Published by: John Harris
About: Red Note

Welcome to Red Note’s 2016 Review of the Year! 

It’s been an amazing 12 months full of challenge, excitement and new things for everyone. We thought we’d share some of what happened with you to help you while away the long Winter evenings.

From all of us in the Red Note team, we’d also like to to wish you a very happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2017!

This year we’ve been travelling far and wide…

2016 was the year that Red Note truly got out and about. First of all we visited India to develop a new project for future years, and then we had three different international tours in the Autumn: to Canberra and Bermagui in Australiafor two weeks of workshops and performances in September with the Griffyn Ensemble; to Belgium and Holland with Freedom O(r) Speech in October and November with I Solisti and Song Circus; and to France with KEIN.

Oh, and we went to England. Twice!

“powerful, provocative and confident”   David Kettle, The Scotsman  ★★★★★

Freedom o(r ) Speech, in partnership with I Solisti del Vento from Belgium and Norway’s Song Circus, performing in Aberdeen, Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges and ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.

… and we criss-crossed Scotland

This year we’ve brought Red Note’s stuff, in various forms, to quite a number of different areas of Scotland. In total, we’ve worked out that this year we’ve performed in:

The Western Isles | Aberdeenshire | Fife | the Highlands | East Lothian | East Renfrewshire | Glasgow City | Edinburgh City | Aberdeen City | Perthshire and Dumfries and Galloway

Working with Red Note requires a strong pair of shoes!

We performed the work of many composers …

Almost too many composers to name! However, here is an incomplete list in no particular order (with many apologies to anyone who has been missed out):

Bela Bartok | Louis Andriessen | Mauricio Kagel | Gareth Williams | Sally Beamish | George Crumb | John de Simone | John Mayer | Witold Lutoslawski | Edgar Varese | Fraser Fifield | François Sarhan | Jackie Shave | David Wilde | Arvo Part | Paul Stanhope | Kara Taylor | Lewis McLaughlin | David Sawer | Virginie Lesaffre | Kyle Berry | Armando Lobo | Misha Doumnov | Aggelos Mastrantonis | Arvin Papelli | Kuljit Bhamra | Paul Cowell | John Gourlay | Afrodita Kathmeridou | Derek Ball | J Simon van der Walt | Hilario Flores Conti | Vroni Holzmann | Simon Opit | Cheryl Loke | Bill Thompson | Conner McCain | George Handel | Matthew Whiteside | Robert Irvine | Olivier Messiaen | John Cage | Jonathan Harvey | Karlheinz Essl | Peter Longworth | Timothy Cooper | Denis Smalley | Henry McPherson | Martin Keary | Shona Mackay | Gregor Forbes | Taner Kemirtlek | Luciano Berio | …

“a most brilliantly moving of elegies” Neil Cooper. The Herald  ★★★★★

The 306: Dawn. World Premiere. National Theatre of Scotland, 1418 NOW and Perth Theatre
co-production, in association with Red Note Ensemble.  (Image: Manuel Harlan)

In all sorts of different partnerships …

Oh my word yes. This year we worked with:

Film-makers: With Eggbox for their absolutely brilliant film to accompany Louis Andriessen’s Workers Union in the Concorde Hangar at the Lammermuir Festival in September.
Dancers: With the hugely talented company for the Dalcroze-inspired Sally Beamish commission Ringtime
Actors: And not one but two national treasures – Simon Callow for Freedom O(r) Speech in Aberdeen, and Crawford Logan for The Sins in the Cheltenham Festival.
Theatre Companies: One company really, but it’s a big one: the National Theatre of Scotland for the staggering site-specific The 306:Dawn
Schools: This was the year that our Schools composing project New Music Makers also got out-and-about, working with students and teachers from Kirkland High School in Leven, and Woodfarm, Lochend and Barrhead High Schools in Glasgow. That’s in addition to all of the schools we worked in as part of The 306: Dawn education projects, Go Compose! taster sessions in Aberdeen, and Knox High School in Haddington.
International Music Conservatoires: Not only our long-standing partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, working with their emerging professional conductors, performers and composers, but also this year we partnered with the Paris Conservatoire and the Helsinki Sibelius Academy for our first international Red Note Advanced Academy, bringing students from across Europe to work with us at the Lammermuir Festival. That’s also not to forget our partnerships with Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities too.
Start-up Entrepreneurs: Yes indeed. We were delighted to perform and present our work at the Scottish EDGE awards this December.
Other Ensembles: in other countries, primarily – I Solisti del Vento from Belgium, SongCircus from Norway, and Griffyn from Australia.

And many apologies to everything and everyone we have accidentally left out!

… in all sorts of venues

We go where audiences go. This year we played in:

Pubs | Aircraft Hangars | Very Large Sheds on Farms | School Halls | Conference Centres | Art Galleries | Churches | Theatres | Science Museums

That said, we do also play in concert halls! Just not all the time.

And many many thanks to our Festival partners – in particular, sound in Aberdeenshire, who reached their 10th anniversary this year! – but also the Lammermuir, Huddersfield, Cottier Chamber Project, Loch Shiel, November Music, Four Winds, Musiques Démesurées and Cheltenham Festivals, all of whom hosted us this year.

“A magnificent achievement in a dazzling venue”      The Scotsman ★★★★★

Music & Film at Concorde, Lammermuir Festival.

Here’s a list of most of what we did this year:

NOISY NIGHTS – Summerhall, Edinburgh, The Byre, St Andrews, Cottiers Chamber Project, Glasgow and Australia!  |  RED to REID – Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh  |  VIVE LE DIFFÉRENCE, March, RCS Glasgow  |  REELS TO RAGAS 3, March & April, Ardfern, Aberfeldy, Ullapool, Isle of Harris, Sleat, Isle of Skye, Glenfinnan  |  THE NIGHT WITH…. April, Glasgow  |  PLUG FESTIVAL – OPENING CONCERT, May, Glasgow  |  THE 306: DAWN, throughout May, Perthshire  |  THE COTTIER CHAMBER PROJECT, June, Glasgow  |  THE SINS BY SALLY BEAMISH, July, Cheltenham Music Festival  |  NEW MUSIC MAKERS, Fife – February and Glasgow, September – November  |  LAMMERMUIR FESTIVAL PROJECT with Knox Academy, Haddington, September  |  MUSIC AND FILM at the Concorde Hangar, Lammermuir Festival  |  FOUR WINDS FESTIVAL, CANBERRA with the Griffyn Ensemble, October  |  GO COMPOSE! Workshops and Concert, sound Festival, Aberdeen, October  |  FREEDOM O(R ) SPEECH, October & November, World Premiere at Sound Festival Aberdeen, European Premiere at deSingel Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent and November Music Festival  |  OAKLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL PROJECT, Glasgow, September – November  |  KEIN BY FRANCIS SARHAN, November, World Premiere at 18ÈME Festival Musiques Démesurées, UK Premiere at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival  |  RING TIME and  RING TIME WORKSHOPS, Dumfries Edinburgh and Banchory, and Drygate Brewery, Glasgow  |  LEVERHULME CONDUCTING FELLOWS WORKSHOPS, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, January and December  |  SCOTTISH EDGE AWARDS, RBS Gogarburn, December

And we also released our 3rd CD with DELPHIAN RECORDS!

On November 18th we released The Cellist of Sarajevo: chamber music by David Wilde on Delphian Records (DCD34179). David Wilde is the veteran of nine Delphian piano recordings, documenting his remarkable Indian summer as a performer. For this project we survey the works of Wilde’s ‘Bosnian’ period – when he travelled to besieged Sarajevo to help preserve the city’s cultural life, earning him the friendship of colleagues including the heroic members of the Sarajevo String Quartet.

To purchase please visit Presto Classical