The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) will be resident from Monday 1 March to Saturday 6 March 2010 for its sixth annual Out and About. The 89 musicians of the RSNO will participate in 65 different events, bringing live music in many guises to Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire.

Out and About in Aberdeen and Shire is one of the most ambitious projects that a Scottish National Performing Company has ever undertaken in the North East of Scotland, and a major collaboration between Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and TOTAL E&P UK Limited. The week-long festival of music-making and collaboration includes 8 public performances, 7 music workshops and community visits and 30 events with primary and secondary schools, music groups and more. The week concludes with a one-off performance featuring a specially-assembled chorus of local, amateur singers at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) on Saturday 6 March 2010.

Out and About in Aberdeen & Shire Public Performances

Tuesday 2 March 2010 sees two performances at the picturesque setting of Haddo House in Methlick by an ensemble assembled from the strings sections of the Orchestra. At 5.00pm the RSNO Strings Ensemble presents String Band Live!, an hour-long family concert led by RSNO Associate Leader William Chandler. Part concert, part ‘show and tell’ and totally informal, Bill and the musicians will present a revealing insight into the stringed instruments that make up an orchestra. Tickets are priced £3 and accompanied under 16s attend for free. At 8.00pm William Chandler and the musicians return with Simply Strings, a sophisticated evening featuring a mixture of familiar and well-loved classics and less frequently performed rarities taken from the last 200 years. Tickets are priced £5/£3 and accompanied under 16s attend for free.

The Salmon Bothy, a 60-seat venue in Portsoy, will play host to the RSNO principal wind players for a cosily exclusive performance of French and British wind repertoire from composers such as Debussy, Arnold, Poulenc and Britten. Cross Channel Winds at 7.30pm is preceded by a rush-hour concert on a similar theme at 4.30pm. Tickets are priced £6/£5 for Cross Channel Winds and £3 for Rush Hour with the RSNO and in both cases accompanied under 16s attend for free.

The Octomore Quartet, comprised of RSNO musicians, will be performing an hour-long family friendly concert at Torry Academy on Wednesday 3 March at 5.00pm. A programme of recognisable favourites, including Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Fauré’s Pavane and Scott Joplin’s Ragtime Dance is designed to relax and entertain the school-run audience. Tickets are priced £3 and accompanied under 16s attend for free.

Head of Brass and Instrumental Performance at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Bryan Allen conducts and presents a musical exploration, journeying from Byrd to Brubeck, with the RSNO Brass and Percussion sections in Brilliant Brass. The concert, held at Deeside Theatre, Aboyne, starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced £6/£5 and accompanied under 16s attend for free.

The RSNO Big Band and Music Director Eliot Murray are no strangers to Aberdeen’s Music Hall. They return on Thursday 4 March at 2.00pm to provide the unmistakable Kings of Swing sound for a traditional Tea Dance. Tickets are priced £6.00 and include tea/coffee.

Saturday 6 March 2010 marks the final day of the week’s public events and the pinnacle of community engagement as the RSNO invites vocalists young and old from across Aberdeenshire and beyond to a day of singing. Come and Sing Workshop, at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre will lead to an hour-long public performance, Vocal Sensations. Conducted by the RSNO’s young yet prodigiously talented Assistant Conductor David Danzmayr, Vocal Sensations is at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre starting at 6.00pm. The programme includes Verdi’s ‘Va pensiero’ from Nabucco and ‘Gloria all’Egitto, ad Iside’ from Aida, as well as O Fortuna from Orff’’s Carmina Burana and a specially commissioned new work for the project, written by one of the UK’s most gifted contemporary choral composers, Cecilia McDowall, titled After the Rain. To find out more about participating log onto www.rsno.org.uk, contact Lyn Underwood on +44 (0)141 225 3552 or email lyn.underwood@rsno.org.uk. Tickets for audience members are priced £5.00/£4.00 and accompanied under 16s attend for free.

Out and About in Aberdeen and Shire Community Events

The week-long residency also features many community engagement events spanning the two regions. The musicians of the RSNO will be spending the week involved with Schools Roadshow, visiting 25 primary schools across Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire areas and working with teachers, complementing the Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence through interactive and engaging music sessions.

RSNO musicians will be running a participatory workshop and performance at CLAN House, Grampian. CLAN (Cancer Link Aberdeen & North) is an independent charity supporting anyone affected by cancer. Throughout the week, musicians will also be working with the patients and staff of Aberdeen Royal Children’s Hospital, using the valuable skills learned through the extensive association with Yorkhill Children’s Hospital, Glasgow. This forms part of the RSNO’s emerging specialty in the area of children, young people and health. The players will also be performing for residents of Provost Hogg Sheltered Housing Unit and Balnagask Residential Care Home.

A creative workshop run in conjunction with Northfield Community Centre will be taking inspiration from the music of video games as a starting point in composing original music. Woodend Barn in Banchory is the venue for an evening creative workshop for less experienced yet enthusiastic players. Summerhill Education Centre, Aberdeen hosts a workshop with the City Music Service Training Orchestra, followed by a side-by-side training rehearsal with Aberdeen Youth Orchestra. Pupils from years four and above from across Aberdeenshire will benefit from specialist workshops, and side-by-side tuition will also be provided to the South and North sections of the Aberdeenshire Youth Orchestra.

RSNO Director of Education and Audience Engagement, Ellen Thomson, announced the Out and About in Aberdeen and Shire:

“The RSNO is delighted to be fulfilling a long-term ambition, by joining the music loving communities of the North East of Scotland for this extremely busy week of music making. Our ensemble of near 90 full-time musicians will be out and about in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire presenting a varied programme of events that will appeal to everyone. We look forward to seeing the familiar faces who attend our regular concerts at the Music Hall, but we also hope to welcome new people to some of the many exciting events we have planned.”

This project is in association with energy group TOTAL E&P UK Limited, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and was made possible through generous support from Aberdeen Journals Ltd, Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Stewart Milne Group. The RSNO would also like to thank the following for their support: Martin Connell Charitable Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, The MacRobert Trust, Northwood Charitable Trust, and PF Charitable Trust.