Blog

Marketing and Communications Officer Sheena Macrae joined the Wind and Brass players in Boat of Garten, Strontian and Tobermory on 22-24 July.

The programme of music was Weber’s Overtures to Euryanthe and Der Freischütz, Haydn’s London Trio, Beethoven’s Rondino, Mendelssohn’s Notturno and Françaix’s Seven Dances from Les Malheurs de Sophie.

Touring with the Orchestra, whether with all 37 musicians or a smaller ensemble like the 13-strong wind and brass group, is always a different experience to our main season of concerts during the winter months.  It’s a real case of multi-tasking – from stage and box office management, to front of house duties and programme and CD selling.

Accompanied by Orchestra Librarian Michael Ferguson, our first stop was in the picturesque village of Boat of Garten, complete with its very own steam train.

The community hall, opened in 2007, was our venue for the evening, so we quickly got to work setting up before the players arrived and the rehearsal started.

Boat of Garten Community Hall

Chairs, lights, music stands and even stands to rest instruments on, like bassoons, all had to be carefully put in place. This job would normally be relatively straightforward, with our trusted Stage Manager Ronnie Herd in charge, but on this tour it was down to Michael and myself. It was all the more challenging because these concerts included six different pieces of music, which each call for a different combination of instruments, and therefore require six very different seating configurations.

Michael’s seating plan shows the instrumentation and
set up needed for Beethoven’s Rondino. These plans proved
vital during the performances

The volunteers from the Osprey Music Society, who co-promoted the concert, ran the sell out performance with military precision – right down to the marshalls in high visability vests in the car park!

It was a great start to the tour – and the sun stayed out the entire time. The only thing missing was a glimpse of the red squirrels which we had been told to look out for in the area.

An early start the next day for a long drive to Strontian on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, took us through some stunning scenery.

The Laggan Dam

And reservoir

The journey included a ten minute sail on the Corran ferry across Loch Linnhe to Ardgour, and Michael and I managed a bit of celebrity spotting on the way, as author Alexander McCall Smith was also onboard.

All aboard the Corran Ferry

The Sunart Centre in Strontian, our venue for the second performance, is a multi-purpose site, which is also home to Ardnamurchan High School and Library. Thankfully it was well sign-posted, as it is right on the edge of Strontian. One of the claims to fame of the village is that it gave its name to the chemical element Strontium, as visitors were told as they passed the village sign!

Ardnamurchan High School, Library and the Sunart Centre

Unlike the full orchestra or the SCO Strings, the Wind and Brass ensemble perform without a leader or conductor. The players agreed that trust is paramount in this situation, but they also know instinctively who to follow. Therefore the leader in each piece is usually the one who has most to play, so rehearsals are very important.

Flautists Alison Mitchell and Lis Dooner and bassoonist Peter
Whelan rehearse Haydn's London Trio...

...before the other players joined them to rehearse in
Strontian's Sunart Centre.

The warm welcome from the audience was appreciated and the players were delighted that a familiar face was in the crowd.  Former clarinet player Ruth Ellis supported her old colleagues and was kind enough to entertain us all after the concert – while we watched the sun set over Loch Sunart.

Loch Sunart

Sadly the good weather didn’t last, and the skies opened for our journey to the Mull ferry. We had been warned that the road from Strontian to Kilchoan was a little twisty, but even we weren’t prepared for just how narrow a stretch of road it was.

But we made it, and took the ferry across to Tobermory for our final performance.

The view across to Mull

The Aros Hall

The Aros Hall, right in the middle of the Main Street, initially provided a few technical problems, ie. an electrical fault, but thanks to the quick thinking of the volunteers from the hall all was not lost!

And the staff from the An Tobar arts venue pulled out all the stops to help make the concert a real success. The audience who packed into the hall didn’t even seem to mind about the over sensitive fire alarm which went off during the interval. Thankfully it was a false alarm.

A happy tour indeed, with great music, lovely audiences and venue staff and unrivalled scenery!

Tobermory

Photos © Sheena Macrae