A charity concert in support of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, reflecting our changing environment and our links to the climate and seasons.
All proceeds will go toward the work of MCS in Scotland.
Tickets are available through the Usher Hall and are £10 (£8 concessions).
The concert programme features beautiful pieces by Elgar and Massenet, alongside Vivaldi’s dramatic and evocative Four Seasons. The Four Seasons is comprised of four violin concertos, each reflecting its respective season.
Each concerto evokes our links to the seasons and highlights our connection to our changing environment, and is as relevant today as when first composed in the 1720’s. On this occasion the Four Seasons will be performed as it would have been, by Vivaldi, on its first airing in Venice, with a violin soloist supported by a string quartet and harpsichord.
MCS is the UK charity for our seas, shores and wildlife, protecting Scotland's seas through a dedicated conservation programme. MCS campaigns for clean seas and beaches, sustainable fisheries, and the protection of marine life.
The concert will also celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth, through the "Sherlock" violin. This beautiful instrument was created earlier this year by Edinburgh violinmaker Steve Burnett. The violin was made from an old sycamore tree (which Conan Doyle climbed as a boy) that stood until the beginning of 2009 in the garden of Conan Doyle’s Edinburgh childhood home, Liberton Bank House, now Dunedin School.
The aim of the "Sherlock" violin is to support local and international children’s and environmental charities and organisations through concerts. As is well known, Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous, although fictional, amateur violinists. Steve Burnett commented "For a brand new violin to possess such a surprisingly full, time-mellowed tone and appearance, one could almost believe that with Conan Doyle’s passionate beliefs in spirituality, there has been some higher form of energy transfer from this special tree into this unique concert violin".
Performing the music on the night will be an unrivalled group of professional musicians.
Ani Batikian is an internationally acclaimed Armenian concert violinist, and will play the "Sherlock" violin.
Helena Buckmayer, is a renowned German concert pianist, and will play the piano and harpsichord.
The St Patrick's Baroque Ensemble from Glasgow will provide the string quartet.