We stayed at Daniel’s family home in South Queensferry after the concert in Perth. Our final concert of the tour was in Penicuik and it was only a half an hour drive from Daniel’s home. This felt like a real luxury after long train and bus journeys to venues over the last few days. We arrived at the Penicuik Community Arts Association for 13:00. The venue was very cosy and intimate, and the acoustic was really great!

It was really lovely to end our tour in a smaller venue as it felt really personal and we were able to directly feel the energy of the audience. The audience was so warm and they all really appreciated the recital.


We had the most amazing time performing all over Scotland over the last few days! We would like to say a huge thank you to the Tunnell Trust again for giving us this amazing opportunity, for the Music clubs around Scotland for having us, and to our wonderful hosts in Skye and Nairn. This experience was life-changing and we are extremely grateful for this brilliant opportunity.

Daniel & Hanzhi

 

We caught the 13:00 train to Perth from Inverness on Saturday. The journey down was so beautiful as we passed the Cairngorms. The journey went smoothly and we arrived into Perth at around 15:30 and headed to St. John’s Kirk. 

The church is so beautiful and it was a joy to play there – even though it was absolutely freezing inside!
It was another great turn out for the audience and Daniel’s family really enjoyed the recital! We had a lot of fun!

We then made our way to Edinburgh, where we will finish the tour on Sunday.

Thank you to everyone who came out to watch us – we are very grateful!

 

 

Concert day in Nairn:

We had such an amazing concert day in Nairn! We arrived into Inverness at around 12:30 and our lovely host, Joan, gave us a lift to their beautiful home in Nairn. Joan and her husband made us feel extremely welcome and made us a very delicious soup and spread for lunch. We then relaxed and had a walk in their stunning garden. After quite a bumpy 3.5hr bus journey, it was very much needed!

We then made our way to venue in Nairn at Community & Arts Centre to rehearse before the concert. It was such a lovely hall with a great acoustic! There was a great turn out at the concert and the audience were so receptive and listened very attentively.
Half way through the first piece of the recital (Kiss on Wood), as Daniel was playing on the G string, both his A and D strings completely unravelled… So we had to stop the recital and spend the next minute re-tuning the violin! Thankfully the audience were very understanding and we started the piece again.

We had such a great time in Nairn and it was made extra special by staying with Joan and her husband. They told us many great stories and were so hospitable with everything. They also have the cutest black Labrador called Brodie. We were very sad to leave, but were excited to get on the road to play in Perth tonight. Daniel’s family were coming to watch, so we were really looking forward to this concert!

Thank you again to everyone who came to watch us in Nairn, we really appreciate it a lot!

Our hosts beautiful garden.

The view from our warm up room at the venue.
The hall we played in.

The adorable Brodie with Hanzhi.

 

Hello! We are the Stroud-Zhang Duo and we are very excited to be touring around the north of Scotland for the next few days!

Our first concert is in beautiful the Isle of Skye tonight. Yesterday we were travelling from London, so it a 12-hour trip up to Skye. We made our way to Gatwick, to catch the 13:30 flight up to Inverness. Our descent into Inverness was absolutely beautiful, with very dramatic and scenic landscapes.

We then had a couple of hours to explore a little bit of Inverness and the weather was absolutely beautiful, but very cold! Then we hopped on the CityLink at 17:45 for the final three-hour journey up to Skye. It was a shame it was dark outside on the bus, as I can imagine the landscape was unbelievable.

We finally arrived in Portree at around 21:00, where we were met by our wonderful host Angus. We arrived at his beautiful home, where he had prepared a very delicious dinner and dessert for us!

We’re looking forward to exploring more of Skye today. We are very excited for the concert tonight, and look forward to seeing you there!