St Mary’s Music School celebrates the end of a successful year for Scotland’s National Music School with three concerts in the capital this month.
The series of concerts begins with a musical treat for jazz lovers with Jazz at the Jam House – City to City – New York to Edinburgh. The school’s senior jazz ensembles will play some seriously cool tunes at the concert on Tuesday 6 June 2017. Directed by Richard Ingham, the fun begins at 7.30 pm.
Tickets can be obtained from St Mary’s Music School (telephone: 0131 538 7766) or at the door on the night. Prices are £4 for adults and £2 for schoolchildren and former pupils.
The Directors’ Recital Prize, now in its 17th year, takes place in the beautiful surroundings of St Mary’s Cathedral in Palmerston Place on Tuesday 20 June 2017 at 7.00pm. Four senior finalist soloists will compete before a distinguished panel of judges for the annual award. The event is open free of charge to the public providing the opportunity to enjoy some outstanding playing, as the four young musicians experience public solo performance in a competition situation.
The third concert, Music for Dancing, is a collaboration between St Mary’s Music School and The Dance School of Scotland. With William Conway as Conductor, the concert will take place at Queen’s Hall on Monday 26 June at 7.30 pm. The programme will include Choral, Orchestral, Traditional Music and Jazz, including Stravinsky’s two piano version of The Rite of Spring, with choreography by Julian Moss.
Tickets are available from St Mary’s Music School (telephone: 0131 538 7766) or from Queen’s Hall Box Office (telephone: 0131 668 2019 or www.thequeenshall.net).
Dr Kenneth Taylor, Headteacher at St Mary’s Music School, said: “These concerts represent another year of dedicated work by the pupils and teachers at Scotland’s national music school. As always the summer concert is the last opportunity for our Senior Pupils to perform before they move forward to further study towards launching their musical careers. With alumni including Steven Osborne, Garry Walker, Helen Grime, David Horne and Alexander Armstrong, our June concerts showcase many of the future leading lights in the music world.
“For aspiring professional musicians, large audiences are a real encouragement and stimulus. These three concerts with a high quality of music performance and a widely differing range of styles offer something for everybody and we would be delighted for people to show support for the school and its pupils by joining us at one or more of them.”
St Mary’s Music School is part of the Perfect Harmony campaign launched earlier this month which calls upon everyone in Scotland who cares about the nation’s cultural and educational future to support the move of Scotland’s national music school to the Old Royal High School on Calton Hill, Edinburgh.
Dr Taylor added: “Scotland’s national music school exists to provide a centre of excellence for musically gifted youngsters from across Scotland, regardless of their financial circumstances. Our school provides the next generation of musicians and world-renowned performance artists across all fields of music from classical to jazz and traditional.
“The opportunity to move to the Old Royal High is too good to miss. It provides us with the rehearsal space we need coupled with an exciting performance space, which both in turn will allow us to develop our musical partnerships and extend our outreach programmes. It also provides the perfect stage for further international recognition for the performing arts in Scotland and enhances our credentials as a destination for cultural education and tourism.”
Further information can be found at: http://www.st-marys-music-school.co.uk/school-news/concerts
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