Written by David Smythe Published on Monday 14 December Image: Fraser Band In their red Santa costumes brightening a cold grey December cityscape, the Perth streets had been full of hundreds of eager festive runners earlier in the day, signalling that the great Christmas celebration will be here before we know it. Christian values aside,… Read more »
Written by Ken Walton Published on Thursday 10 December The Scottish Ensemble have always stamped their own personality on the way they present their concerts – standing to perform, exuding a friendly camaraderie, and rarely resorting to gimmickry. That distinctiveness is even more marked in their current Advent touring programme – a warm-hearted pre-Christmas cocktail… Read more »
Written by Michael Tumelty Published on Thursday 10 December It probably wouldn’t be of interest to everybody, but one of the striking aspects of the Scottish Ensemble’s annual “candle-lit” concert, touring this week and landing at Wellington Church, neighbouring Glasgow University, on Wednesday night, was the fact that the group had a guest leader and… Read more »
Written by David Smythe Published on Saturday 21 November 2015 It might be every musician’s nightmare, but when classical players are called upon to be characters as part of the action, results can be surprising. An extraordinary performance of The Soldier’s Tale seen a few years ago is still etched in the memory as the… Read more »
Written by Alfred Hickling Published on Monday 23 November 2015 The composition of Bach’s Goldberg Variations will always be mysterious. Were they really a musical sheep-counting exercise for the benefit of an insomniac ambassador? A harmonic exegesis of the Ptolemaic universe? A private joke at the expense of an unkind critic? Or maybe, as this… Read more »
Written by Lorna Irvine Published on Tuesday 17 November 2015 Read the review on the Fjord Review website How to reinvent J.S. Bach’s famous, sublime Goldberg Variations? This collaboration between Stockholm-based choreographer Örjan Andersson and Scottish Ensemble’s Jonathan Morton seeks to do just that, with a series of choreographic movements integrated with the musicians themselves,… Read more »
Written by Mary Brennan Published on Monday 16 November 2015 When live music supports dance, a dialogue of discovery comes alive between art forms and personnel – a dialogue that the Scottish Ensemble (SE) takes in fresh and invigorating directions with Goldberg Variations where the musicians don’t only play for Andersson Dance, they play with… Read more »
11 musicians from Scottish Ensemble and 5 dancers from Andersson Dance have arrived at Glasgow’s prestigious contemporary art and performance venue, Tramway, for rehearsals ahead of the first UK performances on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November. The collaboration is led by Scottish Ensemble Artistic Director Jonathan Morton and Andersson Dance Artistic Director Örjan Andersson, who came… Read more »
Written by Garry Fraser Published on Monday 19 October 2015 If you are in the company of Franz Schubert, it’s an extremely nice place to be as his music never fails to satisfy. If you are joined by the wonderful Scottish Ensemble and a soloist of the calibre of Maxim Rysanov the ambiance increases as… Read more »
Written by Michael Tumelty Published on Friday 9 October 2015 Read on The Herald website **** RCS student and cellist Victor Nekludov BUCCANEERING Brio! That is not an epithet (though it would be a good one). It’s an attempt to describe the extraordinary vivacity and almost swashbuckling elan with which the bigged-up RCS String Ensemble… Read more »
Scottish Ensemble’s Board of Trustees is looking to appoint a new member of the Board who will also serve as Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee. The Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee plays a key governance role for Scottish Ensemble (SE). The Committee reviews SE management accounts and financial planning… Read more »
We are thrilled to return from Sweden having given well-received première performances of our new collaborative performance project, Goldberg Variations – ternary patterns for insomnia, in which Scottish Ensemble musicians are choreographed alongside five professional dancers from Swedish contemporary dance company Andersson Dance.We performed the piece at one of Sweden’s leading contemporary dance venues, Dansens Hus… Read more »