Pitlochry debut

Posted by admin
30th June 2009 at 12:42 - 0 comments


Sunday night was the final night of our Highlands Tour, at Pitlochry Festival Theatre - a debut venue for the Orchestra. There's been a theatre on this site - nestled by the River Tummel - since the 1950s (originally a marquee) but the current theatre has been there in 1981.

(The talk of tents has reminded me that I meant to let you know that a few of our brass players had chosen to sleep under canvas on this tour - a good choice given the marvellously sunny weather!)

Anyway, back to Pitlochry... the theatre has an established programme of events, from musicals to plays, so it was great to be able to finally take the Orchestra there. The audience were not just from the local area - I spoke to several people who had travelled from as far as Edinburgh and Glasgow, many of them regular attenders at Pitlochry Festival Theatre events so it's obviously a popular venue. (It has a lovely gift shop by the way, and a cafe too, so worth stopping by if you're passing, even if there's nothing on to see!).

The band had a short rehearsal to familiarise themselves with the acoustic (on the dry side apparently) and then there was time to have a picnic dinner by the river, although the midges also joined us...!

We were delighted that representatives from the Misses Barrie Charitable Trust were able to attend the concert - they had helped fund the tour. At the interval, they were whisked out of the auditorium into the warren that is backstage and got the opportunity to meet the Maestro himself!

All in all, it's been a splendid tour and a lovely opportunity for everyone - players and audiences - to get to know Robin a little better before he returns as Principal Conductor for concerts in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and St Andrews in December.
Meanwhile, plenty more blogging to follow over the coming weeks as the SCO records its second volume of Mozart Symphonies with Sir Charles Mackerras, tours to the Western Isles (Strings) and Birnam, Oban and Crear (Wind and Brass), and performs at the BBC Proms on 31 July with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. We do hope you can join us again then.

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