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Side-by-Side 2011
RCS students with the Scottish Ensemble
In February 2011 a number of exceptional young musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD) joined the Ensemble for five performances. 
The students performed 'Side-by-Side' with the 12 musicians of the Scottish Ensemble in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Inverness and Perth to great acclaim. 

Build A Gig
A concert based project, Build A Gig shares the entire process of promoting a concert with school students, from programme planning to marketing, design and stage management. The project is tailored to schools' individual requirements and can also involve masterclasses and composition workshops, culminating in a shared concert with members of the Scottish Ensemble.

Dreamfighter 2009
Composer, Tim Sutton was commissioned by Scottish Ensemble and Lichfield Festival to create music for young people based on Ted Hughes' stories 'The Dreamfighter and other creation tales'.

Ted Hughes' short stories are playful, subversive and fizzing with movement, sound and light. 'Dreamfighter' presents provocative perspectives on how the natural world came to be. As god and his mother hammer away in their workshop, the bustle, moods and colour of god's new creations will be performed by the 12 players of the Scottish Ensemble. A children's choir sing the songs of these bewildered creatures as they lope, mope, scurry, wing and rage, struggling to be born.

Première concerts of the new work, performed by Scottish Ensemble and Taplow Choir, took place at Lichfield and Aberdeen International Youth Festivals Festival in 2009, presented by Hannah Conway.

Quicksilver - Feb 2009
with Colin Currie, percussionist 

A concert in two parts
now you hear me, now you don't was specially written for the Scottish Ensemble and percussionist, Colin Currie, for the giant five octave marimba and the 12 players of the Scottish Ensemble, by Austrian composer Kurt Schwertsik.

At the end of the first half of the concert, young people took part in a workshop backstage with Colin and friends, exploring the musical ideas they had heard in the first half. The workshop was free to all ticket holders and a group of 35 young people took up the opportunity to make music with Colin Currie, Iain Sandilands and students from the RSAMD.

This project was kindly supported by the Scottish Arts Council and The Commonweal Fund.

Get Close to the Music - Dec 2008 with Thea Musgrave
Get Close to the Music featured composer Thea Musgrave working with the Scottish Ensemble in rehearsal of her newly commissioned piece Green.This was an opportunity to watch a new piece being put together for the first time and to hear from the composer herself in advance of the world premiere tour.

Get Close to the Music with Thea Musgrave was kindly supported by the Friends of the Scottish Ensemble.

Get Close to the Music - Nov  2008 with Pekka Kuusisto
Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow

In November, there was a rare opportunity to experience the musicians in rehearsal in the intimate setting of the Ensemble's Glasgow base, CCA, as they rehearsed with violin superstar Pekka Kuusisto.

November 2008 Tour activities
with young musicians

We were delighted to join Highland Council's annual 'Cello and Bass Day' in November. Our two cellists, Alison Lawrance and Naomi Boole-Masterson, spent the day with young cello and bass players and their teachers from across Highland Council. The day featured instrumental coaching and rehearsing, plus a recital and masterclass - finishing off with a grand finale performance.

Scottish Ensemble Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton, also visited St Mary's School of Music during the tour to share his knowledge on string ensemble playing, focusing on Rautavaara's The Fiddlers. This collaborative approach provided students with the opportunity to hear the pieces performed at the Queen's Hall by the Scottish Ensemble and Pekka Kuusisto.

October  2008 Tour activities
featuring Alison Balsom, trumpet, and Alasdair Beatson, piano

During October's ‘Red' tour, music students from Dornoch Academy in Sutherland traveled to Glasgow for a weekend of cultural activities, attending a range of concerts and also working with Scottish Ensemble musicians. A coaching session with Fiona Winning (viola) and Naomi Boole-Masterson (cello) focused on the skills and techniques involved in playing as a small chamber group: listening, eye contact, following the leader's cues and communication.

We also developied our partnership with the Aberdeen City Music School, whose students often come to our concerts. Cheryl Crockett (violin) and Alison Lawrance (cello) spent a day coaching these talented young musicians, helping them work through some Baroque string repertoire and also on developing their chamber music performance skills.


Carnival!
In partnership with Artlink Central

Carnival! 2008 was specially designed to give adults with special needs opportunities for self-expression and empowerment through creative music work, while developing core and life skills and supporting lifelong learning.

Joanne Green, Diane Clark and Iain Sandilands   (Scottish Ensemble musicians) and animateur, Paul Rissmann, spent an intensive week with the Artlink Central Music Group, facilitating song-writing and composition workshops and learning Paul's new pieces featuring animals that Saint-Saens had left out of his original Carnival of the Animals score: Brown Bear, Zebra, Wallaby, Ostrich, Camel and The Meerkats. 

The final performance of the work took place (appropriately) at Blair Drummond Safari Park.

This project was supported by The Radcliffe Trust and The Robertson Trust.