29 March 2026
Celebrating the diversity and dedication of everyone who has taken part in our Craigmillar Residency
Tapestry A showcase of the SCO's five-year Craigmillar residency
Sunday 29 March, 3pm The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
FIRST HALF
DIGITAL ORCHESTRA YOUTH (A DRAKE MUSIC SCOTLAND INITIATIVE)
Carol of the Air (original piece by Digital Orchestra Youth)
Craigmillar Cannons – Ben Lunn
CASTLEBRAE VOICES AND SALLY JAQUET
Something inside so strong – Labi Siffre
Somewhere only we know – Keane
You’re all I need to get by – Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
When you were born – traditional Navajo prayer, arranged by Jody Healy
SEEN AND HEARD ENSEMBLE
Darroch the Giant, music by Jay Capperauld and the Seen and Heard ensemble, film by Karolina Gluseic
CRAIGMILLAR VOICES AND MOIRA MORRISON
Put Your Roots Down – Molly Hartwell
This Is Home – Sophia Efthimiou
Travel These Ways – Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan
RHONA SMITH AND SU-A LEE (IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DRAKE MUSIC SCOTLAND)
Bridge Over Little Stream – Rhona Smith
Interval of 20 minutes
SECOND HALF
TAPESTRY
Curated by Jay Capperauld.
Music by Jay Capperauld, Moira Morrison and Craigmillar community members
Film by Karolina Glusiec
4 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh EH7 5AB
+44 (0)131 557 6800 | info@sco.org.uk | sco.org.uk
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is a charity registered in Scotland No. SC015039. Company registration No. SC075079.
Tapestry A showcase of the SCO's five-year Craigmillar residency
Marking the end of our Craigmillar Residency, Tapestry brings together voices, stories and music woven over five years of creative collaboration in the Craigmillar community. This concert celebrates the depth, diversity and dedication of everyone who has taken part in our residency, marking both a culmination and a moment of reflection.
Through performances shaped by local community members, SCO musicians and creative partners, Tapestry honours the relationships built, the talents nurtured
and the shared experiences that have defined this journey. Each contribution forms part of a larger whole – a musical tapestry that commemorates our time in Craigmillar and the community at its heart.
The first half of the programme is a vibrant showcase of talent from across the Craigmillar community. Performances by our SCO groups – Craigmillar Voices, Seen and Heard, and Castlebrae Voices – sit alongside two exciting contributions created with our collaborators and
friends, Drake Music Scotland. Together, these performances celebrate diversity, collaboration and the many voices shaping music-making in Craigmillar today.
The second half of the concert presents Tapestry, a newly created, throughcomposed work curated by SCO Associate Composer Jay Capperauld. The piece weaves together newly written songs by Craigmillar Voices choir leader Moira Morrison and the Craigmillar Voices’ members, alongside other new work by the Seen and Heard Ensemble and Jay Capperauld, with many arrangements created especially for this performance by Capperauld.
These contemporary voices are interlaced with songs drawn from Craigmillar’s rich arts heritage - including music associated with the long-running Craigmillar Festival – creating a continuous musical journey that connects past and present. Together, these strands form a living tapestry of place, memory and creativity, celebrating the community’s cultural legacy while looking firmly to the future.
© Stuart Armitt
SCO in Craigmillar: Residency Overview
Over five years, the SCO’s residency in Craigmillar has worked across generations, settings and art forms, placing music at the heart of community life. From classrooms to care settings, the Residency has focused on access, participation and long-term relationships, creating opportunities for the people of Craigmillar to make, experience and shape music together.
PROGRAMME
Primary Schools Programme
We delivered regular in-class workshops across local primary schools during each year of our residency, giving children access to high-quality music education and live classical music. Sessions focused on core musicianship skills, including rhythm, pulse and melody, while encouraging creativity and composition, offering meaningful early encounters with music-making for all pupils.
Castlebrae Voices
Castlebrae Voices supports pupils’ wellbeing through structured singing and vocal development. The programme helps pupils from Castlebrae Community Campus build confidence and self-esteem while participating in a positive, inclusive musical environment. Pupils perform regularly in annual school concerts and have represented the school at notable public occasions, including a celebration at the Scottish Parliament for the SCO’s 50th anniversary.
Developed by Sally Jaquet in partnership with Castlebrae Community Campus
All photos © Stuart Armitt
ReConnect
ReConnect is a programme of interactive music workshops for people living with a dementia, delivered in partnership with Caring in Craigmillar. Weekly sessions invite participants to sing, play instruments, improvise and listen, using music to connect, communicate and support wellbeing.
Led by specialist workshop leaders and SCO musicians, ReConnect encourages participation, collaboration and creativity, while also supporting care staff and family members.
Seen and Heard
Seen and Heard is a crossartform music and arts project led by SCO Associate Composer Jay Capperauld and visual artist Karolina Glusiec. Bringing together music, visual art and film, the project supports participants to explore creativity and selfexpression by developing their own responses through sound and image. Across the sessions, group members shape creative decisions, build artistic and musical skills, and bring their work to life through visual art, film and performance, including their own percussion compositions, supported by SCO musicians Sua Lee and Jamie Kenny. The project also embeds the SCO’s Associate Composer within the community, supporting the creation of new work rooted in place, experience and collaboration.
Delivered by Jay Capperauld, Karolina Glusiec in partnership with Craigmillar Now Arts and Heritage Centre
Craigmillar Voices
Craigmillar Voices is a vocal project for local adults, using singing to connect people, stories and generations. Drawing on the songs and histories of the Craigmillar community, participants create new music together while enjoying shared group singing. The group promotes inclusivity, wellbeing and inter-generational exchange, offering a welcoming space where every voice is heard, valued and celebrated.
Delivered by Moira Morrison
photos © Stuart Armitt
What You Are About To Hear
DIGITAL ORCHESTRA YOUTH
(A DRAKE MUSIC SCOTLAND INITIATIVE)
Carol of the Air – Digital Orchestra Youth Craigmillar Cannons – Ben Lunn
Digital Orchestra Edinburgh is part of Drake Music Scotland’s Digital Orchestra Youth programme, which supports disabled young people to explore their musical potential, learn digital instruments, build friendships, and achieve personal and creative goals. The group provides a safe, enjoyable and inclusive space for young people as they transition from school into adult life, using a mix of conventional instruments and accessible technologies, including Figurenotes notation.
Based at Castlebrae School in Craigmillar, Digital Orchestra Edinburgh launched in 2023 and has already performed for a range of audiences. Today’s programme includes Carol of the Air, an original arrangement created by the group, and Craigmillar Canons by Ben Lunn.
Carol of the Air is a semiimprovised winter piece that brings together ideas from Carol of the Bells and Walking in the Air, reimagined through the group’s own distinctive sound world.
Craigmillar Canons was commissioned by Drake Music Scotland in 2024 as part of a series by disabled composers for the Digital Orchestra Youth programme. The work features four movements, of which a selection will be performed today.
CASTLEBRAE VOICES AND SALLY JAQUET
Something inside so strong – Labi Siffre Somewhere only we know – Keane
You’re all I need to get by – Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
When you were born – traditional Navajo prayer, arranged by Jody Healy
For this performance, Castlebrae Voices present a selection of their favourite songs, chosen collectively by the group. Spanning soul, pop and traditional music, the programme reflects shared themes of strength, hope, connection and belonging. From the quiet resilience of Something Inside So Strong and the intimacy of Somewhere Only We Know, to the warmth of You’re All I Need to Get By and the reflective beauty of When You Were Born, these songs speak powerfully to the singers’ own experiences and sense of community.
SEEN AND HEARD ENSEMBLE
Darroch the Giant, music by Jay Capperauld and the Seen and Heard ensemble, film by Karolina Gluseic. ___
Darroch the Giant is a music and film project inspired by the Craigmillar Gulliver sculpture from the 1970s. The work tells the story of a giant called Darroch, awakened from the Craigmillar mines by the local community. Initially viewed with fear as an outsider, Darroch is gradually welcomed as the community discovers a shared love of music. Through this story, the piece explores themes of belonging, openness and the power of music to bring people together.
In fond memory of Margaret Nelson, valued member of our Seen and Heard community.
CRAIGMILLAR VOICES AND MOIRA MORRISON
Put Your Roots Down – Molly Hartwell
A powerful and grounding song that invites us to slow down, feel the earth beneath our feet, and listen more deeply - to ourselves, to one another, and to the world around us.
This Is Home – Sophia Efthimiou
Rather than describing a physical place, this song explores how singing can bring us back to ourselves. Through breath, heart and voice, it reflects the way music creates an inner sense of home and belonging.
Travel These Ways – Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan
Written in 2020 for Luminate’s Dementia
Singing Inclusion Network, this uplifting and memorable song emerged from a time of isolation. With clear, evocative imagery, it offers reassurance, connection and a sense of travelling together - echoing the shared journey of the choir and the support found through singing.
RHONA SMITH AND SU-A LEE
(IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DRAKE MUSIC SCOTLAND)
Bridge Over Little Stream – Rhona Smith
Rhona Smith is a composer and electronic harpist with cerebral palsy. Her love of traditional music grew from family holidays in the Shetland Islands, where she could often be found ceilidh
dancing in her wheelchair in local halls. These experiences sparked a desire to play a traditional instrument, and after meeting harpist Catrina McKay, Rhona developed a lasting passion for the harp. She performs using a combination of software, including Ableton Live and Presonus Notion, alongside hardware switches, and composes her music with support from Ali Gillies.
Bridge over Little Stream began its development following Rhona’s performance of her piece Shetland Journey with Mr McFall’s Chamber at the Distil Showcase in 2017. After this performance, Hands Up for Trad invited her to create a new duet with cellist Sua Lee. The development of the work has since been supported by Drake Music Scotland and Hands Up for Trad.
Although Bridge over Little Stream was originally inspired by the Scottish Highlands and its wildlife and landscapes, the title emerged later as the piece evolved. Rhona began to imagine herself standing on a wooden bridge, listening to the sound of water flowing below as nature awakens around her, and looking out across the dramatic Highland peaks. This sense of place and atmosphere is reflected in the music.
© Simon Thoumire
Rhona Smith and Su-a Lee – Bridge Over Little Stream Recording
TAPESTRY
Curated by Jay Capperauld.
Music by Jay Capperauld, Moira Morrison and Craigmillar community members
Film by Karolina Glusiec.
Tapestry is a piece for music and film inspired by the artwork and music that has been created throughout the SCO’s Craigmillar residency. The piece explores colour, texture and movement as well as the personal and creative connections that people have explored during their five years with Seen and Heard.
Tapestry is kindly supported by the Cockaigne Fund, Cruden Foundation, Daphne Hamiton Charitable Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, HR Creswick Charitable Trust, Plum Trust, and Mrs Rowena Goffin’s Charitable Trust.
CRAIGMILLAR NOW
Words and music by Douglas Galbraith
Craigmillar Now was written as part of the work of the Craigmillar Festival Society, a pioneering community arts organisation based in Craigmillar, Edinburgh, in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Society brought together local residents and artists to create songs, theatre and festivals that gave voice to the area’s concerns and aspirations, using art as a way to campaign for social change and community pride.
The song is both a call to action and a statement of hope. Its lyrics demand decent housing, equal opportunities for children and parents, meaningful work, and shared spaces where people can learn, play and live together. Repeating the idea of Craigmillar as a “fine place to be,” the song imagines a future built on solidarity, dignity and neighbourliness, insisting that real change must happen in the present - Craigmillar Now.
SONG CYCLE: THE STORM; HOPEFUL SNOWDROPS; LIGHT RETURNING
Words and music by Moira Morrison and Craigmillar Voices
A trio of songs exploring our creativity and connection with the natural world.
The Storm was written during the dark winter months of early 2024, when Scotland was battered by successive storms and many felt similarly unsettled by events beyond the safety of choir rehearsals. The music reflects the challenge of staying steady amid uncertainty, the instinct to shut out the noise, and the determination to hold onto one another and to hope.
Hopeful Snowdrops celebrates the arrival of spring and the gradual lifting of winter’s
Moira Morrison
© Stuart Armitt
weight, capturing moments of joy and renewal as life begins to stir again.
Light Returning, the earliest of the three, was written in 2022 as we emerged from the lockdowns and restrictions of the COVID19 pandemic. It reflects the sense of elation and lightness that came with being able to sing together once more.
Together, these songs trace a journey from darkness to light, guided by nature and the shared experience of singing. They reflect how reconnecting with the natural world — and with one another — brings us back to ourselves, echoing the choir’s own journey.
SCHIEHALLION!
By Jay Capperauld
Schiehallion! takes its title from Edwin Morgan’s poem Caledonia, in which a
playful collage of Scottish placenames forms a surreal, celebratory language of its own. In the poem’s final line, the question “and what was the toast?” is answered with a joyful cry of “Schiehallion! Schiehallion! Schiehallion!” – a reference to the phrase “of the Caledonians.”
This vibrant new showpiece for strings was commissioned by His Majesty King Charles III for the Honours of Scotland Ceremony at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, in 2023. The King selected three traditional Scottish tunes with personal resonance – Dark Lochnagar, Bovaglie’s Plaid and The Flowers of Edinburgh – which form the musical foundation of the work. Together, they create an upbeat and celebratory piece that draws on Scotland’s musical vernacular, offering a spirited toast from – and “of” – the Caledonians.
WHEN PEOPLE PLAY THEIR PART
Words and music by Douglas Galbraith arr.Capperauld
Is another song from the Craigmillar Festival Society, reflecting on moments of disappointment and uncertainty in a world that can often feel overwhelming. It acknowledges how easily people can be worn down by troubling news, broken promises, and the sense that hopes for dignity and freedom slip away just as they come into view.
At its heart, however, the song is quietly optimistic. Listening for “a whisper in the wind,” it finds signs of communities coming together, discovering better ways of living, and creating spaces to celebrate through festivals and shared activity. Rather than waiting for change to come from elsewhere, the song places its hope in everyday people working together, reminding us that lasting renewal begins when people play their part.
Jay Capperauld
© Euan Robertson
All photos © Stuart Armitt
All photos © Stuart Armitt
PERFORMERS
Castlebrae Voices
Information correct at the time of going to print
Sally Jaquet (choir leader)
Esther Bosoka Bolopa
Kiki Catrell
Nathan Fisher
Fatoumata Jawara
Lennon McCurdy
Cody McMillan
Logan Munro
Zac Nedumpully
Johnny Nagy
Dara Omoya
Hussain Rizwan
Ida Secka
Louise Stoddart
Tamsin StewartJones
Olivia Turner
Jay Jay Wallace
Finlay Murray
School Teachers
Sarah Duncan
Sarah Kalvik
Kayleigh MacDonald
Ben Talbot
Craigmillar Voices
Moira Morrison (choir leader)
Rachel Munro (musician)
Sarah Lake (accompanist)
John Arthur
Roberta Bree
Moira Crichton
Frankie Dunn
Dip
Kirsty Hastings
Anne Hood
Anne Jack
June F Jamieson
Lauren King
Katherine Lake
Wallace Lindsay
Maria Lisi
Laura McNamee
Sandy Matheson
Fiona Nelson
Georgina Nankiwell
Phyllis Ross
Rose Ritchie
Blair Ritchie
Lavina Rodger
Jim Riley
Frank Smith
Seen and Heard Ensemble:
Maureen Baker
Julie Berman
Jim Dalgety
Deirdre Everett
Ali Grant
John Gordon
Asma Khalid
Kirsty Hastings
Margaret Ozturk
Heather Potten
Jim Riley
Rose Ritchie
Marjorie Shepherd
Frank Smith
Marjory Taylor
Muriel Wilkinson
Liz Wilson
Laura McNamee
Lavina Rodger
Fiona Nelson
SCO String Ensemble:
Jessica Beeston
Gordon Bragg
Jamie Kenny
Sua Lee
Aisling O’Dea
Violin Student
Dara Omoya
Harp
Ruth MacKay
THANK YOU
We are hugely appreciative to the following partners who have worked alongside the SCO throughout the Craigmillar Residency, supporting its delivery, impact and connection with the local community.
Brunstane Primary School
Caring in Craigmillar
Castlebrae Community Campus
Castleview Primary School
Connecting Craigmillar
Craigmillar Now Arts and Heritage Centre
Drake Music Scotland
Greengables Nursery
Newcraighall Primary School
Niddrie Mill Primary School
Queen Margaret University
Richmond Craigmillar Church
Thistle Foundation
We are extremely grateful to the following funders who have supported SCO in Craigmillar over the course of the Residency, and those who wish to remain anonymous.
Borletti-Buitoni Trust
Cockaigne Fund
Creative Scotland’s Youth Arts Access Fund
Cruden Foundation
D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust
Daphne Hamilton Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
Geraldine Kirkpatrick Charitable Trust
HR Creswick Charitable Trust
Jean Fraser Charitable Trust
Misses Barrie Charitable Trust
Mrs Rowena Goffin's Charitable Trust
Nancie Massey Charitable Trust
PF Charitable Trust
Plum Trust
Scops Arts Trust
Stevenston Charitable Trust
Walter Scott Giving Group
SCO NEW MUSIC FUND
Shape the Sound of the Future
Make a donation between 12 February and 30 March and double the impact of your gift.
SCO Associate Composer Jay Capperauld
On Thursday 12 February, we’re launching the SCO New Music Fund to support new commissions and talented composers. Every £1 will be doubled but only until Monday 30 March. Donations will be matched up to £30,000, meaning your gift goes twice as far. Together, we can help shape the sound of the future.
Thank you for your support! SCAN ME To donate and find out more.
Top photo ©Stuart Armit | Photo of Jay ©Euan Robertson