5 managing their own careers without agents or labels, and heading down the studio in the evening to write scores for a project with a symphony orchestra. Collaborating with Orbital while championing songs from the folk club floor singers of the North East and re-presenting them to anyone who wants to listen. Youll find them played by the folk show on BBC Radio 2, but equally by cutting edge BBC6 Music, Radio 3 and Radio 1 DJs. You might find them on the cover of a folk magazine like fRoots or in the pages of NME. For every glamorous accolade, there is an act of grounded integrity.

     

    Recent adventures beyond their central activity a brass band collaboration with national champions Brighouse and Rastrick, a reimagining of the work of Robert Wyatt and Antony Hegarty, and a soundtrack to a film about the shipbuilding industry - plus collaborations Orbital, Sting, Adrian Utley (Portishead), Martin Green (Lau), Martin Hayes, The MacColl brothers, The Voice Squad, conductor Charles Hazlewood, The Moulettes and German composer Werner Cee.

     

    www.the-unthanks.com

     


    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 28th March 2016. 
    Friends book 10am Monday 21st March only £10 join online.

  • Pascal & Ami Roge - Satie and Les Six.

    Event Date: 23rd May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Programme - Satie and Les Six

    2 hands and 4 hands

    SATIE:                   Parade 

    DEBUSSY:            Petite Suite 

    SATIE:                   Morceaux en forme de poire 

    SATIE:                   Gnossienne No. 2 

    RAVEL:                  Ma Mere l'Oye 

    SATIE:                   1st Gymnopedie 

    SATIE:                   Je te veux 

    MILHAUD:             Enfantines 

    TAILLEFERRE:     Images 

    DUREY:                 Carillons 

    AURIC:                  Adieu New-York

    HONEGGER:        Pastorale d'été 

    POULENC:           Sonata for Piano Duet 

    Pascal Rogé exemplifies the finest in French pianism. Born in Paris, he was a student of the Paris Conservatory and was also mentored by Julius Katchen and the great Nadia Boulanger. Winner of Georges Enesco piano competition and 1st prize of Marguerite Long Piano competition, he became an exclusive Decca recording artist at the age of seventeen. His playing of Poulenc, Satie, Fauré, Saint-Saëns and especially Ravel, is characterized by its elegance, beauty and stylistically perfect phrasing.


    Mr. Rogé has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world and with every major orchestra across the globe and has collaborated with the most distinguished conductors in history, including Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur, Edo de Waart, Alan Gilbert, David Zinman, Marek Janowski, Sir Andrew Davis, Raymond Leppard and others. One of the world’s most distinguished recording artists, Pascal Rogé has won many prestigious awards, including two Gramophone Awards, a Grand Prix du Disque and an Edison Award for his interpretations of the Ravel and Saint- Saens concerti along with the complete piano works of Ravel, Poulenc and Satie.


    Several years ago, Mr. Rogé began a new and ambitious recording project for Onyx called the Rogé Edition. With the Vienna Radio Symphony under Bertrand de Billy, he has recently recorded two CDs of both of the Ravel Piano Concerti and the Gershwin Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue.


    Recently, Pascal
 has
 enjoyed
 playing
 recitals
 for four-hands / two-pianos with 
his
 partner 
in life and in music Ami Rogé.
 Together, they
 have travelled
 the
 world 
appearing at 
prestigious
festivals and
 concert halls and recorded
 several
 CDs
 dedicated
 to
 the
 French 
2 
piano 
and 
4 
hands repertoire. In 2011 they have given the 
premiere 
of a 
newly commissioned Concerto
 for
 Two
 Pianos
 by
 the
 composer
 Matthew
 Hindson
 with
 the Sydney 
Symphony
 Orchestra
 conducted by 
Vladimir 
Ashkenazy.


    Recently chairman of the Geneva Piano competition, Pascal Rogé is also dedicated to teaching and gives regular masterclasses in France, Japan, United States and United Kingdom.

     

    Tickets on sale 10am Monday 28th March 2016. 
    Friends book 10am Monday 21st March only £10 join online.

  • The John Wilson Orchestra - The Broadway Sound with Julian Ovenden May 2016

    Event Date: 22nd May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Julian+Ovenden+Tim+Rice+Performs+London+CBi-cw8sxhRl.jpg

    The John Wilson Orchestra will make its debut at the Perth Festival on Sunday 22nd May with a show celebrating the golden age of Broadway. The orchestra will be joined by special guest singer Julian Ovenden. The John Wilson Orchestra will be releasing its new CD for Warner Classics @Gershwin in Hollywood – Live from The Royal Albert Hall’ on May 6th

     

    The John Wilson Orchestra The Broadway Sound 

    Conducted by John Wilson

    An evening of songs and orchestral pieces from the golden age of the Broadway stage musical. The orchestra has established an international reputation performing repertoire from the golden era of Hollywood and Broadway musicals and music for the big screen and appears regularly at the BBC Proms, at international festivals and concert halls and on television and radio. Technicolour for the ears?  You better believe it!’  - The Independent 

    Conductor and arranger John Wilson formed The John Wilson Orchestra in 1994. The orchestra has an international reputation as a unique hand-picked ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians. The orchestra specialises in recording contemporary film soundtracks and authentic concert performances of classic film musical scores. Outside of the concert hall the orchestra has contributed to soundtrack recordings for films including The Gathering Storm and in 2007 was nominated for a Grammy Award for ‘Best Soundtrack’ for Beyond the Sea starring Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin. .

    The orchestra has recorded critically acclaimed CDs for Vocalion including This Is The John Wilson Orchestra, Orchestral Jazz, Shall We Dance?, Soft Lights and Sweet Music, Moonlight Becomes You, Film and Television Music of Angela Morley and Dance Date.


    In addition the John Wilson Orchestra has collaborated on a CD recording for Sir Paul McCartney. The orchestra has performed on British TV, including Parkinson, and was recently invited to perform a concert for HRH Prince of Wales American Foundation at Buckingham Palace.


    In August 2009 the John Wilson Orchestra made its debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in a concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of the MGM film musicals. The concert was broadcast live on British television. In August 2010 the orchestra returned to the BBC Proms in a celebration of Rodgers & Hammerstein film musicals.


    In the autumn of 2010 the John Wilson Orchestra performed its first national tour of the United Kingdom. The John Wilson Orchestra performed a Christmas special Swingin’ Christmas for BBC Television which was broadcast on Christmas night 2010. The John Wilson Orchestra records exclusively for Warner Classics.


  • Alex Horne & The Horne Section

    Event Date: 20th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

    The Horne Section bring together stand-up and live music in a free-wheeling and spontaneous combination. The group is led by Alex Horne, the creator and host of hit Dave TV Series Taskmaster. Their live show Horne Section’s Questions Sessions pits some of the finest contemporary comedians against each other to complete the most unlikely tasks, and has enjoyed sell-out runs in Edinburgh and at the Soho Theatre.

     
    The Horne Section have recently starred in Horne Section’s Christmas, a “deliciously blasphemous delight” (Chortle) of a short film that aired on Sky Arts on Christmas Day. They are the only band that has ever hosted 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Never Mind the Buzcocks. They have also appeared on The John Bishop Show, as well as presenting three series of their very own show for BBC Radio 4.
     
    ‘A frivolously funny mash-up of music and mirth’ **** (Evening Standard)
     
    ‘A joyful, high-octane collision of stand-up, musical improvisation and variety…one of the most original and entertaining comedy cabarets you’ll see’ (Guardian). 

     

  • Don Giovanni by English Touring Opera May 2016

    Event Date: 19th May 2016

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    New production sung in English - finish time 22.20.

    Don Giovanni: Nicholas Lister
    Donna Anna: Camilla Roberts
    Commendatore: Tim Dawkins

    Director Lloyd Wood sets his Don Giovanni in turn-of-the-century Vienna: a city of bustling creativity, scientific discoveries and dangerous tension – the city of Freud. ETO’s Don Giovanni explores the themes of purity and death in a sequence of complex relationships between women and men, and men and men.

    Don Giovanni will be conducted by ETO Music Director Michael Rosewell. Evening Standard Theatre Award-winning designer Anna Fleischle will design Don Giovanni.

    Don Giovanni, a Spanish nobleman, travels through Europe seducing women, accompanied by his long-suffering servant Leporello. When his actions lead to murder, he unleashes vengeance from beyond the grave.

    Is Don Giovanni a hero who defies all authority, or an amoral faker, a rapist and a murderer? To whichever conclusion you are pulled by the first, immortal bars of the score, every performance of Mozart and Da Ponte’s masterpiece is a musical and dramatic whirlwind, culminating in a supernatural intervention. It is as if the gods, or the dead, are summoned to finish the man who acknowledges no father, no law, no love, no fate.

    Sung in English with surtitles more information 
    Don Giovanni

     

  • 2015

  • The Massed Bands of Her Majesty's Royal Marines 2015

    Event Date: 31st May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Combined bands of Scotland and Portsmouth - Festival of Music
    This is the world famous programme performed at the Albert Hall in London
    Compered by John Suchet

    Finish Time 10.30pm

    This programme shows the versatility of the Royal Marines Bands at its best with traditional marches, the spectacular Corps of Drums, highly talented soloists, classical works by Arturo Marques and Delibes, film music and much, much more. There is even a special tribute to 100th Anniversary of the First World WarGallipoli Campaign that leads into a traditional patriotic naval finale. This is a high class production from some of the finest military musicians in the country that would appeal to all ages and all the family. 

    Programme

    Conductor: Lieutenant Colonel Nick Grace OBE RM – Principal Director of Music Royal Marines

    The National Anthem Jacob

    Opening Fanfare Heroic Return Keresztes arr. Powell

    Introducing the Corps of Drums Victory in Europe Smallwood

    Drum Display Invictus Paine/Thomas/Williams

    Band & Drum Feature Cape Helles Young

    Bugle March HMS Ocean Waterer

    Quick March of the Royal Marines Sarie Marais Dunn

    Overture Danzon No.2 Arturo Marquez

    Conductor: Captain Andy Gregory RM – Director of Music, The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines Scotland

    Clarinet Solo Puttin’ on the Marmalade Shields arr. Hodge

    (Soloists: Musn Wright &

    Musn Hudson)

    Flute Solo Vocalise Rachmaninov arr. Hodge

    (Soloist: BdCpl Merrell-Silk)

    Percussion Exhibition Root Beer Rag Joel arr. McDermott

    (Soloists: BdCpl Smith &

    Musn Tompkins)

    Pixar Blockbuster Symphonic Animation arr. Johnson

    (Soloists: BdCpl Botham, trombone; Musn Woolley,

    saxophone; Cpl Bug Sumner, vocalist; BdCpl Upton,

    flugel and trumpet.

    Conductor: Captain Daryl Powell RM – Director of Music, The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines Portsmouth

    Opening March Sequence Parade of the Slave Children Williams arr. Waller

    Evolution Blundel/Lee/Silk

    Cavalry of the Clouds Alford

    Popular Music Andrews Sisters Various arr. Hodge

    (Soloists: BdSgt Trudgeon,

    BdCpl Merrell-Silk & Musn Carnegie)

    The King Various arr. Hodge

    (Soloist: BdCpl Lloyd)

    Conductor: Lieutenant Colonel Nick Grace OBE RM – Principal Director of Music Royal Marines

    Music from the Ballet Les Chasseresses Delibes arr. Davis

    Tribute to WW1 Gallipoli McDermott

    Hymn & Sunset Sunset Ellerby

    Patriotic Salute Britannic Salute Shillito

    March Past of the Royal Navy Heart of Oak Boyce

    Regimental March of the Royal Marines A Life on the Ocean Wave Russell

     


     

     

     

  • Beethoven The Man Revealed - John Suchet 2015

    Event Date: 30th May 2015

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    In Beethoven - The Man Revealed, John Suchet brings to life the complex nature of one of the greatest musicians this world has ever known. He reveals how Beethoven struggled to continue his great work amidst a backdrop of war against France, his increasing deafness and the extremes of his personality which confused and alienated those closest to him. True genius comes at a price and in this full length biography, John sensitively portrays the man behind the music.

  • Ronnie Scott's All Star Quintet with Claire Martin OBE 2015

    Event Date: 30th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The Ronnie Scott's All Stars, led by the club's Musical Director, internationally renowned pianist and creative tour de force, James Pearson, brings 'The Ronnie Scott's Story' to the stage in this new concert tour. 

    Mixing classic music from the many jazz greats who have performed at the club over its 50 year history - such as Count Basie, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis - alongside tales of old Soho, miscreant musicians, police raids, and the mystery bottle of Mumm Champagne which is kept unopened behind the clubs bar.  A unique evening celebrating one of the World's most famous jazz venues, it's music, and history.

    The Band:
    Since 1959 the tradition at Ronnie Scott’s has always been to have house musicians. That tradition continues with The Ronnie Scott All Stars, lead by pianist and house musical director James Pearson. Frequently to be found supporting some of the world's finest bands and orchestras, they are also used by soloists who come to play at the club, including: Joss Stone, Jeff Beck, Katie Melua, Will Young, Dionne Warwick, Housten Person, Carleen Anderson, Jon Hendricks ... to name just a few.
     
    "Outstanding players. For poise, balance and swing they’re a joy to listen to"
    The Observer
  • Scottish Opera Pop-up Opera Roadshow 30-31May

    Event Date: 30th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    It is recommended to reserve a free ticket in advance as places are limited.

    Scottish Opera is packing up its theatre on wheels and bringing three pop-up operas out on the road to Perth Festival. Performed by a storyteller, singers and instrumentalists, and supported by a set of colourful illustrations, each show gives a fantastic introduction to opera. A Little Bit of Carmen and A Little Bit of Barber are cleverly re-written versions of the full operas and are suitable for all ages, while Puffy MacPuffer & The Crabbit Canals tells the story of the five Scottish Canals and has been specifically created for 5 to 8 year olds.


    There will be a set of 3 shows of three very different styles, and each show would have a box of illustrations to help our narrator lead the audience through the fast-paced storylines:
    11.00 Puffy MacPuffer and the Crabbit Canals – an interactive show for children of 5-8yo about the canal network in Scotland 
    13.00 A little bit of Carmen – a short (approx. 25 min) version of Bizet’s Carmen, performed by two singers, a storyteller, plus guitar, cello and flute
    14.30 A little bit of Barber of Seville – a short (approx. 25 min) version of Rossini’s comic opera The Barber of Seville, featuring a singer, a storyteller, plus guitar and cello

    The trailer will be sited beside Perth Concert Hall.

  • Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra 2015

    Event Date: 29th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
    featuring GILSON LAVIS
    with MARC ALMOND
    and guest vocalists RUBY TURNER, LOUISE MARSHALL & MABEL RAY

    Doors: 7 pm.
    Support act Chris Holland on stage: 7.30 pm - 7.50 pm.
    Jools Holland on stage: 8.20 pm. Finish time approx 10.30pm
     
     

    Jools Holland OBE DL was born Julian Miles Holland on January 24, 1958 in Blackheath, South East London. At the age of 15 Jools was introduced to Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford; together they formed Squeeze, and shortly afterwards they were joined by Gilson Lavis (who had already played with, among others, B. B. King, Chuck Berry and Max Wall), who still drums with Jools. Up The Junction and Cool For Cats gave Squeeze meteoric success and their popularity rapidly extended to America, where their tour included performances at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
    In 1987 Jools formed The Jools Holland Big Band, comprising himself and Gilson Lavis. This has gradually metamorphosed into the current 20-piece Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which consists of pianist, organist, drummer, three female vocals, guitar, bass guitar, two tenor saxophones, two alto saxophones, baritone saxophone, three trumpets, and four trombones.
    Jools' career as a television presenter has run parallel to his musical career. He started in the early 1980s when he interviewed The Police for a documentary that was made while they were recording at George Martin's Montserrat studio. Jools then auditioned to become co-presenter (with Paula Yates) of The Tube, which achieved almost immediate cult status and discovered a whole new generation of musicians and comedians between 1981 and 1986.
    As always, Jools continues to dazzle audiences across the UK with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and their exuberant live performances.  They have just come off an extensive UK tour and, for the 21st year in a row, celebrated the dawn of the new year with the whole nation on BBC2’s New Year’s Eve TV Show ‘Jools’ Annual Hootenanny’.

    Sponsored by

    Brewin Dolphin

  • The Only Way is Downton 2015

    Event Date: 28th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

     

    Seabright Productions presents
    THE ONLY WAY IS DOWNTOWN

    Written and performed by Luke Kempner.
    Directed by Owen Lewis. Script edited by Jeremy Limb

    Finish time approx 9.45pm

    Following two sell-out Edinburgh runs, two West End seasons and UK tours, impressionist Luke Kempner – star of YouTube hit Downstairs At Downton and the musicals Les Mis and Avenue Qonce again tours his solo show around the UK in spring 2015.

    As celebrities start appearing at the Abbey, cultures clash and eras hilariously collide in this brilliant parody. Building on the multi-character original scenario of his YouTube video, Luke has created an original story in which the characters of Downton Abbey are in crisis and have to call upon modern celebrities to help the cast of Downton save the estate from financial ruin – again!

    Writer/performer Luke Kempner has recently appeared in Sleeping Beauty for Salisbury Playhouse, directed by Joyce Branagh and as the Professor in the UK tour of South Pacific, directed by Bartlett Sher. He created a role in new musical LIFT at the Soho Theatre, directed by Steven Paling. He's also appeared in the UK tours of Avenue Q, directed by Jason Moore and Les Miserables, directed by Laurence Connor. Luke is a graduate of the Guildford School of Acting.

    Director Owen Lewis most recently staged solo shows for Suggs, Mrs Moneypenny and Hardeep Singh Kohli; previous stage credits include the Olivier Award nominated Eric and Little Ern.

    ‘Luke Kempner's riotous one-man show...a blissful flight of surreal fancy.’ **** Whatsonstage

    ‘Remarkable, tour de force one-man show. If this doesn’t prove a wow in 'Edinburgh and beyond, then I’m Dame Maggie Smith.’ **** Daily Telegraph

    ‘The Energizer Bunny of impressionists.’ The Huffington Post

    ‘Kempner’s script is consistently funny... his Downton impersonations are a deconstructive delight’ **** Metro




     

     

     

     

  • Red Priest - Handel in the Wind 2015

    Event Date: 28th May 2015

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    9.30pm Finish Time

    RED PRIEST
    Piers Adams – recorders
    Julia Bishop – violin
    Angela East – cello
    David Wright – harpsichord

    HANDEL IN THE WIND
    Music by GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL (1685-1759) arranged by Red Priest
    The Messiah Suite: Part 1
    Overture - Comfort Ye - Every Valley
    Sonata in F Major Op 2 No 4               
    Larghetto - Vivace - Adagio - Alla Breve – Allegro
    Largo and Passacaglia in G minor
    Vo Far Guerra (from Rinaldo) for Harpsichord Solo
    The Messiah Suite: Part 2
    Shepherds and Angels – Eternal Source of Light – Darkness – The Blind Man – The Recorder Shall Sound
    Zadok the Red Priest
    Recorder Sonata in B Minor
    Largo – Vivace – Furioso – Adagio – Alla Breve 
    Lascia Ch’Io Pianga
    The Harmonious Blacksmith Variations
    The Messiah Suite: Part 3
    Despised – Siciliano – Why do the Nations? – Breaking the Bonds – The Potter’s Vessel – Hallelujah

    Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and the Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as “visionary and heretical,” “outrageous yet compulsive,” “wholly irreverent and highly enlightened,” “completely wild and deeply imaginative,” with a “red-hot wicked sense of humour” and a “break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music.”
    Founded in 1997, and named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest has given several hundred sell-out concerts in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow December Nights Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Ravinia Festival, Bermuda Festival, and in most European countries, Japan, Australia, and throughout North and Central America. The group has been the subject of hour-long TV profiles for NHK (Japan) and ITV (UK) - the latter for the prestigious South Bank Show in 2005, which documented the launch of the Red Hot Baroque Show, an electrifying marriage of old music with the latest light and video technology.
    In 2008 Red Priest launched its own record label, Red Priest Recordings, which is now the home for all of the recordings of the ensemble and its members, and has attracted much attention in the music press worldwide.  Recent releases have included a swashbuckling collection entitled “Pirates of the Baroque” and the group’s all-Bach blockbuster, “Johann, I'm Only Dancing.”
    To find keep informed about Red Priest’s concerts and recordings join the Red Priest mailing list at www.redpriest.com - or visit our fan-page on Facebook!

    Piers Adams has been heralded in the Washington Post as ‘the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world today’.   He has performed in numerous festivals and at premiere concert halls throughout the world, including London’s Royal Festival, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, and as concerto soloist with the Philharmonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Singapore Symphony and the BBC Symphony. Piers has made several solo CDs reflecting an eclectic taste, ranging from his award-winning Vivaldi début disc to David Bedford’s Recorder Concerto - one of many major works written for and premiered by him. He has also researched, arranged and recorded many classical, romantic, impressionist and folk-influenced showpieces, which are a mainstay of his recital programs.

    Julia Bishop is one of the outstanding baroque violin specialists of her generation, with a virtuoso style described in the BBC Music Magazine as ‘psychedelic’.   She has toured the world with most of the UK's leading period instrument orchestras, including the English Concert, of which she was a member for six years.  Julia has worked extensively as an orchestral leader and soloist, in particular with the celebrated Gabrieli Consort, with whom she has performed internationally and appeared on numerous discs for Deutsche Grammophon.  She has also appeared as concerto soloist with Florilegium, the Brandenburg Consort and the Hanover Band.

    Angela East is widely respected as one of the most brilliant and dynamic performers in the period instrument world, praised in The Times, London, for the “elemental power” of her cello playing. She has given numerous concerto performances in London's Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls, and has performed as soloist and continuo cellist with many of Europe's leading baroque orchestras, as well as with her own ensemble, the Revolutionary Drawing Room. Among her impressive list of concert credits are La Scala, Milan, Sydney Opera House, Versailles and Glyndebourne.   Her long awaited disc of Bach’s Cello Suites was recently released on Red Priest Recordings, together with a recital disc of popular baroque cello sonatas.

    David Wright was an almost entirely self taught musician before gaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he won several prizes, including the International Broadwood Competition, and graduated with distinction. Since then he has worked with some of the world’s leading musicians including Emma Kirkby, James Bowman and Steven Varcoe, and as a soloist with many groups of international renown. He has directed numerous concerts from the harpsichord, including the first modern performance of Arne's The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, and is guest conductor to several European orchestras. Much of David's time in recent years has been devoted to performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which he recorded in 2007 and has since toured extensively, and performed on TV and radio.   He joined Red Priest in 2011, taking over from his predecessor in a Dr. Who style regeneration event in BREMF 2010!
     

     

  • Simply Gershwin - Music, Song and Dance 2015

    Event Date: 27th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Richard Balcombe conductor
    Meeta Raval guest singer

    Rodney Earl Clarke guest singer

    Jonathan Scott piano

    Djordje Tanasijevic ballroom dancer

    Emma Lee ballroom dancer

    Oliver Botterill tap dancer

    Katie Love tap dancer

     

    The concert brings together Broadway glamour and toe-tapping tunes in an all Gershwin extravaganza featuring the very best music, song and dance!

    George and Ira Gershwin wrote some of the most loved music in the American songbook and this concert is packed with some of their very best work including Someone to Watch Over Me, excerpts from Porgy and Bess, A Foggy Day in London Town, Someone to Watch Over Me, S’Wonderful and Rhapsody in Blue.  
    The concert will be performed by the Scottish Concert Orchestra, special guest vocalists  Meeta Raval and Rodney Earl Clarke, pianist Jonathan Scott plus a glamorous ballroom duo and two sensational tap dancers.

     

  • The Sixteen 2015

    Event Date: 26th May 2015

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    The Choral Pilgrimage Flight of the Angels - Finish time 9.10pm approx
     

    In 2015 The Sixteen takes a trip back to 16th-century Spain and more specifically to one of the biggest, richest and most cosmopolitan cities on earth - Seville. It was during this Spanish ‘golden age’ when arts and culture flourished, that Francisco Guerrero and Alonso Lobo made their mark.
    Between them these two composers capture an astonishing variety of moods within their music, from ecstasy and joy to despair, longing and devotional stillness. 

    ‘There are surely few composers who can boast a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; Guerrero made his in 1558 and published a book about his incredible journey. He was reputed to have been a person of gentleness and charm and in possession of a beautiful high tenor voice, and it is that singing quality that comes across in his works - every line is a joy to sing. The acclaimed music scholar Robert Stevenson wrote that the moods he captured included ecstasy, gaiety, melancholy, longing, submission and repose, many of which are captured in ‘Agnus Dei I and II’ from his Missa Congratulamini mihi.
    Lobo was a choirboy at Seville Cathedral where Guerrero was maestro de capella. His eight-part setting of Ave Maria is a technical tour de force, but one which in no way impedes its rich sonority and sheer beauty. However there is a single work, that in my opinion makes Lobo deserving of a lasting reputation, and that is Versa est in luctum. Written for the obsequies of Philip II in 1598, it is not only contemplative but also daring, with one of the most heartfelt dissonances I know in Renaissance music.

    Both Guerrero and Lobo’s works were performed for nearly two centuries after their deaths, in cathedrals throughout Spain, Portugal and the New World. Let us ensure today that they can achieve the same renown.’ Harry Christophers

    Harry Christophers conductor

    Concert programme

    Guerrero Duo Seraphim

    A. Lobo Kyrie from Missa Maria Magdalene

    A. Lobo Libera me

    Guerrero Gloria from Missa Surge propera

    Guerrero Laudate Dominum

    Guerrero Maria Magdalene

    Guerrero Credo from Missa de la batalla escoutez

    Guerrero Vexilla Regis

    A. Lobo Ave Regina coelorum

    A. Lobo Ave Maria

    A. Lobo Versa est in luctum

    Guerrero Agnus Dei I and II from Missa Congratulamini mihi

     

    Social Media links

    Please follow us on Twitter - @TheSixteen

    Please find us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/The-Sixteen

       

    Supported by Dunard Fund

     

     

  • Silent Headphone Disco

    Event Date: 26th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets will be also be available on the door on the night.
    The Silent Disco will take place in a marquee beside Perth Concert Hall from 7pm to 11pm.

    It is ideal for of all ages. Early on in the evening great fun for families. Everyone gets a headset when they arrive at the marquee (£5 deposit) and then you tune in to one of the two djs. There are two sound tracks to choose from rock and rock and also electro beats. The marquee is silent and only those with the headsets can hear the music. It is great fun to take part in and to watch... give it a go. 

    Headphone Disco's 'TwoDeeJaySuperShow' is a unique, surreal and hugely enjoyable experience that's been rocking the college, festival and club circuit since 2007. From London to Lisbon and Moscow to Montreal the reaction to this silent party sensation has been immense as party people embrace one of the most talked about and freshest of dance party experiences. Surreal, bizarre, slightly outrageous but most of all hugely enjoyable, Headphone Disco is one of the most exciting dance party experiences to emerge in years. Where else can you witness one half of a crowd go wild to tough electro beats while the other half get down to some floor-shaking rock n' roll? On the same dancefloor. At the same time! Taking part is fun, watching from the side is hilarious and avoiding any late night amplified-noise curfews.

    The will be a bar with refreshments in the marquee.


     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • A Tribute to William Hannah featuring Luke Daniels (melodeon) & Neil Ewart (fiddle) 2015

    Event Date: 26th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    This event will take place at the Norie Miller Room at Perth Concert Hall

    Featuring Luke Daniels (melodeon), Neil Ewart (fiddle), Ian Carr (guitar) and John Paul Gandy (piano), this project made painstakingly detailed transcriptions of William Hannah's original 78 and wax cylinder recordings from 1908-27 and then reproduced them as closely as possible to the source material on two restored melodeons c1909 and 1922 both with the original reeds. They worked with Royal Conservatoire Scotland and School of Scottish Studies and Edinburgh University on this album which is due for release in Spring 2015.

    William Hannah was born in Livingston, West Lothian in 1891 and reared in Blackburn. He was a prolific recording artist and popular band leader apart from having a major influence on Jimmy Shand. He published a tutor and tune collection for the button accordion around 1925. After the Great War, in which he served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, he took up playing mouth organ before moving up to the melodeon. During World War II he served as Lieutenant in the Home

    Guard and was noted for one particular act of bravery when he disposed of a live grenade, saving the lives of several others. He was later injured by a bomb and was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1944. He was head postman at Bathgate Post Office. He died in Carron, Stirlingshire in 1961.Hannah was involved in the development of the modern accordion.

     

     

  • Courtney Pine 2015

    Event Date: 25th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets also available on Ticketmaster. Finish time 9.30pm

     

    COURTNEY PINE PRESENTS SONG (the ballad book)
    Featuring ZOE RAHMAN on piano


    In the 80’s he was one of the first black British jazz artists to make a serious mark on the jazz scene when his first album charted and some 20 plus years on (now with an OBE and CBE for services to music) Courtney Pine continues to break new ground with a string of highly acclaimed recordings and numerous prestigious Industry awards. In April 2014 he joined Herbie Hancock and a dazzling line-up of Jazz all-stars for UNESCO’S globally televised concert in Osaka to celebrate International Jazz Day and his name regularly appears on the list of Most Influential Black Britons.

     

    2014 saw him touring sell out shows across the UK, US and Canada and mainstage performances at Bestival, Love Supreme and The London Jazz Festival with his award winning critically acclaimed 15th studio album House of Legends

     

    Now with his latest project. his 16th studio album to date,  he plans to strip everything right back for the most intimate shows of his long and celebrated career as he takes to the stage playing bass clarinet accompanied only by fellow Mercury nominee and MOBO Award winning Pianist, Zoe Rahman.  Described in The Observer as “a remarkable pianist by any standard”, Zoe Rahman has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars on the contemporary jazz scene. A vibrant and highly individual pianist/composer, her style is deeply rooted in jazz yet it reflects her classical background, British/Bengali heritage and her very broad musical taste.

     

    The Independent “ Courtney Pine was once hailed as British jazz’s saviour….he still is”

     

    The Telegraph “Nothing short of breathtaking”

    The Times “In a Class of His Own”

      

    "I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO RECORD A COLLECTION OF MY FAVOURITE BALLADS AND THERE IS NOTHING LIKE PERFORMING IN A DUET FORMAT FOR BRINGING OUT THE INTIMACY OF GREAT SONGS.” Courtney Pine

     


    In 1986 a 22 year old Courtney Pine appeared on the front cover of the NME, the last quote in a two page interview read “You know I’m doing this for a reason” –some 28 years later he still is…

     

    Catch these two amazing Jazz stars on tour in 2015.

     

     

  • BBC Philharmonic with Tine Thing Helseth 2015

    Event Date: 24th May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Finish time 9.35pm

    Conducted by Andrew Gourlay

     

    Serenade for Strings in C major, Op.48   Tchaikovsky
    Trumpet Concerto in E flat    Hummel
    Symphony No.7 in A, Op.92  Beethoven  
            

    In recognition of her outstanding performing abilities, Tine Thing Helseth has been the recipient of various awards including ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the 2013 Echo Klassik Awards, the 2009 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the 2007 Norwegian Grammy Awards (the first classical artist ever to be nominated), and second prize in the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians Competition.
     

    In early 2012, Tine released her debut discs on EMI Classics: a solo disc with RLPO, Storyteller, and a collaborative album with tenThing, 10. Tine released a further CD in March 2013 – aptly titled Tine, the disc presents a personal selection of original and transcribed works, accompanied by Kathryn Stott.

     

    The BBC Philharmonic is a broadcasting orchestra based in Salford. As one of the BBC’s six performing groups it gives over a hundred concerts a year, nearly all of which are broadcast on BBC Radio 3, the BBC’s home of classical music. The orchestra works with world class artists from a range of genres and styles and appears annually at the BBC Proms. Internationally-renowned, the orchestra has sold around 900,000 albums and regularly tours in Europe and Asia.

     

     

     

  • Andrew Forbes Organ Recital 2015

    Event Date: 23rd May 2015

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth


    Andrew Forbes is from Perth and is currently Director of Music at Glasgow Cathedral.

    Programme

    Praeludium in A.        Dietrich Buxtehude.    (1637-1707)
    Adagio on themes by Albinoni.      Remo Giazotto.   (1910-1998)

    Trio Sonata in E minor.      J S Bach.  (1685-1750)
    Berceuse and Finale from the Firebird Suite.    Igor Stravinsky. (1882-1971). arr. Maurice Besly.  (1888-1945)
    Prelude, Fugue and Variation.    César Franck.  (1822-1890)
    Organ Symphony No. 7, Op.42 No.3.  Charles-Marie Widor. (1844-1937)
    Chorale Variations on the theme Veni Creator.   Maurice Duruflé. (1902-1986)
     

    Winner of the 2014 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition, Andrew Forbes, who comes from Perth, was appointed as the Director of Music of Glasgow Cathedral in October 2014. Andrew is reading for a Masters Degree in Naval Architecture, and has held the organ scholarships of Glasgow University and St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh.

    In demand as both a soloist and accompanist, Andrew has performed throughout Europe, at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Trinity College (Cambridge) and Worcester Cathedral. As a pianist, Andrew has worked with the Dunedin Consort, NYOS, NYOS Futures, and as concerto soloist for performances of Rhapsody in Blue and Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto. Andrew is also an active continuo player, with recent performances including Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri and Händel's Acis and Galatea.

    Future engagements include recitals at Westminster Abbey, Christchurch Cathedral (Dublin) and St. Anne’s Cathedral (Belfast). More information can be found at www.andrewforbes.org

     


  • The Proclaimers 2015

    Event Date: 23rd May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Finish time 10.30pm
     
    Supported by Declan Welsh
     
    Strikingly individual, twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid have over the years enjoyed huge success across the globe as the emotional honesty, political fire, wit and sing-along raucousness of their songs and their extensive touring has enlightened and entertained fans new and old. The Proclaimers have carved out a niche for themselves in the netherworld where pop, folk, new wave and punk collide. 
    In the process they have enjoyed Gold and Platinum singles and albums in UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 
    After completing a 2-year World Tour late in 2013, Craig and Charlie took 2014 off to focus entirely on writing a new album. They headed to Rockfield Studios in December with their band and producer Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey, Idlewild, The Who) and recorded their 10th studio album 'Let's Hear It For The Dogs' released on Cooking Vinyl in April this year.
    On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island discs, David Tennant describes his first track by The Proclaimers, I could have chosen any and every track from this band, probably my favourite band of all time. They write the most spectacular songs, big hearted, uncynical passionate songs.
     
  • Festival Ceilidh Jim Mackay Dance Band 2015

    Event Date: 23rd May 2015

    Venue: Salutation Hotel

    The Ceilidh will be held at The Salutation Hotel in South Street, Perth.

    Jim Mackay's Dance Band has been on the go since 1957. Originally from Caithness but moved to the Inverness area in the early 1980's, the band has always had a well established following in the north.  The band now consists of 3 generations of the Mackay Family.
    Jim (button accordion player and renowned accordion teacher in Inverness), his son Tom on drums (been in the band since 1975) and Tom's son Graeme on accordion (a former accordion champion and solo musician in his own right).  The family element keeps the band strong and fresh, with all dances called, old tunes revived and a big sound that will get everyone dancing!

  • King Creosote and his 8 piece band 2015

    Event Date: 22nd May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets are also available on Ticketmaster. Finish time 10.20pm


    King Creosote will be playing pieces from the sound track “Scotland With Love” and his back catalogue.

    From Scotland With Love, which featured in The Sunday Times, Loud & Quiet and MOJO’s year-end lists and which critics described as ‘a lovingly crafted thing’ (Independent on Sunday) and ‘consistently superb’ (Loud & Quiet – 9/10), was created in collaboration with director Virginia Heath and Producer Grant Keir as an audio-accompaniment to a poetic documentary film of the same name. Featuring archive footage from the National Library of Scotland Scottish Screen Archive, but no narration or interview, the film works around themes of love and loss, war, resistance, emigration, work and play, and is driven as much by the music as it is the images. For the first time King Creosote found himself being able to write from other people’s perspectives. The result is From Scotland With Love, one of King Creosote’s most widescreen cinematic and finest pieces of work to date.

     

    ‘It makes for an immersive, moving and, at times, truly magical window on the past.’ The Guardian - 4* live review

     From Scotland With Love successfully and movingly unites past and present, old and new, sight and sound. Another diamond’: Uncut – 8/10

     

    Hamish James Hawk is an Edinburgh-born singer-songwriter. Having spent the early years of his adult life in Fife's East Neuk, Hawk has gained his fair share of inspiration from salty harbour mornings and cobbled afternoons. His music's distinctive voice, however, is the result of these coastal experiences twinned with the late-night morning-after misery of an Edinburgh hangover. Hawk's debut album Aznavour was released in Spring, 2014, and is to be followed by a second release in Summer, 2015, with the generous mentorship of Kenny Anderson and his Alter Ego Trading Company.

     

    'a prolific and idiosyncratic talent in his own right, armed with a suite of songs that are full of bittersweet laments and more lyrical nooks and crannies than the East Neuk coastline' - Nick Mitchell, WOW 24/7'

     

  • Frank Lloyd - horn & piano recital 2015

    Event Date: 22nd May 2015

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Programme will include pieces by L.V. Beethoven, R.Strauss, F.Strauss, R.Schumann, Rheinberger and J.S.Bach.
     

    Frank Lloyd played French Horn in the Royal Marines Band Service. In 1975 he left the services to embark on a course at the Royal Academy of Music as a pupil of Ifor James. Within three months, however, he was offered the position of Principal Horn with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and went on to play with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, the Nash Ensemble and the English Chamber Orchestra as Principal Horn. For several years he served as Professor of Horn at both the Guildhall School of Music and Trinity School of Music in London, and in 1998 was appointed Professor of Horn at the Essen Folkwang-Hochschule, where he succeeded the renowned Hermann Baumann. His achievements have been recognised by being awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music.
     

    Frank Lloyd is accompanied by pianist Maxim Shamo, who was born in the North Caucasus, into a family with a longstanding professional musical tradition. He started studying piano at a very early age, at the Special Music College of the National Academy of Music in Kiev, Ukraine. He has studied around the world, with Prof. Ludger Maxsein at the Folkwang University of the Arts (Essen, Germany), Prof. Staffan Scheja (Stockholm, Sweden), and Prof. Willem Brons (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

  • ArTay 21-24 May 2015

    Event Date: 21st May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    ArTay
    Curated by Frames Gallery
    10.00 - 18.00 Thursday 21st May
    10.00 - 19.30 from Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th May (inclusive)
    Beside Perth Concert Hall
    Admission Free

    Perth Festival is delighted to announce the return of arTay. This large exhibition of Contemporary Scottish Art and Craft was a big success when it ran from 2000-2005 and it is with great anticipation that we have decided to bring it back.

    •    It is called “arTay” and consists of a very large marquee erected outside of Perth Concert Hall and will hold an exhibition of Scottish Contemporary Art and Craft.
    •    It will feature the work of over 80 artists and makers drawn from all over Scotland and there will be around 300 works on show
    •    This is quite a unique event as it’s not an art fair and is much bigger than any normal commercial gallery could hold.
    •    It is on for four days and admission is free.
    •    Using the contacts that I have built up over the 30 odd years that I’ve been involved in Scottish Art, we will have an impressive range of work on show. From RSA members such as Gordon Mitchell, Doug Cocker and Reinhard      Behrens, RSW members such as Sandy Murphy, Charlie MacQueen, Christine Woodside alongside lesser known but still excellent artists.
    •    The main aim of arTay is to make Contemporary Art as accessible as possible to as many people as possible and all the work will be for sale.
    •    Perth Festival first held this event in 2000 and ran it for five years and now in 2014 it has been re-instated. It was one of the Festivals most successful events with around 5,000 people visiting the tent over the four days.
    •    Perth Festival has been running for over 40 years and is one of the biggest festivals outside of Edinburgh but it has a reputation for being mostly performance based so this very costly investment in visual arts is a big commitment for them.
    •    Below is a list of the artists who have currently agreed to take part.
    •    Please contact me for more information  and images if required: Hugh Goring: hugh.goring@framesgallery.co.uk  01738 631085

    10am - 7.30pm
    Free Admission

     

     

  • La boheme - English Touring Opera 2015

    Event Date: 21st May 2015

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    There will be a pre-opera talk in the Norie Miller Room at 18.30. Please book a free ticket in advance from the Box Office.

    Finish time 9.35pm


    Performed on Thursday 21 May at Perth Concert Hall, La bohème is sung in full costume, in Italian with English surtitles, accompanied by ETO’s chorus and 25-piece orchestra.


    One of the greatest and most moving operas of all time, La bohème is a story of young love, starting on Christmas Eve in a Parisian garret. On this festive, snowy night the lovers Mimi and Rodolfo draw close, but poverty and ill-health force them apart.

    The production features a group of 12 young local singers from Oakbank School in Perth, recruited especially for ETO’s tour to sing a children’s chorus of street urchins.

    James Conway, General Director of ETO, said: ‘La bohème is the ideal first opera, and one to which everyone loves to return - a nostalgic look at the pathos and folly of youth. It is a romance which has music of great power, drawing out the very best of that remarkable thing, the human voice.’

    1st half 50 mins (7.30-8.20)
    Interval 25 mins (8.20-8.45)
    2nd half 50 mins (8.45-9.35)

     

  • 2014

  • Dougie MacLean with Strings and Celtic Musicians "The Perthshire Cantata"

    Event Date: 1st June 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Final concert with Dougie MacLean today. Book online all day using the booking link. You can also phone or visit the Box Office from 4.30pm telephone 01738 621031. There will also be tickets on the door tonight.

    View the concert live on the web at Butterstone.tv  

    Finish time 21.30

    Musician and composer, Dougie MacLean, has composed a new piece of music entitled ‘The Perthshire Cantata’ for Perth Festival of the Arts. The commission has been supported by Creative Scotland’s Traditional Arts Commissioning Programme.

    ‘The Perthshire Cantata’ is an original 'song based' composition by Dougie MacLean using Perthshire themes in the inspiration and lyric, incorporating traditional roots based and contemporary styles. It is a piece that when performed with the original "Perthshire Amber Suite" (instrumental) provides a full and varied programme. Dougie MacLean has an international reputation as "Scotland's Musical Ambassador" (Performing Songwriter USA) and having been born and based in Perthshire for his whole life much of the inspiration for his acclaimed compositions and songs comes from this place. He has composed this piece from the heart.

    The work is arranged by John Logan, arranger and conductor as well as French horn player in the RSNO. Musicians for the performance include: Dougie MacLean (guitar, fiddle, bouzouki), Ross Ainslie (Highland and Lowland Pipes, whistles, mandocello), Sorren MacLean (vocals and guitar), Jenna Reid (fiddle), Iain Sandilands (percussion) and the 11 string players of the Perthshire Ensemble.  

    The Festival commissioned ‘Perthshire Amber’ from Dougie MacLean in 1999.
    Sponsored by
    Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust

  • Royal Northern Sinfonia & MiloÅ¡ Karadaglic

    Event Date: 31st May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Finish time 21.25
    Directed by Bradley Creswick

    Prokofiev – Classical Symphony
    Barber – Adagio
    Milos – solo pieces
    Mozart – Symphony No. 38 ‘The Prague’
    Rodrigo – Concerto Aranjuez

    One of the hottest properties in classical music, Miloš Karadaglić came to international attention in 2011 with his debut album The Guitar (Mediterráneo) which, in the space of just a few months, topped classical charts around the world, became an internationally best selling sensation and earned Miloš Gramophone’s prestigious Young Artist of the Year Award.
    As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, Miloš Karadaglić released his second album Latino (Pasión) in 2012 and went on to receive both Classic Brit (UK) and Echo Klassik (Germany) awards. Reviewing the album Gramophone commented “Karadaglić is a guitarist of superior musical and technical gifts who allows his personality to sing through the music with taste and intelligence” and The Daily Telegraph added “this new Latin American programme is outstanding in its finesse, warm sensuality and sheer beauty.”

    Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of Sage Gateshead, the UK’s only full-time chamber orchestra, has built a distinctive reputation as a fresh-thinking and versatile orchestra. Royal Northern Sinfonia was founded in 1958 by the BBC musicologist and producer Michael Hall. The Queen bestowed the title of ‘Royal’ on Northern Sinfonia in 2013 recognising it internationally as one of the UK’s finest orchestras – the first time any UK orchestra has been so honoured for over twenty years.
    Under its longest serving Music Director, Thomas Zehetmair, Royal Northern Sinfonia has taken a dedicated approach to stylistic excellence in all genres and has developed an extensive and ambitious repertoire. Core classical music remains at the heart of the programme whilst precision, excellence and deep musical understanding are equally applied to its chamber, contemporary, light music and cross-genre performances. All performances are underpinned by Zehetmair’s maxim; to perform “as if the ink was still wet on the page.”
     

     

  • Music on A Saturday Morning - Colleen Nicoll (soprano)

    Event Date: 31st May 2014

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Finish time 12.15pm
    Colleen will be accompanied by Andrew Johnston (piano). The programme will include works by Handel, Strauss, Duparc, Reynaldo Hahn, Mozart, Britten and Francis George Scott.
    Soprano Colleen Nicoll grew up in Highland Perthshire . She is currently studying a Masters in Vocal Performance at Trinity Conservatoire of Music, in London, under the tuition of Laureen Livingstone and Jean Paul Pruna. Colleen is generously supported by The Hope Scott Trust and The Kathleen Trust.
    Opera roles have included Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Susan in Company (Steven Sondheim), Cherubino in Le Nozze Di Figaro (Mozart), First Lady in The Magic Flute (Mozart), Blanche Dialogues of the Carmelites (Poulenc), Owl, Head Hen and Foresters Wife in The Cunning Little Vixen (Janacek). Colleen also has experience performing modern music, most recently performing the Joker in It Makes No Difference by Simone Spangolo for Trinity Opera.
    Colleen has a busy concert diary and really enjoys returning to Scotland to perform. She has recently performed soprano solo in Handel's Messiah for Crieff Choral and SSAFA charity 'Come Sing Handel's Messiah' event, with Peter Rutterford and also works frequently with Philomusica of Edinburgh. Other concert highlights include Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and Hayden's Nelson Mass As part of the Edinburgh Festival.
    Upcoming performances include chorus in Verdi's Aida with Opera du Bauge, Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Trinity Opera and Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Project Opera.
    Colleen works frequently with pianist Andrew Johnston and the duo are delighted to be performing as part of Perth Festival of the Arts.

  • The Confessions of Gordon Brown (also on 30th May)

    Event Date: 31st May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Also at 7pm on Friday 30th May in the Norie Miller Room, Perth Concert Hall

    Finish time 20.10

    In a candid portrait of life inside Downing Street, Gordon Brown hilariously exposes the darkest secrets of being Prime Minister, the stab-in-the-back plottings, the betrayals and most importantly -  the hair gel.

     

    Love him or loathe him, Gordon Brown was our greatest failure at being Prime Minister in 200 years. And in this searing satire of the hidden arts of modern political leadership, Gordon at last reveals what it takes to knife your way to the top and rule a nation. And how his dream of power ran awry.

     

    Starring Ian Grieve as Gordon Brown in a brand new one-man play by acclaimed Emmy nominated Scots writer and director Kevin Toolis. The Confessions of Gordon Brown is a satire.

  • Nocturne - The Romantic Life of Frédéric Chopin With Lucy Parham (piano), Dame Harriet Walter and Henry Goodman

    Event Date: 30th May 2014

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Tickets will also be available on the door on the night.

    Finishing time 21.30

    A programme of words and music scripted and adapted from letters and diaries by Lucy Parham chronicles the romantic life of one the greatest and most popular composers for solo piano – Frédéric Chopin. The narrative follows his turbulent relationship with the controversial literary figure George Sand, their time together in Majorca, his fragile health and his ultimate demise in poverty in Paris at the age of 39.

    The readings, by Dame Harriet Walter and Henry Goodman, are interspersed with some of his most loved and poignant compositions. Nocturne received its London première in the London Pianoforte Series at the Wigmore Hall in July 2010 - the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth.

    Lucy Parham first came to public attention as the Piano Winner of the 1984 BBC TV Young Musician of the Year. Having made her Royal Festival Hall concerto debut at 16, she has since appeared regularly at all the major concert venues in the UK.

    "A passionate, humorous and deeply moving portrait of the relationship between Chopin and Sand" Music Web International 2010
    "The Best Chopin of the Year" The Times 2010

    Review from BBC Music Magazine April 2014
    Lucy Parham's trailblazing evening concerts in which she fuses music and words with the help of some of our most distinguished thespians, have become one of the must -see events on the musical calendar. In an age that has seen the piano become increasingly objectified, Parham takes her listeners back to a golden age when music was a metaphor for life itself. Hers is playing that is not so much about the actual notes but exploring the elusive regions of expressive reverie that lie tantalisingly hidden between and behind them.
    She paints the rich musical canvases of the ballades with a beguiling range of hues and colours and an exquisite feeling for rubato that appears to grow naturally out of the music's internal fabric.
    Indeed, no matter how many times one has heard these captivating miniatures, Parham's velvet-gloved sonority and rare ability to impart a poetic coherence to Chopin's stream-of-consciouness flights of inspiration had one listening afresh.
    Experienced in the context of Harriet Walter's and Samuel West's compelling exploration of the Chopin-George Sand love affair through their letters and diary entries, the music assumes a special sense of poignancy.
     
    Performance ****(four stars)
    Recording *****(five stars)
    BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
    APRIL 2014

  • Scouting For Girls with support Sienna

    Event Date: 30th May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets will also be available on the door on the night.

    There are standing tickets and also balcony seats available.

    Tickets are also available on ticketmaster.

    The British pop band, who 6 years ago took the country by storm with their witty lyrics and catchy pop songs, will play at Perth Festival on 30th May.
    The concert comes following the release their Greatest Hits album on 29 July 2013, a compilation which includes two brand new songs, including new single Millionaire, as well as favourites including She's So Lovely, Heartbeat, This Ain't A Love Song and Elvis Ain't Dead.
    Over the course of three sparkling, life-affirming, Top 10 albums, Scouting For Girls have made the journey from playing pubs in Harrow and Ruislip to headlining Wembley Arena and the Albert Hall.  This, then, is the tale of three friends who followed their dream, seduced a nation and sold two million records along the way.  The band consists of childhood friends from London, Roy Stride on piano and lead guitar/vocals, Greg Churchouse on bass guitar and Peter Ellard on percussion.

    After two years of hard touring, ‘Everybody Wants To Be On TV’ soared into the British top two, ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’ gave them their first Number 1 single (“a real turning point; we knew then we weren’t going to go away,” remembers Roy) and by 2011 they were headlining Wembley Arena a few miles but several light years away, from their modest beginnings.   2011’s ‘The Light Between Us’ made it three out of three Top 10 albums as Scouting For Girls evolved into a national institution.

    SIENNA

    Since forming in Summer 2012, six-piece Sienna have been quietly making quite a noise in their native Scotland. From Kinross, known to most as home of T In The Park – they are the first band from their hometown to have performed at the legendary festival, where they packed out the T Break tent (a feat unheard of for an unsigned band), following in the footsteps of fellow Scots Biffy Clyro.
    Their debut EP “Give Me Your Love” released last year received vital support from Amazing Radio and In:Demand Scotland whilst they sold out Glasgow’s King Tut’s twice and also supported Nina Nesbitt. The band also performed at This Feeling Club Night in London, and have also performed a headline show at Camden’s Proud Galleries.
    Sienna consist of singer/songwriter Danny McAtear, multi-instrumentalist Ross Mathieson, guitarist/songwriter Andy Clarke, Ben Watt on bass, and Calum Anderson on drums, with Ian Dunnett on sax.

     

  • The amazing Mnozil Brass from Austria

    Event Date: 29th May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets will also be available on the door on the night.

    Finish time 21.30

    Happy Birthday Programme

    The World’s Leading Brass Ensemble

    This septet is from Vienna and is probably the strangest brass ensemble ever.

    With their musical virtuosity mixed with their unique kind of comedy the only way to describe Mnozil Brass is possibly to label them as the 'Monty Python' of the music world.

    With 120 performances a year worldwide (from UK to Japan), they are currently the most famous music ensemble in the world with some of their youtube videos attracting over 1 million viewers.

    They really have to be seen to be believed!

    Concessions - Registered Disabled, Registered Unemployed, Students, Young Scotcard Holders and Children under 16 - £2 off published ticket prices excluding English Touring Opera and Jools Holland.


  • Reduced Shakespeare Company - Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged (revised)

    Event Date: 28th May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield. Directed by Reed
    Martin and Austin Tichenor.

    All 37 Plays in 97 Minutes! An irreverent, fast-paced romp through the
    Bard’s plays, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) was
    London’s longest-running comedy having clocked a very palpable nine
    years in London’s West End at the Criterion Theatre! Now revised for
    2013, join these madcap men in tights as they weave their wicked way
    through all of Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies in one
    wild ride that will leave you breathless and helpless with laughter.

    “Pithier than Python. Irresisible.” New York Times

    “Stupendous, anchorless joy!”Times

    “If you like Shakespeare, you’ll love this show. If you hate Shakespeare you’ll love this show!” The Today Show

     

     

  • The Sixteen - The Choral Pilgrimage 2014

    Event Date: 27th May 2014

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Finish time 21.20

    Inspiring music in glorious buildings
    The Voice of the Turtle Dove

    For its 14th Choral Pilgrimage The Sixteen and Harry Christophers revisit the golden age of Renaissance polyphony with a stunning programme of music by English composers John Sheppard, Richard Davy and William Mundy.

    John Sheppard (c.1515 - 1558)   Gaude, gaude, gaude Maria
    William Mundy (c.1529 - 1591)   Adolescentulus sum ego
    Richard Davy (c.1465 - 1507)  O Domine caeli terraeque
    Sheppard                                Libera nos I and II
    Sheppard                                In manus tuas I
    Davy                                        Ah, mine heart, remember thee well
    Sheppard                                In manus tuas III
    Mundy                                     Vox patris caelestis

    ‘For this year’s tour, I have returned to our grass roots to focus on the music of three exceptional Tudor composers. I am delighted to revisit a work we last performed at our first-ever concert and I recall the amazing review we had for it - “not only was the sound of the choir a revelation but so too was the music”. The critic was referring to William Mundy’s monumental work Vox patris caelestis, the text of which comes from the Song of Songs. It is full of pictorial imagery with such phrases as “Arise, my dove, my fair one” and “the voice of the turtle dove” to revel in.
    Mundy is very much the youngest of our composers; he died in 1591 whilst John Sheppard only just managed to see in Queen Elizabeth I by a month or so. His setting of the “Inviolata” prose, Gaude, gaude, gaude Maria is simply glorious and is only bettered by one of the gems of Tudor music, Libera nos. I cannot think of a more sublime piece. However the most extraordinary music of all comes from the earliest of our trio, Richard Davy. He died in 1507 and the fact that his music survived the reformation is nothing short of a miracle. His remarkable work O Domine caeli terraeque was, according to the Eton Copyist, written in just one day at Magdalen College, Oxford. Each one of these works is a real gem just waiting to be discovered by a wider audience. This music is part of our great heritage and I look forward to you joining us on this pilgrimage of discovery.’ 

    Supported by The Dunard Fund

     

     

  • Entertaining Mr Sloane - London Classic Theatre

    Event Date: 26th May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets will also be available on the door on the night.

    Finish time 22.00

    Kath and her elderly father, Kemp, live in a house on the outskirts of a rubbish dump. Their drab existence is interrupted by the arrival of a new lodger, the enigmatic Mr Sloane.


    Provocative and sexually ambiguous, Sloane soon has both Kath and her brother, Ed, competing for his favours. But all is not as it seems. Behind Sloane’s nonchalant demeanour lies a calculating psychopath with a dark and secretive past. Seduction, blackmail and murder lie waiting in the wings...


    Entertaining Mr Sloane was first staged at the Arts Theatre, London in 1964, winning the London Critics ‘Variety’ award for Best Play of the Year. Its unique blend of farce and black comedy beautifully captures the suppressed desires of the period. This revival of LCT’s 2003 production of the play celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Orton’s classic black comedy.


    Joe Orton was born in Leicester in 1933 and was battered to death by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, in 1967. His plays include The Erpingham Camp, The Ruffian on the Stair, What the Butler Saw and Loot.


    With thirty critically-acclaimed productions since their touring debut in April 2000, London Classic Theatre have established a reputation for producing bold, imaginative theatre of the highest quality. The company, led by founder and Artistic Director Michael Cabot, produces challenging, accessible drama for audiences in London and the regions.


    LCT has explored the work of some of the finest playwrights of the last fifty years, including Harold Pinter, Brian Friel, Martin McDonagh and Mike Leigh. They have also staged more challenging work, with National Tours of two plays by Marivaux, Bryony Lavery’s Frozen and a further two UK premières, Nightfall by Joanna Murray-Smith and Love in the Title by Hugh Leonard. Recent productions include Ibsen’s Ghosts in a new version by Frank McGuinness, Equus by Peter Shaffer, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Betrayal by Harold Pinter.

     

     

  • The Brewin Dolphin Festival Concert - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko

    Event Date: 25th May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Concert Programme

    Prokofiev No 6

    Elgar In the South

    Stewart Copeland Percussion Concerto
    The Scottish premiere of a brand new percussion concerto by Stewart Copeland – former drummer of The Police. 

    Vasily Petrenko was appointed Principal Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2006; in September 2009 he became Chief Conductor. He is Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Chief Conductor Designate of the Oslo Symphony taking up the baton in the 2013/14 season. In July 2012, he was announced as Principal Guest Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre (formerly the Mussorgsky Memorial Theatre) in St. Petersburg, Russia, Petrenko’s native city and where his professional career began in the mid-1990s.He was the Classical BRIT Awards Male Artist of the Year 2010 and the Classic FM/Gramophone Awards Young Artist of the Year 2007.

    Liverpool Philharmonic Premiere of new percussion concerto by Stewart Copeland, former drummer of The Police

    Commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic from Stewart Copeland, composer, and co-founder member and former drummer of seminal 1980s band, The Police, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Chief Conductor, Vasily Petrenko, will give the world premiere performance of Copeland’s percussion concerto, Poltroons in Paradise on 23 May at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and then at Perth Festival on 25 May.
    Scored for timpani, three percussionists and full symphony orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Timpanist Adrian Spillett, Principal Percussionist Graham Johns and fellow percussionists Adrian Spillett and Henry Baldwin take centre stage for this scintillating work.  All four soloists will demonstrate their virtuosity across the full, exotic range of percussion instruments digging deep into their timbral and rhythmic possibilities in an interaction with the orchestra.
    Voted the seventh greatest drummer of all time in a 2010 poll in Rolling Stone magazine, Copeland was drummer with Curved Air before The Police, and subsequently with many major artists. He has also developed a highly successful second career as a composer for film, TV and the concert hall.  He says of his inspiration for this new concerto:

    “Poltroons in Paradise is the beginning of a story, the cheerful part, about those who ride in on the back of a revolution and then discover the temptations of those things against which they had revolted.  I’m imagining a cadre of starving, hitherto excluded intellectuals swaggering through the palace of the fallen regime. The chandeliers, the brocades and the gilded furniture all inspire a grand buffoonery that hides a sneaking desire.

    “Many composers would regard the mission of writing a percussion concerto as an opportunity to celebrate banging and clattering.  A worthy cause no doubt, but there can be great beauty in things that are hit with a stick.  And those satins really are quite beautiful…”

    Following this concert, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall closes for a major refurbishment, re-opening in November this year.    The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will travel to Scotland to perform in the Perth Festival of the Arts on 25 May in the Brewin Dolphin Festival Concert that includes a second performance of Stewart Copeland’s Poltroons in Paradise.

    STEWART COPELAND
    Voted the seventh greatest drummer of all time in a 2010 poll in Rolling Stone magazine, Stewart Copeland was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of a CIA officer and a Scottish archaeologist. The family moved to Egypt when he was a few months old and he spent his formative years in the Middle East, something which is held to have contributed to his distinctive drumming style, which is said to combine reggae and Lebanese influences. Following his return to the USA, Copeland was drummer for the progressive rock band Curved Air from 1974-1976. After their demise he moved to London, seeking to enter the British punk rock scene, and in 1977 co-founded the three-piece band The Police with Sting as singer-bassist. The Police became one of most influential bands of the 1980s. At least in their early years, they largely played Copeland’s material, and though Sting took a progressively larger share as the band developed, Copeland continued to be responsible, or jointly responsible, for arranging the material on all of the band’s albums.

    The Police ceased touring in 1984 (though they came together again for a one-off reunion tour in 2007), and Copeland has continued to appear with many major artists while he also developed a highly successful second career as a film-music and TV composer (his credits includeAirborne, Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Highlander II – widely regarded as ‘one of the worst films ever made’ – and Taking Care of Business). In 1985 he made a pilgrimage to Africa ‘in search of the roots of rock and roll’ which resulted in the album and film The Rhythmatist in which Copeland played a large number of native percussion instruments.

    Since the 1980s, Copeland has also composed several ‘classical’ works, notably the ballets King Lear (1986), Emilio (1988) and Prey (1999) and the operas Holy Blood and Crescent Moon(for Cleveland Opera, 1989) and Horse Opera (for Channel 4, 1992). In 2005 he released an album of chamber music composed in Italy, Orchestralli. His orchestral composition Celeste, featuring violinist Daniel Hope, was premiered at the Savannah Music Festival in 2008. In the same year the Dallas Symphony Orchestra commissioned him to compose a piece primarily involving Indonesian percussion instruments: the result, premiered in 2011, was Gamelan D’Drum, which was also heard at London’s Royal College of Music in 2012. Copeland currently lives in Los Angeles.

    Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
    "All I can say - again - is lucky Liverpool."
    The Sunday Times July 2010
    The award-winning Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is the UK's oldest surviving professional symphony orchestra and has been at the heart of Liverpool’s cultural life since 1840. The Orchestra gives approximately 70 concerts each season (September – June) in its home, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, as well as concerts in venues across the city, including Liverpool’s two cathedrals.

     

     

  • Alison Moyet

    Event Date: 24th May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    There will be some tickets on the door tonight

    With support Alex Cornish
    Alison has received critical acclaim for her Top 5 album the minutes. This concert places the minutes centre stage and will also focus on the
    significant electronic material in her back catalogue.
    Everyone adores Alison Moyet; the Basildon punk, the high priestess of electronic pop, and the peerless soul singer who has warmed our big
    British hearts since the early 1980s.
    Her UK album sales have reached a certified 2.3 million, with over a million singles sold. All seven of her studio albums and three compilation
    albums have charted in the Top 30 UK Album Chart, with two of the albums reaching number one. She has also achieved nine Top 30 singles and five Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart.
    “Her best LP in decades” Q
    “Moyet's finest album in twenty years” Clash
    “A musical resurrection in the making” The Huffington Post

  • Festival Ceilidh - Glenfinnan Ceildh Band

    Event Date: 24th May 2014

    Venue: Various Venues In Perth

    There will be some tickets available on the door tonight.

    This will be held at The Grampian Hotel, York Place, Perth.

    Finish time 23.45

    Seating will be round tables of 12. You can reserve a table for your party by calling the Box Office at 01738 621031.
    West Lochaber has always been fertile ground for attracting and nurturing traditional talent and this grouping of musical giants is testament to that. All based in Glenfinnan village, the CeilidhBand members include stalwarts from the traditional music world who are as at home playing large concert venues as intimate bothy cèilidhs. On fiddle is Iain MacFarlane (Blazin’ Fiddles),Colm O’Rua (Daimh) on banjo, Dougie Hunter (Hoogie) on accordion and Ingrid Henderson (Cliar) on piano. Formed for the sheer fun of playing good music together their unique blend of West Coast dance music should get your toes tapping. Their debut CD “Glenfinnan Gathering”, released in 2010.

    The Grampian Hotel are offering special rates to those who want to stay overnight for the ceilidh. Telephone 01738 - 621057
    £98 per double/twin room for High Tea and breakfast 
    £119 per double/twin room for Dinner and breakfast
    £80 per double/twin room with breakfast

  • Primavera Chamber Ensemble - Carnival of the Animals

    Event Date: 23rd May 2014

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Tickets will also be available on the door on the  night.

    Estimated finish time 9.30pm

    Schubert - Quintet in A major D 667 (Trout)
    Percy Grainger - Shepherd’s Hey!; Handel in the Strand; Country Gardens; Mock Morris
    Saint-Saëns - Carnival of the Animals

    Primavera, as one of Britain’s finest chamber ensembles, has created an enviable reputation with an accolade of reviews at international festivals across Britain and Europe, alongside many appearances on the South Bank and Wigmore Hall. Formed in 1986 by its artistic director, violinist, Paul Manley, the name of the group is based on the Italian word for spring, reflecting the joie de vivre that these musicians bring to their performances.

    Besides engagements, Primavera has created its own concert series at some of the finest country houses in the UK, which led to two TV series entitled Music in Mansions for Meridian Television.
    “In the new recording by the Primavera Chamber Ensemble, Mendelssohn’s Octet unfolds with warmth and naturalness… The whole performance is suffused with sunshine and well-being…crowned with some of the loveliest fiddle playing you will ever hear.”

    Daily Telegraph

     

     

  • English Touring Opera - The Magic Flute

    Event Date: 22nd May 2014

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Finish time 22.05

    As Perth Theatre is closed for refurbishment ETO will be in the Perth Concert Hall this year. There will be full production, orchestra, set, costumes...It is going to be exciting to use the orchestra pit for the first time. Don't miss it.

    The Magic Flute has enchanted music and theatre lovers of all ages for hundreds of years. With charm and wit, it tells the story of a terrifying and joyful journey in pursuit of love, wisdom and happiness. From the stratospheric arias of the Queen of the Night, through the jolly folk tunes of Papageno the Birdcatcher, to the profound music of Sarastro, leader of the enlightened ones, it is a full expression of Mozart’s musical and dramatic genius.ETO is delighted to be reviving Liam Steel’s 2009 production of Mozart’s final masterpiece.
    “English Touring Opera puts on an absolutely gorgeous production of The Magic Flute… the array of costumes could have come from Vivienne Westwood’s catwalk.” Daily Telegraph “As good and mad as opera gets. If you want to win over a disbeliever to the magic of opera, take them to English Touring Opera’s visually stunning Magic Flute.”Observer
    There will be a pre-opera talk in the Norie Miller Room at 18.30. Please book a free ticket in advance from the Box Office.
    Revival, sung in English
    Touring with a live orchestra
    Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes (including interval)

     

     


  • 2013

  • The Brewin Dolphin Festival Concert -The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra

    Event Date: 26th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The Brewin Dolphin Festival Concert

    Russian Gala Concert -The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor Pavel Kogan
    Soloist Tatiana Kolesova (piano)

    Rimsky Korsakov   Introduction & Three Miracles from Tsar Saltan
    Tchaikovsky           Piano Concerto No. 1
    Khachaturian        Adagio from Spartacus
    Khachaturian Waltz from Masquerade
    Tchaikovsky          Francesca da Rimini

    For almost seven decades, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra has been recognized as one of the foremost interpreters of the classic Russian composers. An L.A. Times critic recently said the orchestra ‘might well be the world’s least-heralded great orchestra’. Since Pavel Kogan became Music Director he has earned the orchestra a high reputation for artistic excellence and in 2011 his name went into a list of the ten greatest conductors of the 20th century.

     

     

  • Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour - paintings are for sale

    Event Date: 26th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Museum and Art Gallery

    Perth Museum and Art Gallery

    78 George Street,

    Perth,

    PH1 5LB

     

    Monday–Saturday 10.00–17.00

    Sunday 13.00–16.30

    Free admission

    A Sense of Place: RSW (The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour)

    18 May-28 July 2013

    Perth Museum & Art Gallery has invited members of the RSW to celebrate the inspiring nature of Perth & Kinross as a place to live, work and create art. The exhibition will bring together a selection of new and innovative works exploring the medium of watercolour.  Many different themes relating to the landscapes and character of Perth & Kinross will be on show.  

    The display promises to be colourful, challenging and surprising. Many works will be for sale.

    The RSW has a pedigree dating from its foundation in 1876. As the Scottish Society of Water-Colour Painters it staged its first public exhibition in 1879 in the rented premises it had acquired in West Nile Street in Glasgow, and its first elected President was Francis Powell RSW, already a Member of the RWS, one of the two earlier English watercolour societies. There were 35 Members and 10 Associate Members (the latter status was discontinued in 1885) and among the Founder Members in Scotland were such illustrious names as Sam Bough, William McTaggart RSW and George Paul Chalmers. The new Society had the blessing of the Royal Scottish Academy and was not regarded as being in conflict with its interests and across the span of the centuries very many of Scotland's most notable artists, including Academicians, have been RSWs. Today the membership of over 120 is replete with the names of painters who have international reputation, in Scotland and in Britain such as Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, Richard Demarco and Barbara Rae. Well known local painter Claire Harkess is also a Member.

    Events

    Friday 24 May at 12 noon-1pm John Inglis, the current President of the RSW will lead a gallery tour. Admission is free, but places are limited and must be booked

    Friday 21 June at 12 noon-1pm Jim Dunbar RSW will give a talk in the Perth Museum & Art Gallery lecture hall called Insight to On Site’. Tickets £5 (waged) and £3.50 (unwaged) available from the Museum Reception Desk.

    Jim will talk about his experiences of painting his local landscape.  This will include his watercolour methods, equipment and materials used in developing 'on site' and studio works.  This promises to be a fascinating and amusing insight into artists' procedures.

     

     

     

  • The Sixteen - Choral Pilgrimage - Sold out

    Event Date: 25th May 2013

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Finishing time 21.30

    In 2013 world-renowned choir The Sixteen will present its most far-reaching Choral Pilgrimage tour yet, encompassing 34 concerts around the UK. The tour, entitled The Queen of Heaven, will see Harry Christophers CBE and his choir perform glorious music in churches and cathedrals for which it was written. This will be a ‘must-hear’ event where the group will take you through the musical evolution of the Allegri’s legendary and much-requested Miserere. The programme also features stunning music by the ‘Prince of Music’ Palestrina, as well another brilliant yet contrasting setting of the Miserere by James Macmillan.

    Concert Programme
    Plainsong  -  Regina caeli
    Palestrina  -  Kyrie from Missa Regina caeli
    Allegri       -  Miserere
    MacMillan  -  Dominus dabit benignitatem from The Strathclyde Motets
    MacMillan  -  Videns Dominus from The Strathclyde Motets
    Palestrina  -  Stabat Mater
    Palestrina  -  Regina caeli
    Palestrina  -  Vineam meam non custodivi from Song of Songs
    MacMillan  -  O radiant dawn from The Strathclyde Motets
    Palestrina  -  Pulchrae sunt genae tuae from Song of Songs
    MacMillan  -  Miserere
    Palestrina  -  Agnus Dei I-III from Missa Regina caeli

    During the Choral Pilgrimage 2013 Harry Christophers and The Sixteen present a new version of Allegri's Miserere charting its evolution. They intend to shed light on the complicated history of this most famous of choral pieces.

    Harry says "I am very grateful for Ben Byram-Wigfield's amazing work on the Allegri. He has scrutinised all the available source material from the Vatican and other libraries, giving us an invaluable insight into the origins of the music. Sadly, nothing survives from Allegri's lifetime, and what we usually hear today is the result of scribal errors and fanciful interpretation. What we have attempted to do, by making use of the many sources, is to show how the piece has evolved over the centuries into the version audiences know and love today.”

    Supported by DUNARD FUND

  • Festival Ceilidh - The Gallivanters & Norrie MacIvor

    Event Date: 25th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The Gallivanters are a five piece Ceilidh Band based in Perthshire comprising both accordion, double bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin and whistles. The combination of instruments gives a bright and vibrant yet traditional sound.

    They play a variety of Scottish and Irish tunes for dancing as well as singing Scottish, Irish and Country.They also call and show the dances.

    As well as playing in the band, some of the members present programmes on local radio, play in other bands, run tutoring classes in guitar and accordion and act as promoters for other musicians.

    Norrie MacIvor of Manran will play a set at the interval.

    Norrie “Tago” MacIver, comes from Carloway in the Isle of Lewis and is currently living in Glasgow after graduating from the RSAMD. When he was 15 he attended the National centre of Excellence in Traditional Music, were he was taught by Blair Douglas and Jack Evans. From 2005 to 2011 Norrie was the lead singer of Bodega who became Scottish Folk Band of the Year in 2009 and who also won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2006. He has played at festivals all over the country such as Celtic Connections and the Hebridean Celtic Festival and has toured extensively in Europe. Norrie has recorded albums with both Bodega and Na Seoid and has appeared as a guest musician on the latest Skipinnish, Julie Fowlis, Rachel Walker and Daimh Albums. Norrie also performs with a beat boxer from Edinburgh, Ruari Sutherland, and have played in venues in and around Glasgow. This is a combination of Gaelic Puirt a Beul and human beat boxing which has never been done before and they supported “Naturally 7” at their gig at Celtic Connections in 2009 in ABC.

     

  • Horrible Histories Barmy Britain - two shows 4pm and 7pm

    Event Date: 25th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Horrible Histories – Barmy Britain

    By

    The Birmingham Stage Company

    Fresh from sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe

    Two shows at 4pm and 7pm. The show lasts for 1 hour.

    We all want to meet people from history. The trouble is everyone is dead! So it's time to prepare yourselves for Horrible Histories live on stage! Have you ever wondered why the Romans never won MasterChef? What if a Viking moved in next door? Has William Wallace met his match? Would you lose your heart or head to Henry VIII? Will Parliament survive gunpowder Guy? Escape the clutches of Burke and Hare and find out what a baby farmer did! Don't miss this horrible history of Britain with the nasty bits left in!

    This is not the production that appears on television.

    "BLOODY, MARVELLOUS STUFF!”

    THE STORY OF BRITAIN IS BROUGHT THROBBINGLY ALIVE IN THIS HILARIOUS SHOW!"

    (Daily Express) 4 Stars

     

    "IS THIS ANY WAY FOR CHILDREN TO LEARN ABOUT HISTORY? TOO RIGHT IT IS! BE THRILLED!"

    (The Times) 4 Stars

     

    "AS GLEEFULLY VULGAR AS A ROMAN POO STICK"

    (Daily Mail) 4 Stars

     


     

  • Admiral Fallow supported by The Hazey Janes

    Event Date: 24th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets are also on sale on Ticketmaster

    Admiral Fallow's music has been described as "orchestral folk pop". The band has an unusual instrumental make up with clarinet, flute and occasional accordion augmenting the traditional  indie set up of guitars, keyboards, bass and drums. They also have 2 great vocalists in Louis Abbott and Sarah Hayes who sing songs of youth, teenage angst, boisterous nights out and even gun crime in America

    The band finished 2012 very strongly. December saw them headlining a stage at Edinburgh's Hogmanay street party, selling out Glasgow Barrowland in a memorable "homecoming" gig and being presented with Creative Scotland's "Music Award 2012". The year had begun with the first of two extensive UK tours and had seen the release of their critically acclaimed 2nd album "Tree Bursts In Snow" (Uncut 8/10, Q 4****). The band also managed 2 weeks in Europe and 4 weeks in North America. www.admiralfallow.com

    The Hazey Janes have undergone their fair share of globe-trotting since their first release, some 8 years ago. After recording LPs in Spain and America respectively, the band headlined throughout the UK, played support to the likes of Elbow, Idlewild and Snow Patrol, and made two trips to the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. 2012 saw them tour across Europe supporting Grammy award winning American band Wilco. New album ‘The Winter That Was’ (Armellodie Records) sees the band refining their zig-zag path from Country to Psych to Powerpop, with chunky chords, wistful lyrics and lush harmonies.

    www.thehazeyjanes.com

    www.facebook.com/thehazeyjanes

     

     

     

     

  • Jacques Brel: In Song and Dance

    Event Date: 24th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

     

    Created by Heels Over Head Dance Theatre

    Artistic Director and Choreographer: Agathe Girard

    Director and Movement Director: Steinvor Palsson

    Theatre Consultant: Gerry Mulgrew

    Producer: Susan Hay

    Performers: Claire Thompson (singer), Agathe Girard (dancer),

    Jennifer Redmond (pianist) and Lizy Stirrat (accordionist)

     

    An award winning singer, a skilled dancer and actress and excellent musicians

    come together in a unique production to re-enact some of Jacques Brel’s songs.

    A genuine and powerful celebration of Brel’s work, using multimedia, music, dance

    and theatre. The show is a light hearted celebration of Brel’s work which immerses

    audiences into a French atmosphere.

    Brel’s work has been widely sung, adapted, translated and interpreted by many

    great artists, from David Bowie to Marc Almond, via Camille and Toby Spence

    at the Scottish Ensemble, to name just a few. In the English speaking world,

    Brel’s work tends to be known through translations which unfortunately, as

    often happens, lose the original sensitivity and even sometimes meaning. In this

    production, most of the songs are sung in the original French.

    Presented as standalone short stories, each song is brought to life in a way

    never done before. Singer and dancer come together to allow stories to unfold

    and reveal themselves. Language is no longer a barrier as the movement and

    interactions between singer and dancer are the vehicles through which audiences

    can access the meaning of the words and the emotions conveyed by

    those words.

    This evening's performance will be followed by a talk back session led by Dr Chris Tinker, Reader in French at Heriot Watt University.

     

     

  • Beloved Clara - Lucy Parham (piano), Martin Jarvis & Joanna David

    Event Date: 23rd May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Beloved Clara:
    Robert Schumann, Clara and Brahms – a true story of passion, music and tragedy

    Beloved Clara comprises the original letters and diaries of Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms interspersed with their piano music.  It premiered in the Wigmore Hall Masters Series in 2002 and has since been performed over sixty times in concert halls, theatres and at festivals throughout the UK, USA and Europe. These engagements have included the Bergen International Festival, Cadogan Hall, BAFTA, Chichester Festival Theatre, Victor Hugo Festival, St John’s Smith Square, Schumann Anniversary Festival, Kings Place, Salisbury Playhouse and the Royal Hall, Harrogate.  It returned to the Wigmore Hall in December 2010, receiving a 5 star review from the Independent – “A lovely entertainment – flawlessly performed”

     

    The US debut took place in Los Angeles in December 2008 with performances for LA Theatreworks; this was broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio.

     

    Actors who have appeared with pianist Lucy Parham include Martin Jarvis, Dame Harriet Walter, Juliet Stevenson, Joanna David, Rosalind Ayres, Samuel West, Alex Jennings, Edward Fox, Henry Goodman, Charles Dance, Robert Glenister, Henry Goodman, Timothy West, Malcolm Sinclair, Sebastian Koch and Gabrielle Drake.

     

    Beloved Clara has been widely featured in the national press and media, including Woman’s Hour (Radio 4), the Times, Sunday Times, Observer, Classic FM Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, Independent, BBC Radio 3, Pianist Magazine and the Guardian.

     

    The CD of Beloved Clara featuring Joanna David and Martin Jarvis was released on ASV to critical acclaim. It was “CD of the Week” in the Sunday Times, the Observer and the Independent on Sunday.

     

     

    Beloved Clara’s creation was inspired by Lucy Parham’s lifelong passion for the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Originally scripted and compiled from the wealth of existing correspondence between Brahms and the Schumanns by Lucy Parham and Jessica Duchen, Lucy has subsequently updated Beloved Clara with new material and it is constantly evolving through the many contributions from the actors involved.

     

     

     

  • Van Morrison - Sold out

    Event Date: 22nd May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Van will be on stage at 8pm. There is no support for this concert.

    Van Morrison is a legendary artist with one of the most enduring and consistently impressive careers in musical history. His own distinctive blend of R&B, soul and Celtic influences has earned him many awards, including six Grammys, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Fans old and new should not miss this opportunity to see his welcome return to The Perth Festival.

    Finish time 9.30pm approx



     

     

     

  • The Importance of Being Earnest by London Classic Theatre - Sold out

    Event Date: 21st May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    London Classic Theatre presents

    OSCAR WILDE’S

    THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST  

    “To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” 

    Oscar Wilde’s theatrical masterpiece is widely-acknowledged as one of the greatest comedies in the English Language.  Wonderful characters, sparkling dialogue, gloriously improbable plot twists and a sprinkling of romance - The Importance of Being Earnest has it all. 

    Jack is in love with Gwendolen.  Algernon is in love with Cecily.  But when an identity crisis spirals out of control, the previously separate worlds of town and country collide and delicious mayhem ensues.  Thoughts of marriage and a happy ending must be put on hold until the inimitable Lady Bracknell can be convinced that the young men are worthy suitors.    

    The Importance of Being Earnest has delighted millions since its first London performance in 1895.  A scintillating comedy of manners, Oscar Wilde’s best-loved work overflows with dazzling wordplay and comic invention. 

    LCT promise to bring this 19th Century classic to vivid, extravagant life with their customary flair, attention to detail, high-quality casting and impeccable production values.

    Approx running time: Act 1 – 40mins, Interval 20mins, Act 2 – 70mins

    You can also see this production at Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling (Box Office 01786 466666) on Wednesday 22nd May - tickets still available.

     

     

  • Sir James Galway & The English Chamber Orchestra

    Event Date: 19th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Sir James and Lady Galway will play at the Festival’s Opening Concert on Sunday 19th May with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jaime Martin. Sir James will play the Mozart flute concerto. The living legend of the flute, Sir James Galway is regarded as both the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire and a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries. Sir James has made himself a modern musical master whose virtuosity on the flute is equalled only by his limitless ambition and vision. Through his extensive touring, over 30 million albums sold and his frequent international television appearances, Sir James has endeared himself to millions worldwide and is a tireless promoter of the arts.  

    Holst - St Paul's Suite
    Mozart - Flute Concerto in D K314
    Vivaldi - Concerto for 2 Flutes
    Mozart Symphony No. 29

     

    Supported by The Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust

  • The Incredible Sound of Stan Kenton - Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

    Event Date: 18th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    The Incredible Sound of Stan Kenton
    Stan Kenton was one of jazz’s great visionaries who lived his theme song, Artistry in Rhythm, to the full throughout his forty-year career as a bandleader.  He introduced French horns, Latin American and European classical influences to the jazz big band palette in a search for ever bigger sounds and ever more vivid orchestral colours. SNJO’s tribute to Kenton will celebrate the power and contrasts in his vast repertoire, featuring classics like Intermission Riff, Fascinating Rhythm, Love for Sale, I've Got You Under My Skin and the Peanut Vendor, ranging from the reflective to the riotously expressive and always richly swinging.

    Formed in 1995, under the tirelessly committed and confident direction of saxophonist Tommy Smith, SNJO has developed into a world class ensemble capable of playing the classic big band music of Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Kenton and Herman with tremendous style and authority.

    Celebrations of jazz masters from Mingus, Monk, Miles and Coltrane through to Wayne Shorter, Oliver Nelson, Chick Corea, Ray Charles and Pat Metheny have underlined the orchestra’s ease of mobility across the broader jazz canon. And commissioning and creating bold and ambitious new work such as the visionary English composer Keith Tippett’s Autumn and Smith’s own World of the Gods, the world’s first collaboration between jazz big band and Japanese taiko drumming, have confirmed SNJO’s determination to continue jazz’s spirit of adventure.

  • English Touring Opera - Cosi fan tutte

    Event Date: 18th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Sorry but this performance is now sold out apart from wheelchair seats. Please 'phone the Box Office 01738 621031 for these seats.

    A cynical gentleman’s conviction that women cannot be faithful sets in motion a chain of deceit, disguise and desire in the most perfect ensemble opera ever written.

    Conductor - James Burton
    Director  - Paul Higgins
    Designer - Samal Blak
    Lighting Designer - Ace McCarron

    Così fan tutte is in many ways Mozart’s most perfect opera score, and Da Ponte’s most challenging script. It is a comedy of innocence and experience, funny and unnerving, touching and satirical. The delicate balance between recognizing the posturing of the four young lovers and loving them all the same is a challenge to each director and singer.

    In one day fiancés are parted, and new fiancés found – or so it seems. Discovering they are not at all the people they thought they were is strange, exciting, and very embarrassing.

    Director Paul Higgins, who has worked on many famous productions at the Royal Opera House, has a special love for this opera, with all its fun and folly, because of the warm, beating heart that pulses through the music.

    His new, period production will be sung by a remarkable cast, including Laura Mitchell, Kitty Whately and Paula Sides (all firm ETO favourites), with tenor Anthony Gregory as the passionate Ferrando and Richard Mosley-Evans (Gianni Schicchi) as the man pulling the strings.

    New production
    Sung in English
    Running time: 2 hours and 50 minutes (incl. one 20 minute interval).

  • Jessica Hall - Music on a Saturday Morning

    Event Date: 18th May 2013

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Free for School Children

    The Music on a Saturday Morning Concerts are a long-established highlight of the programme and are performed by young musicians who have grown up in the area and have decided to make their careers in music. Once their studies are complete, the Festival invites them to perform a recital in the Kirk. This year's featured artist will be violinist Jessica Hall.

    Schubert Sonata for Violin and Piano in D major
    Brahms Sonata for Viola and Piano in F minor)
    Variations on 'Miles tae Dundee' (trad. Scottish)
    Paganini Caprice No. 24

    Founder member and leader of the Murray Quartet, Jessica studied with Professor Jan Repko at the RNCM, with a scholarship. A multiple prize winner, recent highlights have included solo performances of Ravel's Tzigane with the Edinburgh Competition Festival Orchestra and Britten's Suite for Violin and Piano with Richard Beauchamp. She is an accomplished orchestral musician having toured with the National Youth Orchestra and with EYO as leader.

     

    Supported by The Bacher Trust and The Robertson Trust

     

     

  • Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

    Event Date: 17th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Doors 7pm

    Support 7.30pm

    Jools 8.20pm

     

    JOOLS HOLLAND 

    and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra

    featuring GILSON LAVIS

    with special guest ROLAND GIFT the voice of Fine Young Cannibals

    and guest vocalists RUBY TURNER & LOUISE MARSHALL

     

    With support Galia Arad

     

    After last year’s huge sell-out success Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra will return to the Festival to play on Friday 17th May with a Special Guest ROLAND GIFT the voice of Fine Young Cannibals. 

     
     

     

  • English Touring Opera - Simon Boccanegra

    Event Date: 17th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Simon Boccanegra

    Giuseppe Verdi 

    A sombre story of family ties, love and politics set to some of the most beautiful music Verdi ever wrote.

     

    Conductor - Michael Rosewell
    Director - James Conway
    Designer - Samal Blak
    Lighting Designer -Ace McCarron

     

    ETO’s first new Verdi production for several years is Simon Boccanegra – a mature masterpiece, and an intimate drama uniquely suited to English Touring Opera theatres.

    The story comes from the history of Genoa, for centuries a great maritime republic, and from it Verdi creates an impassioned plea for Italian unity.

    The composer’s musical depiction of the shimmering Mediterranean is wonderful; so too are the characters he creates, from the rough-hewn buccaneer-turned-ruler (the title role, played by Craig Smith) to his spiteful adversary and father-in-law (Fiesco, Keel Watson); from the embittered traitor (Paolo, Grant Doyle) to the idealistic Adorno (Charne Rochford).

    This is a massive undertaking for English Touring Opera, with an unusually large chorus and orchestra – a personal ambition of ETO General Director James Conway and Music Director Michael Rosewell, supported with a special grant from the Peter Moores Foundation.

    New production
    Sung in Italian with English surtitles
    Running time: 2 hours and 35 minutes (incl. one 20 minute interval).

  • Perth High School Festival Concert

    Event Date: 17th May 2013

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth


    Programme

    Wind band: Hercules:  arr. A Menken

    Boys Choir: Bang on the Drum: arr. Rundgren

    String Quartet: Andante from Opus 1, No.5: J. Haydn

    Flute Solo: Cantilena: F.Poulenc

    Brass Band: Huapango Express: J Mackenzie

    S3 Music Class: The Four Chord Song: arr S3 pupils/M.Mckillop

    String Orchestra: As Long As He Needs Me/Food, Glorious Food: Bart, arr. Osborne

    Vocal Group: Selection from Les Miserables: arr. C Black

    Ceilidh Group: A traditional Scottish Selection: Trad. arr. C.Black

    Solo Piano: Prelude and Fugue in Bb Major: J.S.Bach

    Orchestra: The Lord of the Rings: H.Shore arr. J.Whitney

     

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    Conductors, Accompanists and Instrumental Specialists: C. Black, M.Mckillop, V.Kinahan, A.Kelman, P.Alexander, P. Smyth, J.Smyth, L. Paterson, I. Macfarlane, M. Rutherford

    Soloists: Piano: Euan Holmes. Flute: Sian Jones

    String Quartet: Euan Holmes, Laura Kemp, Ben Millard, Merran Kay

    Vocal Group: Jennifer Wilson, Milly Reid, Eleanor Figures, Danni Moyes

     

  • English Touring Opera - The Siege of Calais

    Event Date: 16th May 2013

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    The Siege of Calais (L'assedio di Calais)

    Gaetano Donizetti 

    A vocally brilliant, stirring and patriotic telling of the story of the burghers of Calais by ‘bel canto’ opera composer Gaetano Donizetti.

    Conductor - Jeremy Silver
    Director - James Conway
    Designer - Samal Blak
    Lighting Designer - Ace McCarron

    What does it mean to be a citizen? What is it that a citizen owes to his city, or country? This is the question posed by Donizetti’s rarely performed epic The Siege of Calais (L’assedio di Calais) – a ‘serious’ opera, sung in Italian, constructed of bel canto arias and ensembles of extraordinary quality.

    It is the story of the burghers of Calais (depicted by Rodin in his famous sculpture outside the Houses of Parliament), citizens who offer up their lives to save their city from a besieging army. Their sacrifice is quiet, ordinary, sublime – and it culminates in one of the most moving ensembles in all of opera, the momentous O sacra polve, o suol natio (O Sacred Earth).

    The opera also includes poignant, intimate scenes between the young couple at the heart of the drama (played by soprano Paula Sides and by mezzo Helen Sherman in a role originally written for a musico), and between the leader of the city (baritone Eddie Wade) and his anguished followers. Meanwhile, at the gates, the triumphant Edward III (played by extraordinary young baritone Cozmin Sime) shouts for blood.

    ETO’s new production features designs by Faroese artist Samal Blak, inspired by the siege of Stalingrad.

    New production
    Sung in Italian with English surtitles
    Running time: 2 hours (incl. one 20 minute interval).

  • Kilgraston School Festival Concert

    Event Date: 16th May 2013

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Programme


    Junior Prep Choir      Put on a Smile M & H Johnson

                                     Every Brand New Day                                  

    Millie Wilson            Piano  A Short Story H. Lichner.     

    Rebecca Black        Voice  Home  A Menken

    Jenny Whitaker       Trumpet   Che Faro   Gluck

    Emilia Thompson    Voice   Castle on a Cloud   Schoenberg

    Susie Dougall         Cello   Largo   Handel           

    Lissie Cook            Piano   Elegie   Chaminade

    Ruth Faherty          Clarinet   Carol  Finzi               

    Georgina Kemp      Voice   The Water is Wide Traditional

    Iona Godfrey Faussett  Recorder   Fantasia 10   Telemann        

    Emily Rourke          Voice   If there were dreams to sell  John Ireland

    Victoria Yeung        Violin   Remembrances   John Williams

    Prep Choir              We Go Together  Casey & Jacobs

                                    Beauty and the Beast  A Menken

     

    Accompanist          Chris Baxter

     

  • 2012

  • An Audience with Tim Brooke-Taylor in conversation with Chris Serle

    Event Date: 26th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Tickets will also be on the door on the night

    Finish time 9.30pm

    Tim Brooke-Taylor has been delighting audiences with his gentle, zany humour ever since he rocketed from the Cambridge Footlights into West End stardom trading custard pies with John Cleese and one-liners with Bill Oddie in the hugely successful Cambridge Circus revue.  That was only the start of a sparkling career which includes the long-running TV series The Goodies, BBC Radio’s I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again in which he starred with Cleese and the “antidote to panel games” I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, now in its 39th year, appearing in countless stage productions and writing a few books.  Those are just a few of the sugjects this much-loved performer will be covering in conversation with the broadcast journalist Chris Serle.  Given time Tim will also tell us how he directed Orson Welles in a film, helped Sevvy Ballesteros with his golf swing, appeared as Victor Meldrew’s neighbour in One Foot in the Grave and much, much more.  You’ll have the chance to put your own questions to Tim at the end.


     

  • Jack Bruce & His Big Blues Band

    Event Date: 26th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Herald Review 28th May 2012

    Jack Bruce and his Big Blues Band, Perth Concert Hall

    Folk & Jazz critic

    "It's still the blues," remarked Jack Bruce after he and his magnificent band had taken his classic Morning Story on a game-changing Latin American adventure.

    Too true; there's hardly a note the legendary Cream bassist sings or plays that doesn't have the blues somewhere in its DNA, and there wasn't a song here that didn't find Bruce creating magic in the moment.

    Partnered in the engine room by ultra-dynamic drummer Frank Tontoh and having his orchestrations brought blazingly to life by a horn section brimming with mischief and attention to detail, Bruce was in his element, going back to Graham Bond days with an opening First Time I Met the Blues trio joust with guitarist Tony Remy and waxing soulfully reflective in a piano-Hammond organ partnership on Childsong before unleashing a foundation-shaking bassline for a Spoonful that dug deep into the blues' gospel connections.

    It's his power to excite and motivate others to do the same – another Bond favourite, Neighbour Neighbour had a sax solo that Richter might have struggled to measure – that makes Bruce such a fascinating, magnetic figure and one that Perth certainly responded to.

    HHHHH

    With support Wang Dang Delta

    Jack Bruce, a Scot, was the founder member of Cream with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. Bassist, singer, composer, musician. Jack has travelled the world and the decades playing diverse musical styles but has now come home to the blues. The blues has always been the driving force, the root of Jack’s art- whether his compositions made eternal by Cream – Sunshine of Your Love, White Room, I Feel Free or his new songs, Jack lives the blues.

    The band consists of guitarist Tony Remy, drummer Frank Tontoh, keyboardist Paddy Milner, fellow bassist Nick Cohen, trombonist Winston Rollins, tenor saxophonist Derek Nash, and trumpeter Paul Newton.Jacj will be handling bass, vocal, and piano duties throughout the performance.

    Jack has performed with Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, Manfred Mann, John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, Tony Williams, Lou Reed, Burt Bacharach, Ringo Starr, Carlos Santana, Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa to name quite a lot! Now he wants to play for you.

    Jack Bruce – probably the most musically gifted bass player there’s ever been... Roger Waters

  • Carol Kidd, Nigel Clark, Brian Kellock & Kenny Ellis

    Event Date: 25th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Tickets will also be on the door on the night

    Finish time 9.40pm

     

    A Night of Jazz with Carol Kidd

    with

    Nigel Clark - Guitar
    Brian Kellock - Piano
    Kenny Ellis - Bass

    Carol Kidd is acknowledged in jazz circles as ‘Britain's finest ballads singer' Jazz Review. She has secured the Best Vocalist title at the British Jazz Awards on four separate occasions and, in 1998, received the MBE for Services to Jazz.

    Over a 25 year period, she has released seven studio albums and a ‘Best of...' compilation for Linn Records. In 2008, she has returned to the recording arena, following a seven year hiatus, with Dreamsville (AKD 325)- an exquisite album of hand-picked standards and self-penned songs which was ‘Recommended Release' on BBC Radio 2 (Russell Davies Show).

    Kidd is renowned for her impeccable phrasing and delivery along with an innate ability to breathe fresh life into jazz standards. Dreamsville places a great singer, at the top of her form, back where she belongs - in the upper echelons of world class vocal jazz. Throughout her career, Kidd has cut a distinctive path through the Great American Songbook with orchestral and trio backing.

    She is a singer who is admired by contemporaries and fans alike, who enjoys popularity in the Far East and has performed regularly in China and Singapore for over the course of three decades. Indeed, in 1994 she was the first western artist to be invited by the Chinese Government to perform there in 25 years.

    Originally based in Glasgow, Carol Kidd began singing professionally at the age of 15 when she joined the West Coast Jazz Band. During a five year period she met, and married, their trombonist George Kidd, who is a formidable name in Scottish jazz circles. The band appeared along with many well known names such as Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk and the Alex Welsh band, and also made guest appearances on local radio.

    During the 1970s a musical association with the pianist Sandy Taylor developed. Along with drummer Murray Smith and bassist Alex Moore the trio remained the mainstay of her backing for many years.

    Kidd's self-titled Linn Records debut album was released in 1984 and it marked the beginning of a long and valued relationship which has helped establish her across the globe.

    Her signature song, ‘When I Dream', was the theme in Korean movie Shiri and it held a chart placing in Asia for some thirteen weeks. This led her to ‘superstar' status in a part of the world where she now regularly performs to sell-out audiences. She has also performed for the Cambodian Royal Family. Further Royal approval is confirmed in the shape of Prince Charles who is a proud owner of all her albums!

    A long line of admirers included Frank Sinatra, who invited her to open for him at a concert at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow. During his performance he commented, ‘Carol Kidd is the best kept secret of British jazz.' This endorsement from Ol' Blue Eyes gave Kidd the confidence to truly make singing her career.

    Almost immediately she was invited to appear at the internationally acclaimed Ronnie Scott's Club in London. Tony Bennett was singing in London at the time and he made a point of coming to hear her stating, ‘You are world class, where have you been?'. Later, she went on to record ‘A Place in My Heart' with one of Sinatra's favourite arrangers, the late Robert Farnon.

    The late Sir Humphrey Lyttelton was also a fan from early on, commenting on her first album saying, ‘If this her debut, it's fantastic.' Earlier, Annie Ross had invited Kidd to appear on her TV show, stating, ‘I love this woman's voice.'

    George Shearing, Georgie Fame, Annie Ross, Benny Carter, Joe Temperley, Bobby Watson and Martin Taylor MBE are among the many guest luminaries who have performed with Carol Kidd during her live concerts.

     

    Awards

    Four times winner - Best Vocalist, British Jazz Awards

    Best Album - "Dreamsville", Scottish Jazz Awards 2009

    Best Album - "The Night We Called it a Day", British Jazz Awards

    Best International Vocalist, Cannes International Jazz Awards

    Lifetime Achievement Award, 2007  Nordoff Robbins

    1998 - MBE for Services to Jazz

      
    

    "A throat kissed by angels"  The Herald

    "One of the best singers I have heard" Ronnie Scott

    "Carol Kidd is the best kept secret of British jazz" Frank Sinatra

    "Her control is thrilling....she is world class" Cleo Laine

    "Her discography stands up as one of the strongest ever British contributions to vocal jazz" Jazz Review

    "Dreamsville" is one of the most finely crafted collection of songs you'll hear this year" Jazzwise

  • Rock Concert - Kassidy

    Event Date: 25th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    TICKETS WILL ALSO BE ON THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT

    Finish time approx 11.15pm

    With support

    Blindfolds & JME Mann

    Tickets £13 (£11 with a student card or Young Scot Card Holder)  

    Kassidy marks the arrival of a major new talent in British music. Their debut LP, Hope St, is an exciting and vivid aural montage that is touched with beauty, optimism and despair. The band originally formed as an occasional acoustic collective, four close friends with diverse musical interests who were involved in various bands and projects in their native Glasgow.

    The band – Barrie-James O'Neill, Hamish Fingland, Lewis Andrew and Chris Potter – while setting up on stage with four guitars and sharing vocal duties, can all turn their hand to other instruments. Their growth in the two years since forming the group is remarkable, and the record, along with their spirited and dynamic live show, is a testament to how exciting this group is.

    There’s nothing pretentious or contrived about the band though; they love melody, love great songs – everything from the early R&B of Howlin’ Wolf, through the British Invasion, to the prototype funk and disco of Sly & the Family Stone and George Clinton, and the 21st century blues of The White Stripes and The Black Keys. 
    Age 14 plus for this concert.

  • A Critic Remembers - Lecture by Conrad Wilson - cancelled

    Event Date: 23rd May 2012

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    A Critic Remembers - The Story of Perth’s Festival of the Arts

    Lecture by Conrad Wilson

    We apologise but Conrad Wilson's lecture has been cancelled due to illness.

    For many years, Conrad Wilson chronicled the Perth Festival for The Scotsman. Then he chronicled it for The Herald. Then he wrote a book about it. This morning he talks about forty years of Perth.

    Coffee will be served from 10.30 and is included in the price of the ticket.

    Tickets go on sale on 26th March

    Signed copies of Conrad's Book about the Festival will be available for sale at the lecture.

     

  • Martin Taylor and Martin Simpson

    Event Date: 22nd May 2012

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    TICKETS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE ON THE DOOR TONIGHT

    Award winning Jazz guitarist MARTIN TAYLOR teams up with acoustic and slide guitar virtuoso MARTIN SIMPSON to play selected dates in the UK. The pair will share the stage throughout the performance – adding to each other’s songs and instrumental pieces and taking them to new levels.


    Martin Taylor was name-checked on BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show in June this year as being considered THE best guitarist by no less than Jeff Beckleading to a live session on the show the next morning. Although completely self taught, he has enjoyed a remarkable musical career spanning across four decades and during that time has invented and developed a way of playing the guitar that is admired, and often imitated, by guitarists all over the world. As well as being a true guitar innovator, he is also a master concert performer, dazzling audiences with his solo shows, which combine virtuosity, emotion and humour, with a strong stage presence. He spends much of the year travelling the world, playing in concert halls in Europe, North America, Japan, Asia, and Australasia. As well as his solo concerts and recordings, he has also collaborated with musicians from many different musical genre including, Stephane Grappelli, Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, George Harrison, Dionne Warwick, Bryn Terfel and Jamie Cullum. In 2002,he was appointed MBE “For Services To Jazz Music”, in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List, which he received personally from Her Majesty The Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

     

    There is no doubt that after 35 years as a professional musician Martin Simpson is, right now, better than ever. Widely acknowledged as one of the finest acoustic and slide guitar players in the world, his interpretations of traditional songs are masterpieces of storytelling. His solo shows are intense, eclectic, spellbinding and deeply moving. Martin has been nominated an astounding 23 times in the eleven years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - more than any other performer - with 9 consecutive years as nominee for Musician of The Year, which he has won twice. 2008 saw an incredible 5 nominations for "Prodigal Son' and 2 wins, whilst in 2010 he had an unprecedented 6 nominations for his CD, "True Stories" and a win for Best Traditional Track, "Sir Patrick Spens". Whether playing American old-time music, blues, a Dylan song or his own material, Martin Simpson is unpredictable, individual and a guitarist of immense subtlety

     

    This is an unmissable evening with two guitar playing legends working in harmony.

     

    "Martin Simpson’s performances elicit powerful emotions and subtle, understated beauty” Guitar Player

     

    “Martin Taylor is one of the most awesome solo guitar players in the history of the instrument. He’s unbelievable” Pat Metheny.

     

    Concessions - Registered Disabled, Registered Unemployed, Students, Young Scotcard Holders and Children under 16 - £2 off published ticket prices excluding Nigel Kennedy, Berlin Symphony Orchestra and English Touring Opera.

  • English Touring Opera "The Barber of Seville" Pre Opera Talk

    Event Date: 19th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    A free pre opera talk will be held in The Studio Theatre, Perth Theatre before the performance to reserve a free ticket please click on the booking link.

  • Festival Ceilidh - Skipinnish

    Event Date: 19th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Finish time 11pm

    If 6 people wish to sit together you can reserve a table.

    Angus MacPhail (accordion), Andrew Stevenson (bagpipes, small-pipes, flute)

    The band "Skipinnish" was formed in early 1999 when accordionist Angus MacPhail from Tiree and piper Andrew Stevenson from Achnacarry joined musical forces. At the time, they were both studying in their first year at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and having played together at various impromptu sessions, they realized that both their musical styles and their outlook on Traditional Music were very similar.
    After the formation of "Skipinnish", their popularity snowballed, and they very soon became in demand for festivals, concerts, dances, weddings and many other events throughout the U.K. and abroad. Since their beginnings they have consistently delighted audiences at a huge number of performances in many diverse and sometimes dangerous locations! From the Marine Hotel in Mallaig, to the Hyundi Hotel in Ulsan South Korea - from the main auditorium of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to Johnny Alec MacKay's kitchen in Torlum Benbecula - the list is endless, but everywhere Skipinnish have played audiences have been enthralled with their music.
    In July 2001, "Skipinnish" released their debut C.D. This immediately proved extremely popular and gained considerable critical acclaim across a very broad range of listeners. The popularity of this recording and of their live performances increased Skipinnish's confidence in the marketing potential for their particular range of music. Accordingly, in early 2003 Skipinnish Records was born.  The record company has continued to grow since 2003 and now has a wide range of well renowned musicians on the record label.  Skipinnish’s most recent venture is The Skipinnish Ceilidh House in Oban; the opening night featured Skerryvore and Gunna Sound. The night was a huge success with the venue being filled to capacity.  Gunna Sound will be recording their debut album with Skipinnish Records; this will be the 18th album on Skipinnish Record’s catalogue.
    Since Angus and Andrew have begun working together, they have maintained their dedication to quality music, true to its roots in the Highland tradition. They do not self-consciously attempt to adapt and modernize Highland music to make it suit the ears of a non-Highland audience. No, these boys give their audience the real thing, and with both barrels! This approach is one of "Skipinnish's" trade marks, and one of the main reasons for their popularity - the connoisseur is refreshed by the authenticity of their music, while the uninitiated listener appreciates the honesty of it, and both groups, and everybody else in between who has heard "Skipinnish" are enthralled by the musical ability of these two tremendous musicians.
     

    Concessions - Registered Disabled, Registered Unemployed, Students, Young Scotcard Holders and Children under 16 - £2 off published ticket prices excluding Nigel Kennedy, Berlin Symphony Orchestra and English Touring Opera.

  • English Touring Opera "The Barber of Seville"

    Event Date: 19th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    The Barber of Seville  by ROSSINI NEW production

    Finishing time - 10.15pm

    Tickets are available for this performance call the Box Office 01738 621031. Some seats have restricted view best to discuss with Box Office staff.

    Sung in English Translation

    Effervescent, high-spirited, vocally brilliant, a work of comic genius: Rossini's masterpiece The Barber of Seville is a favourite with audiences around the world. ETO's new production, directed by the exciting and imaginative Thomas Guthrie and conducted by an experienced master of Italian opera, Paul McGrath, promises to be one of the highlights of the artistic calendar in 2012. The roguish young Count Almaviva, masquerading as the student Lindoro, will be sung by Nicholas Sharratt, one of the UK's most promising Italianate tenors. Kitty Whately, winner of this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Award, plays his beloved Rosina, as cunning as she is lovely.

     

    There will be a Pre-Opera talk about the production at 6.30pm. It is free please reserve a place on the talk in advance.

     

  • Music on a Saturday Morning - Rosanna Young

    Event Date: 19th May 2012

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

    Accompanied by Marion Wyllie (soprano)

     

    Beethoven                   Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10, No. 3

    Mendelssohn               No. 2 Pagenlied Wo0; IV. Suleika from 6 Songs Op. 34, No. 5 The Flowers of the Forest from Sechs Schottische National-Lieder

    Claire Liddell               Comin' Thro' the Rye

    Thea Musgrave           Ye Banks and Braes

    Ravel                           Chanson écossaise

    Debussy                       Pagodes from Estampes

    Poulenc                       2 Poèmes de Louis Aragon: 1. C, 2. Fêtes galantes

    John Ireland                If There Were Dreams to Sell

    Herbert Howells          Come Sing and Dance

     

    Perth-born Rosanna Young began piano lessons with Claire Gallagher aged six before being awarded a scholarship to study at the junior department of the RSAMD. In 2007 she began her studies there full-time and graduated in July 2011 with a BMus (Hons) Performance degree. She is currently on the MMus Performance course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London specialising in Piano Accompaniment. She is delighted to return to her home-town to perform in Perth Festival of the Arts and have the opportunity to present a recital with her new friends and collaborators from Guildhall. 

  • English Touring Opera "The Barber of Seville" Pre Opera Talk

    Event Date: 17th May 2012

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    A free pre opera talk will be held in The Studio Theatre, Perth Theatre before the performance to reserve a free ticket please click on the booking link.

  • Kilgraston School Concert

    Event Date: 17th May 2012

    Venue: St John's Kirk of Perth

     

     

    Programme

     

    Junior Prep Choir    We like Joyful Music

     

    Pippa Boyle            Piano                 Down by the Riverside

     

     

    Prep Choir                                       Part of Your World

     

     

    Maire Baker            Voice                 My Favourite Things

     

     

    Eliza Younger        Clarsach             Emily’s Calling

     

     

    Katie Reynolds       Voice                 Ain’t Misbehavin

     

    Man Ling Woo        Piano                 Intermezzo in A           

     

    Eliza Younger & Amelia Jackson-Hutt  Duet Sisters

     

    Rachel Mackenzie, Sunita Fairley,

    Eliza Younger, Amelia Jackson-Hutt Choral       Will you teach me?

     

    Lissie Cook            Piano                 Prelude No. 6 Bach 

     

    Amelia Jackson-Hutt   Flute                 Chanson de Matin

     

    Junior Prep Choir  Wouldn’t it be funny

     

    Accompanist         Chris Baxter

     

     

  • 2011

  • Katy Moffatt Americana Musician

    Event Date: 22nd May 2011

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Tickets will be available on the door on the night.

    The most memorable American roots music, be it western, country, folk, rock or the blues, is always informed by a simple fact of life:  you live and you learn.  Just ask Katy Moffatt.  Or better yet, listen to her sing, be it a song from her own prolific pen or a choice cut from a favorite songwriter.  It’s clear that Katy sings and writes with the voice of hard-won authority.  As BAM observes, “She doesn’t just hit the notes and get the words right, Moffatt evokes the emotions behind the tunes and meaning between the lines.”

    After some 30 years of solo performances from New York to Vancouver, from London to the Blue Mountains of Australia, Katy delivered her first live solo offering. Up Close and Personal, released by Fuel / UMVD Records in 2005, is yet another very special collection of music in answer to an expressed desire of aficionados the world over. Now, with Fewer Things, Katy continues her unique path, cutting through to a place where the honesty, power, and purity of her sound reside and flourish like a wild rose.

  • Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra with Sandie Shaw

    Event Date: 20th May 2011

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Hoping to get some more returns in next few days.

    with Special Guest Sandie Shaw
    featuring Gilson Lavis and guest vocalists
    Ruby Turner & Louise Marshall with
    Support Mark Flanagan

    Following his hugely successful Autumn/Winter Tour, which included two sell-out nights at London's glorious Royal Albert Hall, and the release of his new album Rockinghorse, Jools Holland has announced that he is taking his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra back out on the road for a Spring/Summer Tour, along with special guest Sandie Shaw.

    This new tour promises to dazzle audiences in each city with all the fun and fervour of the renowned 'big band' sound that Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra have become famous for.

    Sandie Shaw, one of Britain's top female singers of the 1960s and true British pop icon, will be Jools' special guest for this tour – her first tour in over 25 years.

    Her career has spawned three UK No.1 singles – Puppet On A String, (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me, and Long Live Love – a string of Top 10 hits such as Girl Don't Come, I'll Stop At Nothing, and Message Understood, and a collaboration with The Smiths (Morrissey and Johnny Marr are both fans). More recently, Sandie sung the title track for the hit British film Made In Dagenham, which was released last year.

    Finishing time estimated between 10.15 and 10.45pm

    Sponsored by Barclays Wealth

     

     
  • La clemenza di Tito by English Touring Opera

    Event Date: 20th May 2011

    Venue: Perth Theatre

    Sung in English with full size (26-30 piece) orchestra and chorus

     

    Mozart is often regarded as the greatest composer of opera, and remains popular with audiences today. This is a rare opportunity to see a production of a less well-known Mozart opera, which was his most popular opera for many years. In this production, ETO has restored the opera’s original sung dialogue (recitative).  It is a striking production set in glorious, fiery colours (flame red floor, brass walls). Costumes are from the late 1920s/early 1930s, though the action takes place in a “timeless” world that mixes classical imagery against a bold, chromatic backdrop. It has the feeling of a great epic.

     

    Mozart's La clemenza di Tito - The Mercy of Titus - is one of the composer's final works, and one of his greatest. In the 18th century the great dramatic poet was Metastasio, court dramatist to the Holy Roman Emperors – and this drama, a passionate defence of the enlightenment, was so admired that it was set by over 40 different composers. Its epic story of terrorism, betrayal and forgiveness is set in blazing colours by Mozart, requiring fearless soloists and a very strong chorus. Mozart’s opera condenses the text somewhat but preserves Metastasio’s most dramatic confrontations, and finds moving characters in the generous ruler, his besotted friend, and the fiery woman who comes between them.

     

    ETO favourite Mark Wilde will play the gentle king, Julia Riley his tormented friend, and Gillian Ramm the disinherited princess who sets them against each other. It will be directed by James Conway, and sung in the English translation of Andrew Porter.

     

    Running time: Approximately 2 hours 35 minutes (including a 20 min interval)

     

    Review from The Times

    Hilary Finch
    March 15 2011 12:01AM
    Rated to 4 stars
    Anyone not yet convinced that Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito is one of the great operas of all time should immediately book a ticket at one of the 15 venues up and down the country on English Touring Opera’s spring route. James Conway’s production bares the human heart of the opera; and Richard Lewis, conducting, makes it a pacy evening, releasing the true potency of Mozart’s music.
    The austere classical setting and form of this opera seria, and its yards of “dry” recitative, made enemies for it for many years. Here the recitatives (not Mozart’s own — he didn’t have time) are substantially pruned and the costumes point away from ancient Rome to the Europe of the 1940s. But all that is neither here nor there. The real hero of this production is Andrew Porter’s fine English translation — and the commitment and skill of the cast in putting it over with passion and total clarity. Every word is heard.
    Porter is faithful to the cadences and flavours of the original Italian, yet offers inflections so eloquently fitting to the English language, and to the placing of each voice, that it all sounds the most natural thing in the world.
    Add to this a generally strong and well-coached cast, and even the random ugliness of Neil Irish’s set — with its designer opera seriacliché of a huge decapitated statuary head — can be forgiven. The small spaces of ETO’s touring venues bring an intimate intensity to the agonising twists and turns of this opera’s wonderful network of love, friendship, betrayal and forgiveness.
    The triangle of Gillian Ramm’s strongly focused Vitellia, her soprano flaring with jealousy, Julia Riley’s ardent if a little vocally unstable Sesto, and Mark Wilde’s outstanding Tito is compelling drawn. The final anguished showdown between Tito and Sesto, and the sobriety of the shamed Vitellia’s Non più di fiori (No bridal garlands), with rose petals drifting out of her packed linen, is superbly done. Rhona McKail’s Servilia and Charlotte Stephenson’s Annio provide an emotionally engaging cross-current in the ever compelling ebb and flow of human relationships.
  • Frederick Ashton's Ballet "Romeo and Juliet" by Peter Schaufuss, Denmark

    Event Date: 19th May 2011

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets will be available on the door on the night. Balcony is now on sale too.

    Scroll down to see beautiful video of the stunning production.

    Danish dance legend Peter Schaufuss is steeped in tradition.  Trained in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the hallowed Bournonville tradition, Peter’s unique virtuoso gifts and magnetic stage presence turned him into a global ballet superstar. Today Schaufuss, director and choreographer, is pushing the boundaries of his chosen art form, presenting to the world the wonder of classical ballet but with a modern twist.   

    Romeo & Juliet is the world’s favourite love story and British dance maker Sir Frederick Ashton created one of the most revered danced versions in 1955.  His original creation was for the Royal Danish Ballet and his original Juliet was the mother of Peter Schaufuss.    On his death in 1988 Ashton bequeathed the work to Peter Schaufuss. Ashton’s genius distils the essence of Shakespeare’s tale of devotion and death in medieval Verona: Schaufuss adds a fresh dimension to the star crossed lovers by recreating the work in 2010, faithful to the choreography and with 21st century staging.

    “I knew Sir Fred very well,” recalls Schaufuss of the great artist who co-founded Britain’s Royal Ballet.  “He was, above all, a man of the moment and though I am ever mindful of my great responsibilities as appointed guardian of his masterpiece, Sir Fred would be deeply intrigued by a flash of 21st century attitude on a work created fifty five years ago.”

    Megumi Oki (Juliet) trained at Emikolkemoto Ballet School and Noboru Miyagi Ballet Studio in Japan, and at the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart, Germany.   From 2001 – 2006 she danced with Seachsische Staatsoper Dresden and Ballett Dresden.   Oki joined Peter Schafuss Ballet in 2006, and has performed in Midnight Express and Hamlet, soloist roles in The Man Who Wished for a Sea View and Satisfaction, as well as dancing the role of Judy Garland in Language of Love.

    Stefan Wise (Romeo) trained at the Royal Ballet School in London and has danced in many productions with Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.  In 2000 he joined English National Ballet and in 2003 he joined  the K Ballet in Japan.   In 2003 Stefan joined Peter Schaufuss Ballet and has since participated in all the company’s performances.   He danced the roles of Frustration in The King;  Lord Mountbatten in Charles – The Prince;  Jimmy in Midnight Express;  and the title role in Hamlet. 

    Running time 1.Act 45 min. Pause 20 min. 2.Act 55 min.

  • Alistair McGowan

    Event Date: 18th May 2011

    Venue: Perth Concert Hall

    Tickets will be available on the door on the night.

    The nation’s favourite impressionist, Alistair McGowan from The Big Impression, will open this year’s Festival. Alistair resurrects his legendary celebrity impressions and introduces audiences to a host of new never-before-heard voices along the way – nobody does it better!

    But Alistair’s stand-up is about much more than impersonation – expect sharp observations, poetry and romance, animals and surrealism, love and anger, wordplay and ‘greenery’ as well as footballers and film stars.

    No make-up or costume changes … just one man, a microphone and an amazing multitude of voices – including most importantly, his own.

    Running time 8pm to 10.20pm

  • 2010