Sandy Brechin: Wednesday 5th May 2021 1.15pm – 1.45pm
Sandy Brechin is one of Scotland’s best known accordionists, famous for his lightning-fast playing and hilarious on-stage humour. He has developed his own unique approach to the art of accordion playing and his innovative style is instantly recognisable: a combination of slick, incredibly fast finger-work on the melody and a revolutionary method of syncopation on the bass. Sandy was the first in Scotland to play professionally the small 48 bass size of accordion, which is now pretty much his trademark. Despite its small size and range, Sandy gets a huge sound out of it.
Gavin Marwick and Ruth Morris: Wednesday 21st April 2021 1.15pm – 1.45pm
Spirited fiddle and beautiful nyckelharpa bring you a wonderful selection of old and new tunes for all around Scotland and Europe. Gavin Marwick and Ruth Morris have been performing together for over fifteen years in bands such as Bellevue Rendezvous, Gav’s various Journeyman shows and their Galloway based ceilidh band Whirligig. The duo is a new and exciting way to enjoy their intimate and engaging acoustic string driven sound.
Wednesday 7th April 2021 1.15pm – 1.45pm: Aaron Jones & Claire Mannvia Zoom
Claire Mann and Aaron Jones have been stalwarts of the traditional music scene in Scotland
for nearly thirty years. Between them they have been lucky enough to perform with some of
traditional music’s finest appearing on nearly one hundred recordings and touring the World.
Their debut duo CD, ’Secret Orders’ was released back in 2005 to great critical acclaim and
they continue to tour, record, teach music and raise their three young children from their base
in beautiful Dumfries and Galloway.
Topic: Lunchtime Recital with Aaron Jones and Claire Mann (free but donations accepted) Time: Apr 7, 2021 01:00 PM for 1.15pm start Greenwich Mean Time
Mezzo-soprano and musicologist Dr Sally Garden hails from an Angus farming family, and is the youngest of four professional musician siblings. She has a special interest in Scots and Scandinavian song and is founder of the Grieg Society of Scotland. Her recital and research work, which has seen her tour the castles, kirks and concert halls of Scotland, has also taken her to Norway, Denmark and Germany.
Sally is a member of the Walter Scott Minstrelsy Project (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), a former Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies (University of Aberdeen), and earlier in her career was appointed Historical Musician in Residence at the Wighton Heritage Centre, Dundee, where she directed a 3-year programme of events to unfold one of Scotland’s finest music archives. In 2009, she pioneered the first ever live music event at the National Library of Scotland, with an invited lecture-recital on Scottish-Scandinavian musical links, entitled Hu, Hei, Duncan Gray! Sally is also editor of the complete songs of Aberdonian composer Ronald Center
Medieval Harp virtuoso Simon Chadwick needs no introduction to the Wighton audience. As Musician in Residence, harp tutor and hard working secretary he was a mainstay of Friends of Wighton for many years. Since he moved to Armagh in 2018 though we have kept in touch. He has been sorely missed, so it is a particular delight to welcome him on the 3rd.
A Chadwick recital is always a treat and an adventure. During the last year’s lockdowns, Simon has been working on old Irish harp tunes from the Bunting collection, finding unusual tunes, and unusual versions of better known tunes. He will play some of them for you on Wednesday including some with interesting connections to versions in the Wighton collection.
The Zoom link is below, the Recital is free but donations can be made on our webpage www.friendsofwighton.com
Sheena Wellington is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Wighton Lunchtime Recital Time: Mar 3, 2021 01:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time
3rd February 2021, 1pm: Hesperi at Home: Concert for the Friends of the Wighton Collection
Bite-size Baroque #3 “Music from the Wighton Collection”
Join us this Wednesday *ON ZOOM* for a duo recital for the Friends of the Wighton Collection!
Tom and I are *so” excited to be performing for the Friends of Wighton this coming Wednesday lunchtime, as the third of our “Bite-Size Baroque” series! This week won’t be quite so “bite-size” though; we’ll be presenting around an hour’s recital of all sorts of music from the Wighton Collection, an incredible collection of Scottish music held in Dundee Central Library. Composers to include William McGibbon, John Reid, Elizabeth Hardin, Giuseppe Sammartini, Walter Clagget, Robert Bremner, and of course, James Oswald. All new repertoire!
This week, you’ll need to join us on Zoom rather than YouTube, but of course, you don’t need to have your cameras on if you don’t want to! Do make sure you’re on mute for the recital itself, though.
Here’s the link: see you at 1pm GMT, Wednesday 3rd February!
We are all enjoying the Saturday morning Mixed Instrument Class at 11am – 12 on Zoom – it’s amazing how freeing not being heard by other folk is when you are learning a new tune!
On Saturday 6th February we have a guest tutor, Gavin Marwick, a fiddle player and composer from Edinburgh. As a performer he has played at hundreds of festivals, concerts, theatres and dances across the UK, Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Africa, playing with bands such as Journeyman, Iron Horse, Ceilidh Minogue and Bellevue Rendezvous. He has written music for TV, radio and theatre and was active in the ceilidh scene (before the pandemic struck). Gavin also has many years teaching experience with Falkirk Fiddle Workshop, Feis Rois, ALP Edinburgh and Newcastle University.
We’re looking forward to seeing (and hearing) what he has in store for us!
Any instrument is welcome (we have fiddle, cello, flute, mandolin and harp just now) and the class costs £5, which can be paid through https://www.paypal.me/moraganneelder1
MoragAnne is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
The Friends of Wighton invite you to an online illustrated talk on the Montgomerie Collection to be given by Dr Margaret Bennett on Wednesday 6th January 2021. The talk starts at 1.15pm but you can log-in at any time from 1.05pm
The Zoom host will be Sheena Wellington.
Zoom meeting. Wednesday, 6 January 2021⋅1:05pm – 2:00pm.
Poetry workshop led by Dawn Wood, with musicians Frances Cooper and Joanna Nicholson of the duo Turning the Elements.
An opportunity to be part of a collaborative writing event and to hear about the creative processes behind ‘No Trees to Whisper’, a new song cycle commissioned by soprano and clarinet duo, Turning the Elements – all from the comfort of your own home, via Zoom!
The famous diaries of Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, written during their travels to the Highlands and Islands in 1773, were the inspiration for this commission, supported by Creative Scotland, with poetry from Haworth Hodgkinson, Iain Morrison and Dawn Wood, and music by Gemma McGregor, Linda Buckley and Aidan O’Rourke. Covid has added its own chapter to the story and you will be the first audience to hear snippets of the new work and hear about its genesis.
Dawn Wood will lead the workshop, delving into some of the ways she finds inspiration for her writing, and sharing some of the poetry she produced for the project. She will use guided meditation techniques to allow participants to access their sensory imagination as they explore aspects of the Scottish landscape and its future. Participants will have the opportunity to produce writing during the workshop, resulting in a collaborative text which will be explored using improvised music by Frances Cooper and Joanna Nicholson.
The workshop is free but places are limited so if you would like to take part in this exciting event please register your interest by email to secretary@friendsofwighton.com.
