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Opportunity foryoung singers at Ceol Mor!
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I’m keen to find out whether any young singers (age 16-25) might be interested in taking part in this year’s traditional music big band project, Ceol Mor, at Aberdeen International Youth Festival in August. As part of the project we are keen to provide a platform for Scotland’s young singers and would like to involve as many singers as possible. The instrumental side of the band’s work is well established and we'd like to give the vocal side of things a boost.
Christine Kydd will coach the singers, working with Musical Director, Harris Playfair. The emphasis will be on vocal development, harmony singing, and team arrangements.
We plan to work on a new piece for voices, as well as reviving ‘The Wife o Kelso’, a piece commissioned by Ceol Mor from Corrina Hewat, which was premiered at last year’s festival, and performed again at Celtic Connections earlier this year.
The dates of the residency in Aberdeen are Thursday 31 July to Saturday 9 August. There will be several performances at venues in Aberdeen City and in Aberdeenshire, and the week will finish with a gala performance at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen.
AIYF has worked hard to find ways of keeping the cost down, and has set the cost of the week at a staggeringly good value £80, which covers accommodation and full board. If you would like to take part please contact me by email at davidfrancis at the-cast.org.uk or call me on 0131 669 8824. It will be useful for us to know numbers by the end of May. If you know of any others who might like to be considered please pass on this message.
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56 days ago
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Review By Fiona Mackenzie at www.Hi-arts.co.uk
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FIONA MACKENZIE checks out the next generation of Scottish traditional music talent
IMAGINE a younger version of The Unusual Suspects, say 25+ strong, mix in some of Harris Playfair’s commitment and musical passion, add a few exciting new commissions from Corrina Hewat, Dave Milligan and Aidan O’Rourke, and you have ‘Ceòl Mòr’ (and guys, if you’re going to use a Gaelic name, assuming you do mean literally Big Music, please spell it right – it needs the accents).
An eventual by-product of the Splore event in Aberdeen and directed by Dave Francis, this is a large scale Youth Folk Orchestra, although right from the initial bars you’d be fooled into thinking it was more of a rock and brass orchestra, with some fiddles and clarsach along the way too.
Donald Shaw’s ‘Harvest’ has set the pace for youth projects in the last few years at Celtic Connections, and it is encouraging that more exciting large-scale projects such as this are emerging to fill the gap for many young musicians who find themselves perhaps in between Fèisean and going professional.
Encouraging, too, to see that the vocal aspect of the piece was not all left up to the female of the species. The commitment and enjoyment of the participants was hugely encouraging for the future of ‘traditional’ music.
Three new commissions were performed alongside some of Playfair’s arrangements, including Hewat’s vocal arrangement ‘Boy Fae Kelso’ and Milligan’s’ How did we get to here?’ Aidan O’Rourke’s magical piece will surely become a staple of the repertoire for large groups now.
Solo opportunities for both vocalists and instrumentalists were afforded across the board, allowing each section of the ‘orchestra’ to shine at various points in the programme. The brass section lifted the arrangements out of the trad genre and into one all of its own at times, a sort of ‘jazzitional’, for want of a better word. The audience were baying for more.
Great potential here for future development and plaudits to the directors for the logistical problems a project such as this must present.
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109 days ago
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The Band
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Harris PLayfair-piano/music director
Ross Couper-fdiddle
Danial Thorpe-fiddle
Carly Bain-Fiddle
Victoria Atkinson-fiddle
Holly Beckmyer-fiddle
Noami Ballantyne-fiddle
Colin Cotter-fiddle
Marike Cotter-fiddle
Rachel Cross-fiddle
Anna Currie-fiddle
Graham McGillivray-fiddle
Russell Muray-fiddle
Sophie Heppel-fiddle/viola
Emma Beaton-cello
Fergus Mutch-pipes/whistle
Gillian Chalmers-pipes/whistle
James Mackenzie-pipes flute
Gillian Davidson-recorder
Victoria Laurenson-accordion
Scott Wilson-accordion
Mhairi Briiton-Clarsach
James Lindsay-Bass guitar
Tia Files-guitar/bass guitar
James Law-drums
Ryan Playfair-percussion
Tom Pickles-alto/tenor sax
Jodie Gibb-trumpet
Neil Cuthbertson-trumpet
Craig Walker-trombone
Natalie Chalmers- voice
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260 days ago
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