Our fourth concert was at lunchtime in the beautiful Dunblane Cathedral. There was a group of students from Sterling recording us, which is great as we can listen back to it afterwards. We also performed a world premiere of a work written for us by James Moriaty. It’s called ‘Softly, Softly’ and is based on Roberta Flack’s song ‘Killing me softly’. This is our third commission and it was really interesting working with James and seeing the piece change over time. ‘Softly, Softly’ was inspired by popular song, in the same way the Arnold three shanties and the Ligeti Bagatelles were inspired by folk melodies. The audience loved the piece and it went down very well!
Ruth, who is part of the Dunblane Cathedral arts guild, saw in our biography that we liked ceilidhs and very kindly organised one for after the concert! There were some seasoned ceilidhs dancers in their kilts who showed us the steps and there was even some live music with bagpipes and everything. It was amazing to experience traditional Scottish music and in such a fantastic community setting.
We’re off to Perth tomorrow to play in st Johns Kirk.