Exciting new vibe for young musicians

Exciting new vibe for young musicians

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has a funky new offshoot, called SCO Vibe, which is open to young musicians aged 11 to 18 living in Edinburgh, whether they are singers, guitarists, drummers, pianists or saxophonists.

The new fusion group is led by animatuer and guitarist Paul Griffiths and features contributions from many SCO players as well as Edinburgh City Council music tutors, who meet with the band to help them write and perform their own music. Sessions are free and the next one is at Broughton Primary School in Edinburgh on Saturday and Sunday October 26 and 27. For more information contact the SCO's Connect outreach department.

l sco.org.uk

Yorkston link

for O'Neill

Irish songwriter Lisa O'Neill, pictured, will be supporting James Yorkston at his Queen's Hall concert with John Thorne and Suhail Yusuf Khan and the Cairn String Quartet on Friday November 1. O'Neill recently signed to Domino for her publishing and her second album, Same Cloth or Not, is newly released.

Yorkston's collaboration came about through an invitation from Dewars whisky to musicians from the UK and India to exchange ideas in the recordind studio, which also embraced Raghu Dixit, King Creosote, Slow Club and FOUND. He and his associates will be performing a semi-improvised mix of traditional music and their own compositions.

l thequeenshall.net

Pere Ubu to unveil new work

Pere Ubu, the David Thomas-fronted art-rock band from Cleveland Ohio, formed in 1975, will unveil new work when they come to Scotland on tour at the beginning of next month.

Despite the acclaim and success of their Lady From Shanghai tour earlier in the year, Thomas has ruled out revisiting the music from their most recent album. Instead the band will be doing an entirely new set consisting of two song cycles of material that will be on the next Pere Ubu album: Dr Faustroll in the Big Easy and Visions of the Moon. Thomas said: "We're not in Pere Ubu for the cash cow. We're Pere Ubu! We're going to keep pushing forward until the job is done."

The Scottish concerts are at Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms on November 8 and Aberdeen Lemon Tree on November 9.

l ubuprojex.net

New role for Manners

In a game of administrative musical chairs in the English classical music world, Jonathan Manners has been named new chief executive of the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM), where regular guest conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Richard Egarr, is music director.

Manners joins AAM from English National Opera (ENO), where he is head of music administration. He takes up his post in January 2014, replacing Michael Garvey, who leaves in December to become director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

l aam.co.uk