Ayr Music Club

Ayr Music Club

set to celebrate

its half century

AYR Music Club kicks off its 50th season with a concert by the Gildas String Quartet in Holy Trinity Church on Saturday October 4. The club's first meetings in the town's Conservative Rooms included a recital by celebrated conductor the late Bryden Thomson and in the 1970s membership reached almost 400, and it remains a very active and viable member of Scotland's network of local chamber-music promoters.

The Gildas String Quartet is also opening the new season of Music in Peebles at the Eastgate Theatre the previous evening, playing repertoire of Mozart, Grieg and Thomas Ades. The group, formed at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music in 2010, has performed at London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Rooms and on BBC Radio 3, and is back to play another half-dozen music clubs in Scotland in February and March

l ayrmusicclub.co.uk; musicinpeebles.org.uk l

Capital label 'is

best of the year'

PERHAPS somewhat lost amongst other news at the end of the last week was the triumph of Scottish record label Delphian in the Gramophone magazine Classical Music Awards.

Paul Baxter's dynamic Edinburgh-based operation was named Label of the Year 2014 after no fewer than five of its releases were Gramophone Editor's Choice recordings recently. They were Ludus Baroque's Handel disc, The Triumph of Time and Truth, Philip Higham's Britten Cello Suites, St Mary's Cathedral Choir singing John Sheppard, Fires of Love's Jacobean songs, and Iain Burnside's Rachmaninov Songs project which was also a finalist in the Recording of the Year category. Kate Molleson talks with Paul Baxter in Wednesday's Herald Arts.

l delphianrecords.co.uk

European quartet

play city venue

BRIDGE Music's programme of Creative Scotland-supported gigs at Glasgow Art Club continues on Thursday with an international quartet led by Polish guitarist Przemyslaw Straczek. He is joined by fellow countryman and award-winner Michal Wierba on piano and a rhythm section of Italians, Francesco Angiuli on bass and Flavio Li Vigni on drums, both of whom are respected teachers of their instruments.

The following week (October 2) sees the return of Scots guitarist Jim Mullen to the venue for what would be sure to be a sold-out event with vocalist Zoe Francis even without the addition of pianist Brian Kellock leading the supporting trio.

l bridgejazz.co.uk