Concerts with a difference coming to three Scottish cities

Scots who enjoy their music are being invited to experience it in a different way.

Once a month from August to November, you can spend a different kind of night down the pub with music by some of our finest new-generation composers, performed by top instrumentalists and singers, all brought to you by composer, Matthew Whiteside in The Night With…

The idea is to hear interesting live music, discover new composers and hear things you didn’t know you might like in a completely informal setting. Concerts each have three very short sections of thirty minutes or less, with new music, old music done in a new way and mainstream artists’ music with a twist.

This is the third year The Night With… has run in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and for the first time this year, The Night With… visits Aberdeen.

There are four different programmes which include world premieres by Claire McCue, Peter Gregson and Matthew Whiteside.

There will also be a premiere resulting from the Call For Scores which invites composers anywhere in the world to submit a new work for the female vocal trio, Juice Vocal Ensemble.

One piece will be selected from the submissions, workshopped then premiered in the final The Night With… in November.

String quintet Wooden Elephant perform in August (Photo: Anneveldt Multimedia)

Composer Matthew Whiteside curator and creator of The Night With… said: ‘I’m delighted we are able to present another season of The Night With….and I have had a lot of fun putting the programmes together to showcase some extraordinary composers and musicians.

‘There’s such a mix of all kinds of music and influences in these programmes, that we can’t say it’s one particular genre or category. I prefer to say it’s all just “music” so come and listen.’

Alan Morrison, head of music, Creative Scotland, said: ‘Scotland is a hot-house for stimulating, genre-bending new music being made by adventurous composers and performers.

‘Over the past few years, The Night With… has brought the best of this work to new audiences in venues well away from the concert-hall circuit, opening eyes, ears and minds to what music can be. Creative Scotland is delighted to support a third season during which The Night With… will boldly expand its reach even further afield.’

September performer James Turnbull

The first Night With… is Wooden Elephant, a string quintet led by violinist, Ian Anderson. Their programme includes Radiohead, and an acoustic version of Björk’s Homogenic for string quintet and a variety of surprising objects including wine glasses, tuning forks, steel, wood, kitchen foil and a kazoo. (8pm: 7 August, Glasgow, and 8 August, Edinburgh).

September brings James Turnbull’s programme for oboe, cor anglais and electronics. He plays three sets of works ranging from Telemann to Maxwell Davies, a world premiere by Peter Gregson, and a work based on whale song by Emily Doolittle. (8pm: 11 September, Glasgow, and 12 September, Edinburgh).

Clarinettist Joanna Nicholson is part of Turning the Elements, who perform in October

The first trip to Aberdeen is in October, part of the Sound Festival, with a programme featuring clarinettist Joanna Nicholson and soprano Frances Cooper, Turning the Elements. This includes the second world premiere of the series, Matthew Whiteside’s new piece with words by Helen Grøn, and settings by Rebecca Rowe and Stuart Murray Mitchell of four poems by Scottish poets Jane McKie and Stewart Sanderson. (8pm: 8 October, Glasgow; 9 October, Edinburgh; 31 October, Aberdeen)

The Night With… Juice Vocal Ensemble, a three-piece female a cappella group, who are at the forefront of the UK’s experimental/classical scene. As well as the premiere of Glasgow composer, Claire McCue’s new work, we hear the resulting premiere of the piece selected from our Call For Scores, following Juice’s open workshop session earlier in the day. (8pm: 13 November, Glasgow; 14 November, Edinburgh).

This is The Night With… started in 2016 and this is the third season.

Matthew has just been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2018 Sunday Herald Culture Awards in the Best Musical Artist category.