Music Events

Married couple Stephen and Pernille Quigg are returning to Clydesdale Folk Club as The Quiggs.

Stephen has been a stalwart of the Scottish Folk scene for a number of years, as a solo performer and as a member of the band The MacCalmans.

Pernille is from Denmark and together, their close harmony performances of traditional and contemporary folk music is earning them continued praise in both the Uk and Europe. 

BACH arr. Hess: Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring

HAYDN: Sonata in E flat, Hob XVI/52

BEETHOVEN: Sonata in C minor, op 13 ‘Pathetique’

BRITTEN: 3 Character Pieces

CLARA SCHUMANN: 4 Pieces Fugitives, op 15

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Arabeske, op 18

CHOPIN:
Ballade no 1 in G minor

This concert commemorates our
founding President, Lady Christine Erskine-Hill, who died earlier this year.
Christine was a pianist and teacher, and it is fitting that Sarah Beth Briggs
returns to Biggar to present this programme. Sarah is popular with promoters
and critics for her performances and for her engaging and informative
introductions to recital programmes. Her professional career was launched at
the age of eleven, when she became the then youngest-ever finalist in the BBC
Young Musician competition. Four years later, she gained international
recognition as joint winner of the international Mozart Competition in
Salzburg.

Biggar LITTLE Festival is back! A family-friendly festival from Thursday 13th to Sunday 23rd October.  Biggar will be filled with over 50 events in an eclectic programme of music, theatre, literature, exhibitions, arts, workshops, family events and our annual Biggar Day Out.

For links to all events and to book tickets click here 

See the full programme, with details of locations, dates, times and tickets  here 

Local bands will be providing free entertainment at various venues for your pleasure.  Go and support them and round off your day at the Festival with a drink and some music.   These ever popular gigs are a perfect way to catch up.

Further information available here

James Grant is one of the most renowned and respected performers Scotland has ever produced and with the lushness of The Hallelujah String Quartet, this is music to stir the soul.

Buy your tickets here

Local bands will be providing free entertainment at various venues for your pleasure.  Go and support them and round off your day at the Festival with a drink and some music.   These ever popular gigs are a perfect way to catch up.

More information here

Once again we have a full day out for all the family for Biggar Day Out.   Starting with the amazing ARTS and CRAFTS and FOOD fair at the Municipal and St Mary’s Halls – an array of local craft and tastes for you.  Street entertainment – from bouncy castle, face painting, a silent disco tour and many more.  Story Trail – become super heroes and follow our tiger and friends on a musical mission to Save the Planet!  Open doors at the Puppet Theatre.  Open mic at the Corn Exchange.

Find out full details about all locations and more here

Biggar LITTLE Festival is delighted to bring Diane Garisto to Biggar as one of our headline acts of #BLF2022.

Book your tickets online here

Have you been missing the Dukes of Uke? Have we been out of sight, out of mind? Well, in the blink of an eye, we are back with our new show, which features all of our senses. So, follow your nose to the Corn Exchange to have your senses assaulted. This ukulele sensorama will feature songs related to all 5 senses (and possibly even a 6th sense!!).

You may find there is more ukulele than sense on show, but touch wood, you will feel all the better for it….and rest assured, it will all be done in the best possible taste.

UKE KNOW IT MAKES SENSE!!

The wonderful Dougie MacLean will be visiting Biggar for the second time as part of our Biggar Little Festival celebrations

As probably Scotland’s most famous folk singer with songs such as “Caledonia” Dougie is sure to provide an excellent evening.

He will be supported by the trio “BrÒg” – three of Scotland’s finest  musicians – Greg Borland, Sandy West and Sandy Brechin

Local bands will be providing free entertainment at various venues for your pleasure.  Go and support them and round off your day at the Festival with a drink and some music.   These ever popular gigs are a perfect way to catch up.

Further information available here

A troupe of talented singers are bringing an original, vibrant, piano-accompanied production of opera hits and rarities straight to you.  The performers will include Scottish Opera’s emerging talents.

Buy your tickets here

Your final chance to hear this amazing performance from Diane Garisto at #BLF2022.

Buy your tickets here

Local bands will be providing free entertainment at various venues for your pleasure.  Go and support them and round off your day at the Festival with a drink and some music.   These ever popular gigs are a perfect way to catch up.

Further information available here

Saxophonist Matt Carmichael was welcomed as ‘a distinctive new
voice in a crowded scene’ by BBC Music Magazine when he released his first
album “Where Will the River Flow” in March 2021. He has been making a big
impression on audiences since he emerged on the Scottish jazz scene as a
teenager with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland.

Matt’s music reflects his Highland
birthplace, Conon Bridge as the Scottish landscape and traditional music have
shaped his compositions, with their lyrical and emotional qualities and the
river-in-spate excitement of pieces such as The Spey.

A winner of the Peter Whittingham
Development Award in 2019, Matt followed this by appearing in the BBC Young Jazz
Musician 2020 final. Further accolades have emphasised his all-round
capabilities as a musician. Just before he graduated in June 2021, he became
the first student on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s jazz course to win
all three of the awards presented at the end of the academic year – for
improvisation, composition and arranging. Tommy Smith recognised Matt’s
potential early, inviting him to join his own youth jazz orchestra, and has
described Matt as “better than I was at that age.”

Supported by multi-award-winning
pianist Fergus McCreadie, bassist Ali Watson, Tom Potter, UK Young Drummer of
the Year 2016, and Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2017, Charlie Stewart

JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Strum

REBECCA CLARKE: 2 movements for String quartet

FLORENCE PRICE: Adoration arr. Elaine Fine

BOLOGNS: string quartet TBC

FANNY MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet in E flat major

Kana Kawashima and Rachel Spencer, violins, Katrina Lee, viola,
and Alice Allen, cello

The Isola Quartet is an exciting new collaboration between four of
Scotland’s most sought-after string-players. Named after the pivotal work
“Isola the Disinherited” by Scottish writer and feminist Lady Florence Dixie,
the Isola Quartet has a vision of greater equality in classical music
programming. It aims to actively challenge the privilege underpinning the
musical canon and add more voices of female and minority ethnic composers. By
showcasing the music of living composers from under-represented backgrounds
alongside previously undiscovered historical works, the Isola Quartet seeks to
enrich the string quartet repertoire and enthuse, challenge and inspire
audiences.

Have you been missing the Dukes of Uke? Have we been out of sight, out of mind? Well, in the blink of an eye, we are back with our new show, which features all of our senses. So, follow your nose to the Corn Exchange to have your senses assaulted. This ukulele sensorama will feature songs related to all 5 senses (and possibly even a 6th sense!!).

You may find there is more ukulele than sense on show, but touch wood, you will feel all the better for it….and rest assured, it will all be done in the best possible taste.

UKE KNOW IT MAKES SENSE!!

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 22 in F Major, Op. 54

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Toccata in C, Op. 7

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in F minor, No. 23, Op. 57,
“Appassionata”

FRANZ SCHUBERT: Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946

Born in Hungary, Daniel studied at the Franz Liszt Academy
with István Gulyás and Gyöngyi Keveházi and at the Royal Academy of Music with
Pascal Nemirovski, with whom he also completed an Advanced Diploma in
Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

This season sees Daniel debut with Konzerthausorchester
Berlin and National Philharmonic of Ukraine and return to the Barbican for a
performance with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent highlights include debuts with Hallé Orchestra and
Venice Symphony in Florida. In recital he had debuts at the Aldeburgh,
Heidelberger-Frühling, Tallinn and Lucerne international festivals and in
Dublin and Kiev. He has given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Merkin Concert Hall in
New York, St. David’s Hall in Cardiff, Bath International Festival and L’Eglise
Saint Germain in Paris as part of the Weekend à l’Est Festival.

DUKAS: Fanfare from La Peri; Sorcerer’s Apprentice

ARNOLD: Brass Quintet

GABRIELLI: Duo Canzonas

MAHLER: Urlicht from Symphony No. 2

BACH: Little Fugue

GOUGH: Brass Quintet

KAMEN: Quintet

IVESON: Christmas Crackers

BOWMAN: 12th Street Rag

TRADITIONAL: Amazing Grace; Caledonia

Pure Brass is a vibrant, young and well-established brass
quintet based in Glasgow. Formed in 2006 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
the group quickly became a prominent ensemble within the Scottish chamber music
scene.

The quintet has performed in some of the leading venues in
the UK including St Martin in the Fields London, the Usher Hall Edinburgh,
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and at festivals throughout the UK.

Education is also central to the work of Pure Brass, and the
group’s infectious enthusiasm creates a fun learning experience for children of
all ages.

“Women in Song”
– including

Haydn: Arianna a Naxos

Robert Schumann: Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, op. 135

Clara Schumann: Various 

Claude Debussy: Trois Chansons de Bilitis

Madeleine Dring: From Seven Shakespeare Songs

Helen Charlston won first prize in the 2018 London Handel
Singing Competition and was a finalist in the 2019 Grange Festival
International Singing Competition. She won the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize in
the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and is a BBC New Generation Artist. Helen was
a founder participant of the Rising Star of the Enlightenment programme,
working alongside the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is a member of
Les Arts Florissants Young Artist Programme (Jardin des Voix) for 2021/22; and
is a 2018 City Music Foundation Artist.

Described as ‘an amazingly talented pianist’ by Musica,
Emma Abbate performs with many of the leading singers and instrumentalists of
her generation. Based in London, Emma is a professor at the Guildhall School of
Music & Drama, a staff coach at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and
has taught at the Verbier Festival Academy. Following her graduation from the
S. Pietro a Majella Conservatoire in Naples and an Advanced Diploma from the S.
Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome, Emma completed her studies at the Royal Academy
of Music, from where she graduated with distinction. She has been elected an
Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of her ‘significant
contribution’ thus far to the music profession.

VILSMAYR, Johann Joseph: Partita no 6 in A major

WALSH, John: Selected movements from manuscript
(1705), Corelli, Gasparini, Vitali, Lonati and Purcell

BACH, Johann Sebastian: Toccata and fugue BWV 565 for
solo violin in A minor arr. Chad Kelly

MATTEIS, Nicola: Fantasia Con discretion

KELLY, Chad: Phantasia for solo violin

ROMAN, Johan Helmich: Assaggio in D minor

von WESTHOF, Johann Paul: Suite pour le violon seul
sans basse continue parue dans Le Mercure Galant de Janvier 1683A set of Celtic Traditional
tunes and Playford’s Dancing Master

“The unsurpassed British glory
of the baroque violin” (The Times) – Rachel has established herself as a leading
interpreter of the Baroque and Classical music periods

Rachel often conducts baroque orchestras from the violin. She
was the leader of the Gabrieli Consort and Players and in 2004 she took up
guest directorship of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

She also currently works as a guest director with orchestras
in Poland and the united and as soloist with The Academy of Ancient Music.

Rachel is a dedicated educator and holds an honorary position
at both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and
Drama. She also has a relationship with The Juilliard School in New York

DE SAINT-GEORGES, Chevalier
(1745-1799): Sonata for flute & harp in Eb Major

IBERT, Jacques (1890-1962):
Entr’acte

BOULANGER, Lil (1893-1918):
Nocturne

GRIMES, Helen Grimes:
Fantasie for Flute & Harp

ROTA, Nino (1911-1979):
Sonata for flute and harp

PRINCESS ANNA AMALIA of
Prussia (1723-1787): Sonate F-Dur fur Flute

SHANKAR, Ravi (1920-2012):
L’aube enchantee sur le Raga Todi

JONGEN, Joseph (1873-1953):
Danse Lente

WALLEN, Errollyn (b. 1958):
The Isle of Tiree

HARTY, Hamilton (1879-1941):
In Ireland

Aisling Agnew is a flautist from Belfast. She performs
internationally and has toured across many continents, performing at prominent
festivals including Celtic Connections in Glasgow, as both a soloist and
chamber musician. Aisling is host of the successful podcast The Flute NI.

Sharron started playing the harp at the age of ten
in her native Wales, she has pursued a diverse and varied career as a soloist,
chamber and orchestral musician in recitals on the concert platform, recording
and radio broadcasts.

Anna played for us in 2017.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, her professional life has been
completely dedicated to organising benefit concerts for the victims of the war.
Together with several friends and well-known musicians, she raised well over
500,000 Euros for humanitarian aid organisations in March and April 2022 alone.
and is returning to give this special fund-raising concert in Biggar.

(Note: this event is ADDITIONAL to those covered
by the Biggar Music season ticket)