Spring Concert March 27th, 2019
St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Palmerston Place, Edinburgh
PLEASE SWITCH OFF MOBILE PHONES St Mary’s Music School Trust Ltd is a charity, number SC014611 Registered in Scotland 54504
Welcome St Mary’s Music School has been offering a world-class standard of specialist music and academic education to musically gifted children since 1972, and to the choristers of St Mary’s Episcopalian Cathedral since 1880. Our core mission is to be able to support young talent, regardless of financial circumstance and, thanks to the Scottish Government Aided Places scheme, generous donations and our own fundraising activity, today we educate around 80 pupils age 9 to 19, who come from Scotland, the rest of the UK and abroad.
Instrumental education Young instrumentalists apply to study at St Mary’s Music School as boarders or day pupils with the only criteria for entry being their musical ability and potential. We embrace all kinds of musicmaking, including classical, jazz, traditional Scottish music and composition and we create an inspiring, inclusive and supportive environment in which our pupils flourish. They learn and develop their skills through the passion and dedication of our extraordinary teachers, our focus on the journey of each and every child, the plethora of performance opportunities and masterclasses they get involved in, and their access to the astounding cultural resource that is Edinburgh. Our academic results too are outstanding, (made more so by the fact we are not academically selective), and it is no surprise that our pupils go on to do great things. The majority choose to apply for further study at a conservatoire, others opt for music as a university degree and some choose a different educational pathway. Today our alumni can be found with international orchestras, forging an independent pathway in jazz or contemporary music, or as teachers in their own right. Whatever career path they choose, we are delighted by the fact that former St Mary’s Music School pupils are performing at the very highest level and actively contributing to the musical community throughout the world.
A choral tradition Meanwhile as the Choir School of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, our five year chorister programme welcomes children from age nine (primary 5) and provides a superb choral and academic education. These pupils are all supported through Bursaries from either the Cathedral or Scottish Government and the calibre of their singing needs no further endorsement than their celebrated recordings with Delphian Records, (an all Leighton project took place earlier this month), and the choir’s regular association with BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.
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Music for all Every Friday and Saturday we are busy with choirs and music classes that are open to children from age 4 to 12. For these children too, financial support is available. This year we mark the very special occasion of the fortieth anniversary of Saturday Music Classes, a non-selective Edinburgh institution that has seen thousands of children through its doors. It is apt that to mark our anniversary, we have expanded to offer Friday Choirs so that we can make our teaching available to even more primary age children to help inspire and develop a love of music. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Saturday Music Classes team who have worked so hard to make this possible. We reach out actively to the wider community and our pupils regularly perform for charities and in local schools. This term the new ‘String Academy’ in partnership with Scottish Chamber Orchestra has welcomed 50 young people from Edinburgh and beyond over three Sunday afternoons to rehearse and play alongside SCO musicians.
An exciting future In short, St Mary’s Music School is alive with potential, ability, aspiration and the energy and enthusiasm that the heady combination of music and young people provide. It is a school like no other and we are immensely proud of the fact we offer a musical foundation to exceptional children, irrespective of their background or financial circumstance. We hope to continue this long in the future and would like to thank each and every one of you for your help in making that happen. From buying a ticket for a concert through to your donations and contributions to our bursary funds, you play an invaluable part in the musical future of these young people and in the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s national music school, a small but vital jewel in our country’s cultural crown. Our ambitions for the future are bold but our core ethos of access to excellence for all is the same we very much hope you will stay and be part of our journey. Dr. Kenneth Taylor Headteacher
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Programme A Portrait of Purcell The Choristers of St Mary’s Cathedral
directed by Duncan Ferguson* and accompanied by Joseph Beech
Senior Baroque Ensemble
directed by Hilary Michael* with Libby Crabtree* soprano
Purcell Wind Ensemble
prepared by Fraser Kelman*
Junior Orchestra
directed by Anne Giles*
Junior Choir
directed by Susan Hamilton*
Senior Choir
directed by Paul Stubbings* Other than for annual sojourns to the King’s summer residence in Windsor, we are told that Purcell travelled no further than the square mile of his birth. Then, as now, London was one of the most cosmopolitan cities anywhere, and the whole of Europe was to descend on Purcell’s London, bringing multifarious cultural influences direct to his doorstep. Tonight’s programme is a snapshot both of Purcell’s genius and of his short career, a life which spanned but 36 years yet amassed an astonishing corpus of music, work that is at once fresh and daring, poignant and elegant, theatrical and wild. Our programme exactly follows the shape of that career, starting in the grand, public setting of Westminster Abbey, with the Senior Choir & Wind Ensemble in performance of some of Purcell’s finest Sacred Music, the Funeral Music for Queen Mary. We move to the Odes and Private Music written for the Royal Court, tonight sung and played by our Junior Instrumentalists and the Choristers of St Mary’s Cathedral. We explore Purcell’s remarkable contribution to the Theatre, in incidental music for Plays and Court Masques, including his sole venture into Opera - without which no Purcell Portrait would be complete - the extraordinary Lament from Dido & Aeneas, sung by Libby Crabtree, accompanied by our Senior Baroque Ensemble and led by Hilary Michael, whose enthusiasm for this great repertoire knows no bounds. Paul Stubbings, Director of Music
PART ONE Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary March - Funeral Sentences - Canzona Thou Knowest Lord, Hear my Prayer, O Lord
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PART TWO An Evening Hymn Fantazia upon One Note Sound the Trumpet (from ‘Come Ye Sons of Art’)
PART THREE The Fairy-Queen
First Music – Hornpipe – Second Music – Aire – Rondeau
Dido & Aeneas
Act I: Ah! Belinda Act III: Dido’s Lament
King Arthur
Fairest Isle – Chaconne
Rondeau (from ‘Abdelazer’) Curtain Tune on a Ground (from ‘Timon of Athens’) With thanks to Tom Hunter* for preparing the drum parts
10 MINUTE INTERVAL
Senior Orchestra
conducted by William Conway* Momo Ueda violin Winner of the 2019 Lord Clyde Memorial Prize for Performance
Saint-Saëns
Violin Concerto No 3 in B minor, Op 61 I. Allegro non troppo II. Andantino quasi allegretto III. Molto moderato e maestoso With thanks to Tom Wilson* for preparing the parts
*staff members
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Hilary Michael After three years at St Mary’s Music School studying with Claire Docherty, Scottish violinist Hilary Michael went to the Royal Academy of Music to study with Richard Deakin, from where she graduated in 2006 with a 1st class BMus (Hons). She then returned to the Academy for a two year Postgraduate Diploma in Historical Performance, studying the Baroque violin with Pavlo Beznosiuk. Whilst at the Royal Academy she won the Mica Comberti Bach Prize, performed Mendelssohn’s Concerto in D minor for Violin and Strings with the Becket Ensemble and David Watkin, led the RAM Baroque Ensemble and was the winner of the 2008 Early Music Prize. She was also a Leverhulme Chamber Music Fellow (with the group The Rare Theatricall) and was awarded one of the inaugural Leverhulme Orchestral Fellowships. For the past nine years Hilary has enjoyed a busy freelance career performing and recording all over the world with groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Avison Ensemble, the Gabvrieli Consort and Players, La Serenissima and the Dunedin Consort. Since 2016 Hilary has been a chamber music coach at St Mary’s Music School as well as teaching jazz and jazz violin. Hilary has recently both directed and toured with the Kellie Consort, a group set up by fellow St Mary’s Music School alumnus Tom Wilkinson as a training ensemble for college students and recent graduates who wish to explore the world of period instrument playing.
Libby Crabtree Libby Crabtree started her musical training at Cambridge where she sang in Clare Chapel choir. She has since specialised as a baroque soprano, singing with top London ensembles for 20 years, touring and recording as a solo artist. She also appeared and musically directed a long running West End musical for one year. She is an accomplished choral conductor and currently directs many choral societies and community choirs in Scotland. She runs day workshops, adjudicates music festivals, examines for the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music and has 10 years’ experience as Head of Music in an Edinburgh school.
William Conway William Conway is an internationally renowned conductor and cellist. On the podium, he is known for his conviction, clarity and intelligent musicianship, while his collaborations with Hebrides Ensemble, of whom he is the Artistic Director and co-founding member, have been praised for their fresh and inspirational approach to programming. His dedication to developing contemporary music has been recognised by an award from the Scottish Society of Composers for an outstanding contribution to new music. Born in Glasgow, Conway studied cello in Scotland and London before returning home to take the position of Principal Cello with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for ten years which he combined with his present post of Principal Cello with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, of which he is a founder member. As a conductor, he studied in Helsinki with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and was a finalist and prizewinner in the 1994 Leeds Conductors’ Competition. Since then, he has established himself as a versatile conductor in chamber, symphonic and operatic repertoire, with a host of major orchestras both at home and abroad. He is Music Director of Edinburgh Studio Opera and is Artistic Director and Head of Strings at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. He broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Linn Records, Unicorn-Kanchana and most recently Delphian Records in a series of highly successful recordings of music by Sir James MacMillan and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies which have reached no 1 and no 3 respectively in the classical music charts.
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Momo Ueda Momo Ueda is a Scottish-born violinist and an S5 pupil at St Mary’s Music School where she studies with Francis Cummings. She started playing the violin at four years old studying with Andrea Gajic and has attended St Mary’s Music School Saturday Music Classes and RCS Junior Conservatoire. She has participated and held principal positions in the Junior and Senior Orchestras of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and has been a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) since she was 14. Momo regularly tours Britain with NYO and played at the Proms in 2018. Momo has succeeded in many competitions around Scotland and also frequently performs in solo and chamber music settings.
Performers S6Ext S6 S5
Marie-Sophie Baumgartner Max Carsley Salvador Sanchez Greta Bommarito Euan Crawford-McKee Susanna Davis Lola Flexen Holly Hart Leo Kerr Stephanie Kozlowski Fraser Mason Alexander McDonald Raynor Nugent Stefan Piotrowicz Matilda Sacco Georgie Smith David Yip Jakub Zalewski Sam Addis Kimberley Archibald Phoebe Barber Eòsaph Caimbeul Antonio Carrascal Audrey Doyle Paul Kowal Paula Lopez-Atanet Finn Mannion Tallulah Molleson Sofia Ros González Momo Ueda Ruari Woodsend
S4
Layla Ballard Cooper Eve Boulos Alexander Boyd Bench Sophie Chin Benjamin Giblin Emilie Girard Pavlina Gusheva Lachlan Kennedy Sylvie Lawson Shakira Segalla-Humbert Cliodhna Scott
S3 S2 S1
Tereza Hrabova Rory Kemp Lydia Kirshenbaum Misha Ruzov Mattea Sacco Ellie Shek Oceane Taneus-Miller Deeksha Veiraiah
P7 P6 P5
Olivia Massimo Beata McGhee Sam McLaughlin Roshan Naren Milla Sajnaga Viktor Seifert Olivia Thrower Freddy Beeston Michelle Huang Dashiell Taneus-Miller Briana Bogani Diya Eddleston Katie Macleod Klara Seifert Jake Thomson
Isobel Barber John Hall Carlo Massimo Leo McDonald Beau Taneus-Miller Nora Trew-Rae Thomas Eddleston Finn Hart-Brown Connor Hill-Tibbs Alexander Kwon Terence O’Neill Hester Parkin Ben Robertson
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Connecting with children and families through a love of music
40 years of Saturday Music Classes 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of our Saturday Music Classes and the 10th anniversary of Eleanor Parker’s role as Saturday Music Class Coordinator. Eleanor is instrumental in ensuring that the young people and families who begin their weekend at St Mary’s Music School have a joyful experience from the moment they arrive through our gates.
“There’s such a super vibe on a Saturday. Yes, it’s about learning but it’s not like school. That’s the subtle difference that makes children laugh and smile for the whole morning. And families too!”
Q Are Saturday Music Classes open to
everyone?
A Absolutely. There are no auditions for places
and once a year we simply ask families to register and apply for the classes that their children are interested in taking. Then it’s our job to work out a timetable that suits everyone. There are no financial barriers either – we have bursaries available to help families who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to access music classes and we’d like to spread the word about that more, particularly given recent council cuts to music education. Just like any other school environment, we work alongside young people with learning disabilities and behavioural issues too – our approach is
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entirely centred around inclusion and accessibility. Around 150 young people attend one or more of our classes every Saturday and their families gather in the café downstairs – there’s such a buzz and a real feeling of a community connected through music.
Q What values do you aim to share through Saturday Music Classes?
A I firmly believe that music is key to nurturing
a healthy, happy child. The values that we foster are inclusion, diversity, enjoyment, learning and growth. Children come to us with an interest in music and it’s our job to nurture and grow that
interest through the highest quality tuition in an environment that’s committed, caring and supportive. It’s also about having fun. For me, Saturdays don’t feel like work at all – it’s the best job in the world and I’m so lucky to be in the position of providing such an incredible access to music education to so many young people.
Q Are pupils taught individually or in groups? A We have three big classes – Dalcroze, Kodály
and singing – and lots of smaller instrumental groups for everything from violin and recorder to the clarsach. Children are grouped with other children of a similar standard – it’s not always about age – and this both increases their confidence and allows them to learn from and through each other. Group tuition introduces young people to important life skills too – they have to learn to listen and to wait for their turn.
Q Children as young as four attend Saturday
Music Classes – what do they gain from this?
A Our youngest children can take part in
Dalcroze and Kodály classes. Dalcroze allows them to begin to get a feeling for music through movement, which is great for fine-tuning motor skills in their pre-school year as well as
encouraging them to listen, wait and respond as individuals and also as part of a class. In Kodály, through musical games, children learn how to use hand signs to represent pitch and learn to internalise the musical pulse and rhythmical patterns. Both Dalcroze and Kodály classes are offered to children in their final pre-school year while instrumental group tuition is offered from around eight years old.
Q If you had the space, what more could
you do?
A The building we’re currently in doesn’t leave
us any room to expand so our new choir classes, for example, now take place on a Friday in the Cathedral’s Song School. With more space, the world would be our oyster! We’d be able to offer more choirs, more group tuition and a bigger choice of instruments as well as one-to-one tuition. We want to grow our reach and ensure that as many people as possible know that if you’re a young person with an interest in music, then this is the place to be. More space would allow us to do that.
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Invest in a Musical Future You can help St Mary’s Music School play a pivotal role by helping us deliver the finest music and academic education to exceptional young instrumentalists and choristers. These young people go on to be the dynamic force of music making around the world, performing in orchestras, ensembles, jazz and contemporary groups and inspiring the next generation through teaching. The great majority of pupils at St Mary’s Music School benefit from means-tested bursaries, funded by the Scottish Government and through regular donations from our supporters. Last year 96% of our families received financial support for fees with 16% receiving 100% fee support. To ensure that the school is accessible to all musically talented young musicians, irrespective of financial means, please consider making a donation to the Bursary fund or becoming a Friend.
Leaving a Legacy to St Mary’s Music School Bequests and legacies have been instrumental in the development of St Mary’s Music School since its foundation. They have helped to provide bursaries, the purchase of instruments, support for masterclasses, and enabled the move in 1995 to our current campus on Grosvenor Crescent. If you believe in the importance of investing in St Mary’s Music School’s musical future and share our ethos of access to excellence, please consider a gift in your Will. For further information about ways to support St Mary’s Music School, please contact the Development Office on 0131 538 7766 or e-mail development@st-marys-music-school.co.uk Please follow the link to make an online donation: www.stmarysmusicschool.co.uk/support-us/
With thanks to our Supporters St Mary’s Music School is indebted to many generous individuals – alumni, parents, staff and our many donors – who help our pupils excel every day. In addition to our many Friends and other members, we wish to thank and acknowledge the following: Binks Trust Mrs A A Clutterbuck’s Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Hope Scott Trust Maclean Charitable Trust Penpont Trust The Plum Trust 10
Richard Douglas Charitable Trust Royal Over-Seas League Saints & Sinners Club Stevenston Charitable Trust William Syson Charitable Foundation Waddell Music Trust Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust
Celebrating our new piano St Mary’s Music school is delighted to welcome a brand new Steinway Model B Grand Piano to head up its fleet of pianos. To enable this purchase, over £100,000 was raised through a match-funded giving campaign organised by School Director Kat Heathcote and her husband Iain Macneil, Trustees of the Witherby Publishing Group Charitable Trust. The School extends its sincere thanks to all the donors for their contributions towards our new piano and for the additional income raised to support the School’s Bursary Fund. In early June a special fundraising event for the Bursary Fund will be held in the School Chapel where the new piano will play a leading part. If you are interested in attending in order to support the Bursary Fund, please contact the Development Office for more details.
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Study at St Mary’s Music School St Mary’s Music School is Scotland’s national music school and the Choir School of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. We accept applications from exceptional young musicians for day and boarding places.
Financial support up to 100% is available for eligible applicants.
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Our full time programmes include: Choral (age 9 to 12) Instrumental (age 9 to 19) Two/three year pre-conservatoire programme (age 16 to 19)
Free advisory auditions are available throughout the year. Contact: admissions@st-marys-music-school.co.uk
Friday Choirs and Saturday Music Classes - Age 4 to 12 and love music?
Join our Friday Choirs or Saturday Music Classes and enjoy the magic of music making in a fun and safe and caring environment. Means-tested financial assistance is available. Contact: smc@st-marys-music-school.co.uk
Dates for your diary 18th April 24th May
The Portfolio Pianist, including the Nigel Murray Masterclass. Five concert pianists perform and discuss their work. Be a Chorister Afternoon (P3 to P5)
27th May
Colin Currie Percussion Masterclass
6th June
Bursary Fund Concert
11th June
Amnesty International Jazz Concert
18th June
Directors’ Recital Prize
24th June
Summer Concert
To find out more visit www.stmarysmusicschool.co.uk/events or subscribe to our regular enews updates. Email comms@st-marys-music-school.co.uk St Mary’s Music School, Coates Hall, 25 Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL
www.stmarysmusicschool.co.uk St Mary’s Music School would like to thank Provost John Conway and the staff at St Mary’s Cathedral for allowing us to use their building for tonight’s concert.