Miranda Heggie

1 week ago | theartsdesk.com | Miranda Heggie

"When I was your age, I worked in a corrugated cardboard factory!" is a phrase my father was fond of telling me as a teenager, presumably in an attempt to extol the virtues of a good Presbyterian work ethic. I wonder what he’d have made of his first place of employment as it was this weekend; all 15.5 acres of it covered with bright graffiti and transformed into performance space, dance floors and installations, complete with fully stocked bars and an array of food trucks.

1 month ago | theartsdesk.com | Miranda Heggie

"How long is Wagner’s Ring Cycle?" That’s not the opening to a joke, it’s a genuine question asked by a friend who I’d met up with before heading to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall to hear the Royal Scottish National Orchestra perform "Wagner’s Ring Symphony". His question is one I really don’t know how to answer: technically it’s 15 hours, but does a cycle ever really end? Is a piece of string as long as the ties that bind? How long would it take to wrap up the whole world?

Feb 3, 2025 | theartsdesk.com | Miranda Heggie

What a delight to see an almost full Queen’s Hall for a programme solely of contemporary music. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s New Dimensions series, launched this season, sees a host of newer classical works performed and appears to be drawing in regular audience members as well as a younger crowd. Opening with James MacMillan’s Tryst, the orchestra wove together the sometimes angular strands of the music with concise conducting from principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev.

Feb 3, 2025 | theartsdesk.com | Miranda Heggie

What a delight to see an almost full Queen’s Hall for a programme solely of contemporary music. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s New Dimensions series, launched this season, sees a host of newer classical works performed and appears to be drawing in regular audience members as well as a younger crowd. Opening with James MacMillan’s Tryst, the orchestra wove together the sometimes angular strands of the music with concise conducting from principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev.

Jan 20, 2025 | theartsdesk.com | Miranda Heggie

Once again, Glasgow’s annual winter festival of traditional music from all parts of the world is formed of an astonishingly packed programme of music, dance, trails and poetry in venues throughout the city. This year’s opening weekend saw two distinctly different orchestral concerts, each pushing the boundaries of what an orchestra can be.