On Friday September 7th at 7.30 in the Stables, Cromarty, McFall’s Chamber and 4 of Scotland’s top traditional musicians will combine to produce an evening of music inspired by their own homes across the Four Corners of Scotland.

These musicians will be both performers and composers in a line-up which includes the string quartet and double bass from Mr McFall’s Chamber along with the composers’ own instruments. The four composers will be Fraser Fifield (Aberdeenshire), Corrina Hewat (the Black Isle), Aidan O’Rourke (Oban) and James Ross (Wick), each of whom will also be part of the ensemble that will perform the new commissions. These four instrumentalists (pipes/whistle, harp, fiddle and piano) will be joined by Mairi Campbell, Roseanne East and Robert McFall (violins), Su-a Lee (cello) and Rick Standley (double bass).

Harpist Corrina Hewat’s piece evokes the varying characters of the coastal villages around her native Black Isle. Corrina says of her piece, ‘I moved to the Black Isle from Edinburgh when I was very young. I had never seen so much blue sky, green fields, the sea just over the way, it felt like heaven. There are a few areas on the Black Isle that are really important to me so I wrote about these places that I had grown up in, places that I loved, places that formed my guiding thoughts and places that I will never lose the beauty of in my mind. Cullicudden, Fortrose, the Cromarty Firth, Jemimaville, Cromarty and the Devil’s Bridge. I found that writing about these places took me right back there.’

Fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, from Oban, has written a piece – described by McFall as “punchy and contrapuntal” – inspired by ships’ horns in his hometown’s harbour, while the Wick-born pianist James Ross (on whose recent album, Chasing the Sun, McFall’s provide strings) evokes the expansive Flow Country of his native Caithness. From Aberdeenshire, Fraser Fifield is another established collaborator with the ensemble, having recorded Birds & Beasts (celebrating the music of the late Martyn Bennett) with them two years ago.

This promises to be an evening of musical delight.

Tickets cost £10, £8 and £3 and can be reserved by contacting the Cromarty Arts Trust on 01381 600354 or emailing info@cromartyartstrust.org.uk

Source: Cromarty Arts Trust