Friday 30th May 2008 - 7.30 p.m
Knox Academy, Haddington

Wednesday 25th June 2008 - 8.00 p.m
St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington

Wednesday 10th September 2008 - 8.00 p.m
St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington

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Programme will include works by Chilcott, Kodaly, Whitacre and traditional Scots songs.

The National Youth Choir of Scotland is an outstanding choir for young people – formed in 1996 to provide an opportunity for young singers to participate in choral singing at national level. Membership is granted by audition on a yearly basis and is open to singers aged 16 to 24 who are born, resident or studying in Scotland.
2006 was the choir’s 10th Anniversary Year and was marked by concerts with the BBC SSO in Glasgow and London, a Gala concert with the RSNO in Edinburgh and a BBC Songs of Praise from the City Halls in Glasgow.

Membership of the NYCOS Chamber Choir is by invitation and the singers are drawn from the auditioned members of the National Youth Choir. The choir’s last visit to us was in 2005 and it is a great pleasure to include it in our 2008 concert series.

Belfast born Christopher Bell is Chorus Director of the Grant Park Chorus, Chicago, USA, Chorusmaster of Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus and the Belfast Philharmonic Choir. He was largely responsible for the formation of the National Youth Choir of Scotland in 1966 and has been its Artistic Director since then.

O Duo’s repertoire spans more than 300 years and is a mix of their own transcriptions of familiar classical and accessible contemporary music, played on two marimbas, vibraphone and a wide array of percussive instruments. Performing from memory and communicating with immediacy and brilliance, their performances are hugely popular with audiences of all ages.

Oliver and Owen were both scholars at the Royal College of Music, graduating in 2003 with First Class Honours. In 2004 they were awarded the first Junior Fellowship to be given to a percussion duo at the RCM and in 2005 were selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust.

Of their performances at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, London and Edinburgh International Festival Fringe as well as concerts in Paris, Madrid, Lucerne and Bulgaria it has been said:

“Phenomenal artistry, brimming with style and panache” – The Daily Telegraph
“Brilliant – one of the Fringe’s gems” – The Herald
“Startling, cheeky but enchanting” The Scotsman

The Ensemble regularly commissions new work and has an enviable reputation for innovative programming, performing rare and unusual pieces, alongside more well-known music.

As one of Scotland’s flagship performing groups, The Scottish Ensemble receives invitations to perform throughout the UK and internationally. It is an important musical ambassador, and in recent seasons has toured to China (Shanghai Spring International Festival), Germany and France.

In the UK, it performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall in London; the Aldeburgh Festival; Edinburgh International Festival; and the St Magnus Festival, Orkney.

Hungarian violinist Tamás András was born in Budapest and studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, as well as at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has won numerous prizes, including first prize in the National Violin Competition in Hungary. the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, Denmark (1996), and third prize at the Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition (1997).

Tamás is a founder member of the Fidelio Piano Quartet, and as a soloist he has performed with the Budapest Philharmonia Orchestra, the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players, as well as guest leader with the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, RSNO.

Recent performances have included Brahms’ Double Concerto with the Southbank Sinfonia , Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the St Jude’s Proms in London, and performances of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bernard d’Ascoli was born in the South of France and began learning the piano and organ at the age of eleven. In 1974 he was the youngest French Baccalauréat graduate of the year and four years later, at the age of nineteen, he won the First Prize at the Barcelona International Piano Competition.

He came to major public attention in 1981 when, following his Third Prize in the Leeds International Piano Competition, he made his London debut both in recital and with orchestra and recorded the Liszt sonata and other works for EMI.

He was soon performing in many of the world’s most prestigious venues including Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Geneva, Brussels, Madrid, Tokyo, Washington and the Sydney Opera House. Bernard has performed with leading British orchestras as well as with major overseas ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Boston Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony under such conductors as Svetlanov, Menuhin, Pritchard, Leppard, Fischer and Andrew Davis.

Bernard d’Ascoli has recorded albums of Chopin and Schumann for Nimbus and has made numerous recordings as well as live broadcasts for the BBC. His affinity with the music of Chopin has led him to undertake the recording of the complete Scherzi and Impromptus and a double album of the complete Nocturnes for the Athene-Minerva label. In March 2006 the latter CD was selected as “Editors Choice” in “Gramophone” magazine.

The Lamp is grateful to McInroy and Wood Ltd for their generous support of this performance.

Bernard D’Ascoli
Liszt
Jeau d’eau a la villa d’Este La Leggierezza
Schumann
Arabesque in C major op.18
9 pieces from “Bunte Blätter op.99
Mendelssohn
Variations sérieuses op.54 in D minor
Chopin
Ballade no 1 in G minor op 23
5 etudes
Polonaise in A flat major op.53

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is one of Britain’s most versatile orchestras with a huge repertoire ranging from the most complex modern scores to the great classics, from music by Scottish composers to film scores and music for television. The orchestra appears regularly in Britain’s most prestigious events like the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival and performs in the great cultural centres of Europe – in recent years touring in China, the USA and South America.

In 2002 the BBC SSO was presented with its award for Best Orchestra by the Royal Philharmonic Society and has also been the recipient of two Gramophone Awards and a Grammy nomination.

Jennifer Pike, youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young musician of the Year, makes a welcome return to St Mary’s to play Mozart’s folk-influenced Third Violin Concerto.

Norwegian-born conductor, Arild Remmereit, opens with Sibelius’s atmospheric symphonic poem, Tapiola, and brings the evening to a triumphant close with Dvorak’s lyrical Seventh Symphony.

Sibelius: Tapiola: symphonic poem
Mozart: Violin Concerto no.3 in G major, K216
Dvorak: Symphony no.7

Tickets available from:
The Lamp office
Gibsons China and Glass,
Market Street, Haddington