Kinbuck Concert 20th August

Thanks to design student Chris Wesley for this poster. See more of his work at chriswesley.co.uk

Preparations for Iceland and the Faroe Islands

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is now on holiday, and so my focus switches to Nordic Viola and my upcoming sabbatical. There’s still a lot to organise, but things are coming together now.

First stop will be the Faroe Islands in early September. I have heard so much about these islands from my colleague in the RSNO, Davur. I will arrive in Torshavn on 1st September and I’m really looking forward to meeting, and hopefully playing with, some of the musicians I’ve been in touch with, especially Kristian Blak.

 

 

I’m learning Kristian’s piece “Drrrunnn” at the moment. It’s for solo instrument and seabirds, recorded on the island of Mykines in the far northwest corner of the islands. You can find it on Spotify here. I therefore can’t wait to visit the island for myself and to jot down a few musical impressions.

On 12th September I get the boat back to Seyðisfjörður in Iceland. I will take the viola up to the Tvisongur sound sculpture to play around a bit. The chambers up there are made to resonate with the notes of the Icelandic traditional music scale, so we’ll see what I can do with that!

Music education is something that is very close to my heart and so I’m really glad to have been asked to come and play to the young people in Seyðisfjörður’s music school. Hopefully we can play a few tunes together, too. In the neighbouring town of Egilsstaðir I am talking to the music school about working with some of their more advanced pupils.

I’ve recently heard that it should be possible to give a concert in Seyðisfjörður’s Blue Church. We’re just talking dates right now. It looks a beautiful venue and I feel very lucky to get the chance to play there.

 

So that’s the picture so far. Meanwhile, lots of practice to do before my first concert in Kinbuck, Perthshire on 20th August.