Kilmardinny Music Circle moves into a new venue in 2016 with a series of concerts in the Mackintosh Church at Queen's Cross in Maryhill, Glasgow. The first of these is on Friday January 8, when a duo the club has championed, The Ayoub Sisters - violinist Laura and pianist Sarah - perform a programme of Beethoven, Saraste, Cesar Franck and Johann Strauss II. The concert is at 7.30pm.

On February 5, the artists are the Sirocco Winds, a quintet established at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, who bring a programme that includes the Six Bagatelles of Gyorgy Ligeti alongside Poulenc and Beethoven. The latter two composers also feature in the March 4 concert by former principal clarinet of the RSNO, John Cushing, with Scott Mitchell at the piano, and a Brahms Sonata and James MacMillan's From Galloway also in the programme.

kilmardinnymusiccircle.com

January visits by one-man blues band Mike Whellans and up and coming Scottish-Irish-Balkan troupe Dallahan and a Burns Night featuring Fife-based Scots song specialists Sangsters are among the attractions lined up by Edinburgh Folk Club during the first quarter of 2016.

Whellans, who carries on the legacy of blues performers including American legend Jesse Fuller and the ill-starred Thames Delta dynamo Duster Bennett, opens the club’s 2016 programme on Wednesday, January 6. Singer-guitarist Ewan McLennan, pictured, (February 17), concertina-guitar duo Simon Thoumire & Ian Carr (March 2) and leading young Scots singer Fiona Hunter with multi-instrumentalists Mike Vass and Innes Watson (March 23) also feature.

efc1973.com

Dunblane Cathedral Arts Guild has a tradition of spicing its season of chamber music concerts with Jazz in January. The swing band of two seasons ago, who proved popular, is returning as Swing 2016 with guest artist Seonaid Aitken, violinist and singer, who lends her talents to both traditional and jazz groups. At one time DCAG was one of the few Scottish local music societies promoting jazz, but others are now regularly programme the music as part of their season and those who have heard Swing 2016 with Aitken were enthusiastic in their praise of the band at the annual tours conference of Enterprise Music Scotland in Glasgow in November. Hear them in the Cathedral Hall on Sunday January 17 at 3pm. Tickets will be available at the door.

dcag.org.uk