The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Music to get us all into the spirit of the season
For a taste of seasonal almost-normality throughout December this year, the big Christmas-flavoured musical concerts of the season on Tayside are the operatic and orchestral shows, most of which are family-friendly events.
The big one is the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Christmas Concert (Caird Hall, Dundee, Friday 17th), in which the film of Raymond Brigg’s The Snowman is brought to life by narration from actor Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered, Mock the Week), the conducting of the BBC Symphony Chorus’ director Neil Ferris, and the voices of RSNO youth groups the Junior Chorus and Changing Voices.
Another big seasonal production is Scottish Opera’s Puccini Collection (Caird Hall, Dundee, Sunday 12th), which aims to take audiences around the world with a selection from the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s works, including La Bohème, Tosca and Turandot, with various singers conducted by Stuart Stratford.
A seasonal classic, meanwhile, is Georg Frideric Handel’s Messiah (Perth Concert Hall, Thursday 16th), which the Dunedin Concert, under conductor John Butt, bring back with an efficient ensemble of 12 singers and 15 musicians.
The same day also sees the Consort’s shorter, 45-minute Children’s Messiah (Perth Concert Hall, Thursday 16th) taking place for younger listeners late in the afternoon.
Directed by Matthew Truscott, Scottish Ensemble’s Concerts by Candlelight (St John’s Kirk, Perth, Saturday 4th; Caird Hall, Dundee, Monday 6th) is this year subtitled ‘Music for Warmth and Restoration’, with a selection of music by Brahms, Schubert, Purcell, Beethoven and Julia Wolfe which has been especially chosen for its sense of life-affirming vitality in atmospheric, candlelit spaces.
If these shows aren’t enough to satisfy the tastes of opera and classical enthusiasts, there are other, less seasonal offerings in the next month, including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s presentation of Benedetti Plays Mozart (Perth Concert Hall, Wednesday 15th), in which the famed violinist Nicola Benedetti plays Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.1 alongside works by Johan Strauss and Arnold Schoenberg.
Across in Fife, Met Opera: Eurydice (Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Wednesday 7th) is a broadcast of the New York opera company’s new version of the Greek myth of Orpheus by composer Matthew Aucoin and librettist Sarah Ruhl.
In the early days of 2022, New Year in Vienna with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Perth Concert Hall, Monday 3rd January) once more celebrates the music of the Strauss family, Schubert, Dvorak and more, with conductor Jirí Rozen.
Other styles of music are also available – like the relentless Red Hot Chilli Pipers (Webster Theatre, Arbroath, Saturday 11th; Caird Hall, Dundee, Saturday 18th), whose self-described ‘bag-rock’ has kept them going for 20 years now, and seen a collaboration with the Brit Award-nominated Tom Walker on a new version of his song Leave a Light On in 2019, after they busked it together in Glasgow.
Perth’s Parliamo (Joan Knight Studio at Perth Theatre, Saturday 11th) are a young indie-pop group who trade in quirky, melodically exotic songs, yet whose acoustic songwriting betrays a rich, rewardingly folky influence.
At the other end of the generational spectrum, a welcome return for Phil Cunningham’s Christmas Songbook (Perth Concert Hall, Sunday 19th), in which the esteemed Scottish trad musician welcomes the best of the country’s folk scene, including Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, John Mccusker and Kris Drever.
In a similar vein, the Gaelic lunchtime concert season Tea and Tunes returns to Dundee with young Isle of Lewis singer Josie Duncan (Marryat Hall, Dundee, Wednesday 8th) and multiinstrumentalist Owen Sinclair – and in an entirely different vein, for those who don’t have tickets to see the virtual Abba in London next year or the next best thing, Bjorn Again, tribute act Abbamania (Perth Concert Hall, Friday 17th) are at least making a local appearance.
Fairytale of New York: Coming Home for Christmas (Perth Concert Hall, Saturday 18th) is a show filled with Irish songs and carols, and the Lateshift Christmas Party (Birnam Arts, Dunkeld, Saturday 18th) has added Stuart Nisbet of the Proclaimers’ live band for this night of music.