Travel Day

We have arrived in Dumfries last night, the first stop of our tour! There was the unique blend of mist and drizzle in the air (we learnt a new word, ‘mizzle’) but other than that we were treated to an exceptionally mild Scottish evening for this time of the year. We kick things off with an afternoon workshop for the local school children and then we will get ready for our evening recital.

We are thrilled about the music we will share with the audiences on this tour. Works by the genius Mendelssohn siblings, Fanny and Felix in the first half, and our favourite Shostakovich quartet in the second half. Felix’s connections with Scotland and love for its exceptional beauty are known far and wide, and we’re excited to see what happens for us when we bring his music to this wonderful country many years later. We also have a very personal connection with Scotland and the Shostakovich’s 3rd quartet, we played this piece on the Isle of Coll in 2021 in what was our first performance to a live audience since the start of the pandemic.

We are excited about playing this programme at the unique venue that is Moat Brae House, the birth place of Peter Pan!

12 February 2024

Scholfield-Clarke Duo – Helensburgh Music Society, 11th February 2024

The final day of our the Tunnell Trust tour started out in Ayrshire, with a leisurely drive back to Glasgow for a few hours rest in the afternoon before heading to our last venue in Helensburgh. After such positive experiences at Inverurie Music and Ayr Music Club, we were excited to give the final rendition of our ‘Red, White and Blue’ programme for Helensburgh Music Society!

Our final venue was Helensburgh United Reformed Church, a beautiful space with truly excellent acoustics – and a very pleasant sounding Yamaha grand piano. The space was tied together by the grand facade of the organ behind us – sadly no longer in use, but giving quite the backdrop to the performance.

Iain got acquainted with the instrument quickly, and we put the finishing touches on some of our repertoire before taking a break before the concert. We were provided with some excellent sandwiches and cake to keep us going, which didn’t last long enough to get a picture! We’re grateful to Alan, a member of the society’s committee, for taking some snaps of us as we rehearsed in this space – here we were working on the brand new work in our programme, written specially to be premiered on this tour by composer John De Simone – ‘Another Life’.

We had a smashing time with this final performance, going out on a high after a very successful tour! We’re very thankful to Tunnell Trust for their support in organising the three concerts we’ve given this weekend, giving us a wonderful opportunity to reach new audiences with our music, and introduce them to the exciting repertoire of the saxophone. Thanks to all of our hosts and the teams behind each music club for their work in putting on these events, and for looking after us so well with their generous hospitality, it has been an absolute pleasure!

After a combined total of six performances in Arran, Glasgow, Auchterarder, Inverurie, Ayr and Helensburgh, we are definitely ready for a bit of a breather! However, we’re looking forward to future projects, and delighted to have been given this boost by the Tunnell Trust. It’s goodbye from us for now, but wee hope to see you at one of our concerts soon!

11 February 2024

Scholfield-Clarke Duo – Ayr Music Club, 10th February 2024

Another fantastic day touring yesterday, starting with the train ride back down from Inverurie – accompanied by huge numbers of rugby fans on their way to the six nations at Murrayfield! Four (somewhat lively) trains later, we found ourselves back in Glasgow for a short rest before the drive down to Alloway for our evening concert with Ayr Music Club.

Our venue for the evening was Alloway Parish Church Halls, an intimate space set up with tables – cabaret style! As we warmed up in the space there were some beautiful skies over Ayr and Alloway, much better than the sleet and snow we had up north on Friday! Later on after the concert the sky was extremely clear, and once we got back to our digs for the evening we got a chance to see the sky lit up with stars (sadly very difficult to photograph!).

After rehearsal we were treated to some more delicious food from a local hotel, and had a chance to rest before getting ready for the second performance of the weekend.

We had another very enjoyable concert together sharing our ‘Red, White and Blue’ programme with the local crowd, and speaking to Ayr Music Club members. We were privileged to be their first classical saxophone feature, and it was great to be able to introduce them to lots of new and exciting repertoire – we had many comments from listeners about the surprising versatility of the saxophone!

We are looking forward to our third Tunnell Trust sponsored performance tonight in Helensburgh, our sixth and final concert of the ‘Red, White and Blue’ tour!

10 February 2024

Scholfield-Clarke Duo – Inverurie Music, 9th February 2024

Hello! We’re the Scholfield-Clarke Duo, and we’ve just started our Tunnell Trust sponsored tour in the lovely Scottish town of Inverurie! We’ve got another two concerts this weekend in Ayr and Helensburgh, and we’re bringing along our ‘red, white and blue’ programme of original saxophone repertoire from France, Britain and America, taking audiences on a journey through the life of the classical saxophone over the last 100 years.

We started our day in Glasgow, jumping on a train up to Aberdeen – typical Scottish weather on the journey (although thankfully the snow held off at least!), with some amazing views of the very wild North Sea out of the window as we made our way up the coast.

Once we got to Inverurie we were met by the lovely Sylvia, who showed us around the local area before our rehearsal in the afternoon. Our venue for the evening was Inverurie Town Hall, a grand Victorian building at the centre of the town with a splendid Schimmel baby grand which Iain quickly got acquainted with!

After our rehearsal, we were treated to a delicious curry at a local restaurant, joined by music club members Margaret and Roy, along with composer John De Simone and his wife Emily.

After that it was time to get ready for the performance, and begin our exploration of the saxophone’s amazingly rich and varied original repertoire! We thoroughly enjoyed the concert, and were delighted with how receptive and invested the audience were in all of the new music we introduced them to.

A highlight of the programme was a brand new work written for us by composer John De Simone entitled ‘Another Life’. Working on this piece has been an amazing experience for us as it’s our first premier together as a duo, and it was very exciting to premier it last night – especially with the composer, who happens to be on the board of Inverurie Music, present at the performance! John also happens to be a former teacher of us both from our time at the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, so it was such a nice experience to reconnect and work together in a professional capacity on this new piece.