David Kettle

1 week ago | scotsman.com | David Kettle

The SCO Chorus and Strings delivered a compelling, immediate performance of Sir James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words, writes David Kettle Of all Sir James MacMillan’s often deeply emotive music, his1993 Seven Last Words must count among his most viscerally powerful pieces – a sometimes raw, sometimes exquisitely beautiful reflection on the dying Christ’s final utterances on the Cross, from neo-Baroque radiance to muttering, chanting vocal urgency, and a concluding nod to MacMillan’s own...

2 weeks ago | scotsman.com | David Kettle

Jess Gillam’s saxophone playing dazzles in ‘a concert of extremes’, writes David KettleRoyal Scottish National Orchestra/Jonathon Heyward, Jess Gillam (soprano saxophone), Usher Hall, Edinburgh ★★★★‘A concert of extremes’ was RSNO principal flautist Katherine Bryan’s pretty accurate description in her engaging introduction. And the RSNO’s performance did indeed feel like two wildly contrasting musical and emotional worlds separated by an interval.

1 month ago | scotsman.com | David Kettle

As he prepares to visit Scotland with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic next month, the orchestra’s principal conductor Carlo Tenan tells David Kettle about the qualities that make it stand out from the crowdTurkey has its own rich traditions of classical music - ones whose instruments and sounds might seem thoroughly exotic to ears more attuned to what we usually term “classical music” in the Western, European sense.

1 month ago | scotsman.com | David Kettle

Gregory Batsleer, director of the SCO Chorus, tells David Kettle about preparing his singers for a forthcoming performance of Sir James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross - a work ‘that’s trying to help us understand who we are’No fewer than 16 years have passed since Gregory Batsleer became chorus director of the SCO Chorus. That’s a long time – especially for a musician as accomplished and ambitious as Batsleer, as he’s well aware.

1 month ago | scotsman.com | David Kettle

The Scotsman is pleased to present the third concert in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 2024/25 Digital Season - Ruth Gipps SeascapeThe Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s Digital Season concerts allow you to experience the thrill of the SCO in performance wherever you are in the world. For their 2024/25 season, the orchestra have recorded three specially commissioned films, capturing intimate concerts in Edinburgh’s historic Leith Theatre.