Usher Hall: Listings from October to January 2010
Music and More @ the Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Jon Lord in Concert
Monday 5 October 7.30pm
£25/£20 + £2 booking fee
Jon Lord, founding member of Deep Purple, rock legend and composer - premieres his Concerto for Group and Orchestra in Scotland. Jon has prepared exceptionally talented music students from Stevenson College Edinburgh, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and The City of Edinburgh schools to perform his contemporary masterwork.
Tim Minchin
Saturday 10 October 7.30pm
£17.50 + £1.50 booking fee
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival superstar is here; Tim Minchin lugs his piano around the UK to make you laugh with his award-winning musical comedy.
Music at the Brewhouse "The Songbook of Unsingable Songs"
Tuesdsay 3 November 7pm
£5/£16 family (2 adults, 2 children)
Award winning composer and band leader Stephen Deazley has teamed up with BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live poet Matt Harvey to create a quirky and cantankerous collection of songs for young children to sing and children and grown-ups of all ages to enjoy!
The Nolans
Thursday 5 November 7.30pm
£35 + £3 booking fee
The Nolans are back! More than 25 years since they last toured, the nation's original girl group is back together for the ‘Back in the Mood Again' tour!
The Proclaimers
Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November 7.30pm
£25/£22.50 + £2.50 booking fee
Internationally famed Scottish duo perform all their classic tunes, as well as some new material, with unrivalled energy and humour.
Yes
Thursday 19 November 7.30pm
£35.50 + £3 booking fee
As a dominant force for more than four decades, YES has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, stretching the boundaries of progressive art-rock with their dynamic instrumental contrasts and abstract lyrics.
Fanfare Concert
Monday 23 November 7pm
£20 family (2 adults and 2 children)
An evening with Edinburgh's most talented young musicians. Something for everyone with Edinburgh School's rock, jazz and traditional ensembles, symphony orchestra and choirs, Edinburgh's got talent!
ChildLine Winter Concert
Tuesday 24 November 7pm
£9/£4.50
Hundreds of talented musicians and singers from Edinburgh schools join together to provide a joyous evening of Christmas music, carols and popular classics. All proceeds will go towards the NSPCC Child's Voice Appeal in Scotland.
The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines
Wednesday 25 November 7.30pm
£16/£14/£12 + 50p credit card charge per ticket
The wonderfully versatile musicians of the Royal Marines together with the exuberant singers of the Edinburgh Gilbert & Sullivan Society combine to deliver a real musical treat. Proceeds to Seafarers UK (King George's Fund for Sailors).
National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland presents "The Dragon's Lair"
Saturday 28 November 7.30pm
£15
Featuring the talents of some of the country's brightest young piping and drumming starts - in their first Edinburgh performance. An exciting mix of traditional music with a contemporary twist!
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra : A History of Scotland
Sunday 29 November 7.30pm
£15
Highlights from the soundtrack to the highly successful History of Scotland TV Series. Ricky Ross and Lorriane McIntosh (of Deacon Blue fame), Eddi Reader and God Help the Girl are included in the line-up!
The Bootleg Beatles
Wednesday 9 December 8pm
£22.50 + £2 booking fee
Enjoy all your favourite Beatles' hits from the UK's number one tribute band. The Fab Four are back to entertain with songs from the superb Beatles' back catalogue.
Origin Scotland : Light of the World
Saturday 5 December 7.30pm
£12/£10/£7/£6
The Exile Band and Choir and Exile Chamber Orchestra join forces in our annual celebration of all things Christmas.
Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra
Sunday 13 December 8pm
Tickets £55, £45 and £30 + booking fee
Following on from last year's sell out shows at the Royal Albert Hall and the critically acclaimed version on BBC2, Bill Bailey's surreal comic and musical imagination is let loose once more as he takes this show on the road, performing with some of the finest orchestras throughout Britain, accompanied by Anne Dudley, one of the UK's most celebrated composers and arrangers.
Scottish Fiddle Orchestra
Wednesday 30 December 7.30pm
£21/£16/£12/£9
This is the 30th Anniversary Year for this now internationally renowned orchestra. Conducted by John Mason, MBE, Director of Music and Blair Parham.
World and Folk Music
Joan Baez
Monday 12 October Doors 7pm
£35/£32.50/£30 + £3 booking fee
Protest singer, social commentator and poet, Joan Baez continues to mix it up with her legendary folk tunes. One of the most distinctive and accomplished folk singers to emerge from 1960’s America she has made classics through her interpretations of songs by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and The Band as well as her own catalogue of work like 1975’s gold selling Diamonds and Rust.
Christy Moore with Declan Sinnott
Wednesday 21 October 8pm
£26.50/£22.50 + £2.50 booking fee
The inspirational Christy Moore mixes elements of rock and popular music to create his unique style of traditional mixed with contemporary Irish folk.
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club
Wednesday 28 October 7.30pm
£28.50 + £2.50 booking fee
An extraordinary line-up of Buena Vista Social Club ® stalwarts, together in a 13 piece band direct from Havana to present some of the finest Cuban music ever made.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Saturday 14 November 7.30pm
£24.50/£23.50/£21.50 + £2 booking fee
Grammy winning a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo merges traditional South African music and dancing with global harmonies to create an energetic and up-lifting show. Exuberant, beautiful, uplifting are words that go some way to doing justice to their live concerts. Suitable for all the family.
Staff Benda Bilili
Tuesday 17 November 8pm
£18.50/£15 (concessions available)
Staff Benda Bilili are like nothing you have ever seen or heard before. Their name translates literally to “put forward what is hidden.” Led by street musicians from the Congo, and backed by a younger, all-acoustic rhythm section, they make music of astonishing power and beauty.
Ojos de Brujo supported by La Troba Kung-Fu
Monday 30 November 8pm
£18.50/£14.50
This eight-piece group from Barcelona has created original sounds derived from flamenco, Catalan rumba and hip hop with an ever-expanding range of other ingredients.
Classical Concerts
October 2009 – January 2010
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Arabian Nights
Friday 2 October 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
Stéphane Denève opens the new season with a riot of colours, in a programme that includes one of Mozart’s great piano concertos and the whirlwind kaleidoscope of Scheherazade. Expect a mesmerising, hedonistic retelling of those 1001 tales to get the new season off to a spectacular start. Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Michael Tumelty.
Edinburgh Royal Choral Union : 150th Anniversary Gala Concert
Saturday 3 October 7.30pm
£24/£20/£17/£14/£10
This gala concert includes the world premiere of Judith Bingham’s Shadow Aspect.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra : Unfinished Masterpieces
Thursday 8 Oct 7.30pm
£26/£22/£18/£12.50/£8.50
The SCO gets its 2009/10 Season off to a rousing start with some magnificent music. There is something deeply fascinating about unfinished works, especially those as great as Schubert’s Symphony No 8 Unfinished and Mozart’s incredibly powerful and beautiful Mass in C minor. Louis Langree, Director of New York’s prestigious Mostly Mozart Festival, directs the SCO and SCO Chorus in a sublime programme with top-notch soloists including Scotland’s own Lisa Milne – guaranteed to be a memorable evening.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : The best of all possible worlds
Friday 9 October 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
The first half features two composers whose musical styles seemed half in earnest, half in jest. Pastiche fuses brilliantly with heartfelt melody in both Bernstein’s Candide and Strauss’ Concerto. Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Sophie Lang (RSNO Violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra : Runnicles Conducts Mahler
Sunday 11 Oct 7.30pm
£26/£21/£16/£10
Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles begins his first season at the helm of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with two great works from the Austro-German symphonic tradition. Runnicles and the BBC SSO have already given some memorable performances of Mahler together, at the Edinburgh International Festival and in London at the BBC Proms, and their interpretation of the magnificent First Symphony will be eagerly awaited. Programme: Beethoven’s Symphony No 1, Berg’s Seven Early Songs, and Mahler’s Symphony No 1 ‘Titan’.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Angelic Memories
Friday 16 October 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
With a beginning as fragile as flowers, Berg’s Violin Concerto is a tender elegy on the untimely death of a young girl. Violin sensation Leonidas Kavakos will breathe life into this work, written “in memory of an angel”. Ravel’s well-known Pavane, For a Dead Princess, evokes the dignity of the Spanish professional dance of the title whilst Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony, the composer’s most romantic, brings this emotionally-charged concert to a close. Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Gordon Bruce (RSNO Double Bass)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : The Firebird
Friday 23 October 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
Dutilleux’s exquisite orchestration and glowing colours is sure to bring out the best in Stéphane Denève and the RSNO, experts in French repertoire.
Ludovico Einaudi : The Nightbook Tour
Sunday 25 October 7.30pm
£25/£20/£10
The world class pianist presents his new project, Nightbook, a musical meditation on the transition between light and darkness, the known and the unknown. Expressive and with a more open compositional structure, sonic colours are created through the close blending of the piano with the strings and percussion, and from the use of electronics which amplifies the sounds of the piano, projecting it like a shadow in all directions.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Naked Classics – The Planets
Friday 30 Oct 7.30pm
£10
This is your chance to experience some of the world’s most powerful music in a unique and exciting way. Join presenter Paul Rissmann and conductor David Danzmayr as they gaze through their telescope at The Planets, as composed by Gustav Holst (a former RSNO trombonist would you believe!)
Children’s Classic Concerts : Magic and Monsters
Sunday 1 November 3pm
£10 adult, £6 child, £29 family (2 adults and 2 children)
No tricks, just treats at Owen and Olly’s wicked Halloween concert! Come in costume to join in the fun and enjoy a spooktacular celebration. Featuring a special guest appearance by James Mackenzie – CBBC’s Raven.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Benedetti plays Bruch
Friday 6 November 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
An evening of love and romance with Scotland’s star violinist, the one-and-only Nicola Benedetti! Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Michael Tumelty. Post concert talk: Nicola Benedetti in conversation with RSNO Associate Leader William Chandler in the auditorium.
Scottish Philharmonic Orchestra
Karl Jenkins in Concert in aid of Teenage Concert Western General Hospital Appeal
Sunday 8 November 7pm
£27.50/£22.50/£17.50 (£10 limited no. u18s)
British composer Karl Jenkins will conduct the Scottish Philharmonic Orchestra and choirs including the Edinburgh Youth Choir and the Glasgow Youth Choir.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra : Beethoven and Brahams
Thursday 12 November 7.30pm
£26/£22/£18/£12.50/£8.50
This concert sees the SCO as big as it gets and firing on all cylinders, but without sacrificing the close-up energy and subtlety for which it is renowned.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Shostakovich 11
Friday 13 November 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
An unmissable event and a dynamic pairing of works, conducted by the distinguished and internationally-feted Yakov Kreizberg. Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Lisa Davidson (RSNO Viola).
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Romantic Rachmaninov
Friday 20 November 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
An evening of sumptuous, romantic works by the great Russian pianist and composer, full of the distinctive melodies that have made his music hugely popular with audiences all over the world. Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Jeremy Fletcher (RSNO Associate Principal Cello).
Raymond Gubbay : Four Seasons by Candlelight
Sunday 22 November 3pm
£29.50/£26.50/£23.50/£21.50/£16.50 +50p credit card charge per ticket
A sumptuous evening performed in full 18th century costume in an evocative candle-lit style setting with Mozart Festive Orchestra.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Sir Roger Norrington Conducts
Friday 4 December 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
Sir Roger Norrington is one of the music world’s true personalities. Champion of the historically informed performance movement, he literally changed the way we hear Beethoven’s Symphonies and the music of the 19th century. Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Sir Roger Norrington in conversation with RSNO Chief Executive Simon Woods.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Friday 11 December 7.30pm
£32/£24/£17.50/£13/£10
Tchaikovsky’s great concerto is one of the best-known and considered one of the most technically difficult pieces for violin. Expect fireworks then from one of the masters of the instrument, Renaud Capuçon. And, what better to follow than what is probably the RSNO audience’s favourite symphony, Sibelius’ Second? Pre-concert talk 6.45pm Rowena Smith.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra : Ticciati and Kozena
Saturday 12 December 7.30pm
£26/£22/£18/£12.5/£8.00
Robin Ticciati makes his hotly-awaited debut as SCO Principal Conductor in the company of Magdalena Kozena, one of the world’s finest and most captivating singers, who is sure to give spine-tingling interpretations of Mahler’s dramatic Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.
Edinburgh Royal Choral Union : The Messiah
Saturday 2 January 12noon
£25/£21/£18/£15/£11
ERCU’s New Year Messiah performance at the Usher Hall has become a highlight in the Edinburgh Hogmanay calendar!
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland
Sunday 3 January 7.30pm
£20/£8/£14/£10
The cream of Scotland’s young musical talent perform a variety of classical works to entertain and inspire, led by internationally celebrated conductor Christopher Adley.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Viennese Gala
Monday 4 January 7.30pm
£32/£25/£20/£15/£12
Incredible soprano Heidi Elisabeth Meier joins conductor David Danzmayr to celebrate the New Year with a selection of charming Strauss favourites.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra : Naked Classics Beethoven 7
Friday 8 January 7.30pm
£10
Another great work is given the ground-breaking and hugely engaging RSNO Naked Classics treatment. Join presenter Paul Rissmann and conductor Andrew Grams as they explore Beethoven’s lively Apotheosis of the Dance, Symphony No 7.
Listings end//
HOW TO BOOK
Three easy ways to book;
Book online: www.usherhall.co.uk
Book by phone: 0131 228 1155
Monday – Saturday 10am – 5.30pm
Where there is an event on a Sunday, the phone lines are open from 1pm until one hour before the event starts.
Book in person
Usher Hall, Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2EA
Monday – Friday 10am – 5.30pm (and on concert evenings)
Where there is an event on a Sunday, the counter is open from 1pm until one hour before the event starts
