Our January 2019 tour was based mainly in and around Edinburgh as part of the first ever Burns & Beyond Festival. In three days we gave 15 performances, revisiting venues such as Edinburgh Airport and Souper Saturday (a soup kitchen for the homeless) and many new ones too.
Giving our third and fourth performances in Craigmillar as part of the community arts programme in the area, the orchestra performed in Burnstane Primary School before walking down the street for a mixed community performance at St Martin’s Church to a wonderfully appreciative audience.
We gave our first prison performance at HMP Edinburgh to help celebrate Burns Day, and enjoyed poetry from the men there, as well as some haggis pakora and Irn Bru (a more Scottish thing we cannot think of!)
As part of the festival we gave performances at the National Museum of Scotland, St Giles’ Cathedral under the ‘Museum of the Moon’ and at Freemason’s Hall.
‘Just a quick note to say a HUGE thank you to you and the orchestra for such a fantastic concert last Friday.
It was an absolute joy and pleasure to host the ensemble, you were all fantastic, and the audience loved it. At our church service on Sunday, those who had been there were still bubbling with excitement and we were able to show photos on our big screen and even a short video of one of our members conducting the orchestra!’
St Martin’s Church, Edinburgh
Performances
| 25 January 2019 | 0945-1030 | Brunstane Primary School |
| 25 January 2019 | 1100-1150 | St Martin’s Church |
| 25 January 2019 | 1400-1500 | HMP Edinburgh |
| 25 January 2019 | 1530-1600 | Edinburgh Airport |
| 25 January 2019 | 2030-2100 | Freemasons Hall |
| 26 January 2019 | 1000-1050 | Souper Saturday |
| 26 January 2019 | 1130-1230 | Edinburgh Farmers’ Market |
| 26 January 2019 | 1300-1400 | St Giles’ Cathedral |
| 26 January 2019 | 1400-1500 | National Museum of Scotland |
| 26 January 2019 | 1800-1815 | Culture Trail |
| 26 January 2019 | 2130-2215 | Glasgow Night Shelter |
| 27 January 2019 | 1100-1145 | Riverside Museum |
| 27 January 2019 | 1600-1630 | Princes Square |
| 27 January 2019 | 1600-1630 | Refuweegee |
| 27 January 2019 | 1600-1630 | Buchanan Street |
Repertoire
| Stormy Weather | Harold Aarlen arr. Raaf Hekkema |
| The Day Dawn | Sally Beamish |
| Let’s Face the Music and Dance | Irving Berlin arr. Bernard von Rossum |
| Da Sneck o’ da Smaalie | Blazing Fiddles arr. Douwe Nauta |
| Cathcart | Phil Cunningham arr. Douwe Nauta |
| Farewell to Stromness | Peter Maxwell Davies |
| March Ecossaise | Claude Debussy |
| It Don’t Mean a Thing | Duke Ellington arr. Geert Rubingh |
| Relight my Fire | Dan Hartman arr. Jorne Meijer |
| Hebrides Overture | Felix Mendessohn |
| Symphony No. 3 ‘Scottish’ (2nd Movement) | Felix Mendessohn |
| I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) | The Proclaimers arr. Gordon Cree |
| Scots Medley | trad. arr. Gordon Cree |
| Africa | Toto arr. Joey O’Neill |
| Superfly | Treacherous Orchestra arr. Hugo Bouma |