Saltire Society 90th Anniversary Concert
Preview: Saltire Society 90th Anniversary Concert at St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh on Saturday 14th November 2–4pm
This 90th anniversary concert will celebrate the Saltire Society’s commitment to Scottish culture. We shall be celebrating our musical heritage through the fiddle, voice and clarsach and supporting the first performance of a new composition from a leading young Scottish composer, Gemma McGregor, in the beautiful performance space at St Cecilia’s Hall.
The first half of the concert will feature the world premiere of ‘Hearth’ (for string quartet and Neolithic Bone Flute) composed by Gemma McGregor, which is inspired by the Neolithic settlement at the Ness of Brodgar on Orkney. Gemma McGregor is a composer from Orkney, and her music is recorded on seven albums, published in three anthologies and is performed internationally.
The Saltire Society’s ‘To See Oursels’ programme of artistic commissions on the theme of memorialisation and how a country looks at its past in monuments, sites, stories and objects supported Gemma with creating her composition, and we are delighted that its first performance will be at our 90th anniversary concert in St Cecilia’s Hall.
Gemma will be playing a bone flute and be accompanied by a Glasgow based string quartet of Greg Lawson (violin), Aaron MacGregor (violin), Bianca Wesley Smith (viola) and Santiago Gil-Duarte (cello).
The concert will also include a selection of traditional and contemporary music for the clarsach performed by Elinor Evans and Stephanie Humphreys from the Clarsach Society and a set of traditional Scottish tunes performed by fiddler Ally Douglas. Mezzo soprano Joyce Byrne will perform a number of traditional Scottish songs including pieces by Robert Burns.
Tickets are available from events.humanitix.com/90th-concert
The Saltire Society gratefully acknowledges the support of Dr Sarah Deters, Curator of St Cecilia’s Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum at the University of Edinburgh.
About The Saltire Society
The Saltire Society seeks to encourage everything that might improve the quality of life in Scotland. It works to preserve all that is best in Scottish traditions and to encourage new developments which can strengthen and enrich the country’s cultural life. It acts as a catalyst, celebrant and commentator through an annual programme of awards, lectures, debates and projects. Founded in 1936, the Society is a non-political independent charity with membership and branches throughout Scotland.
About the composer
Dr Gemma McGregor is a composer from Orkney. She studied at University of Aberdeen as an Ogston scholar. Her music is recorded on seven albums and published in three anthologies and is performed internationally. Gemma was commissioned by St Magnus International Festival to write an opera to mark the 900th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Magnus. 'The Story of Magnus Erlendsson' was performed at Saint Magnus Cathedral in 2017. She was commissioned by Historic Scotland to compose a piece for an event called Shadows of our Ancestors. Her piece, 'Land Unseen', described a visit to Orkney by the Romans.
'Hearth' (for string quartet and Neolithic Bone Flute) is inspired by the Neolithic settlement the Ness of Brodgar, and features aspects of music from the time. Gemma’s research about Neolithic music in Orkney lies in three areas – sounds of the environment, sounds made by human activity, and sounds for ritual. The Ness of Brodgar was excavated from 2004 until 2024, and forty stone structures were found, each with a central hearth. The hearth was the centre of activity and was for cooking, songs and sleep. The ever-present sound at the Ness is birdsong. Gemma is going to play birdsong on a replica of the Neolithic bone flute found at the nearby village of Skara Brae. Inhabitants of the Ness would have made sound hammering stone, knapping flint, threshing grain and calling livestock. The larger structures were meeting halls used for ceremonies. Many Neolithic chambers have stone surfaces that were designed to amplify the voice and enhance specific pitches. The halls are a perfect setting for ritual chanting and humming. People travelled to the Ness from all over Europe to attend the Ness ceremonies that marked the summer and winter solstices.