Latest news with #RoyalConservatoireofScotland
Daily Record
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Talented Ayrshire musician performs in national event at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Luke Parkhill was the South Ayrshire representative in the national event. Talented trumpeter Luke Parkhill from Belmont Academy, who is the current South Ayrshire Senior Young Musician of the Year, performed at the Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year National Final at Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The competition, which is now in its fourth year, saw young people from each of Scotland's 32 local authorities come together to perform in front of a panel of judges, with Luke representing South Ayrshire. Depute Provost Mary Kilpatrick attended the event to cheer on Luke as he performed 'Oscar Bohme Trumpet Concerto – 1 st Movement' on stage.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Scottish stories being told at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
With new shows and events being added every week to the line-up, here are just a few highlights from the ever-expanding programme that is taking shape. Read more: When Billy Met Alasdair, Scottish Storytelling Centre: Award-winning writer Alan Bissett's show is inspired by an encounter between Sir Billy Connolly and Alasdair Gray when the comic met the writer at the launch of his novel Lanark in 1981. Bissett, who is best known at the Fringe for The Moira Monologues, will be exploring the 'origins stories,' struggles and triumphs of Connolly and Gray in a show given a sneak preview at this year's Glasgow Comedy Festival. The birdlife of Shetland has inspired Kathryn Gordon's Fringe show A Journey of Flight. (Image: Supplied) A Journey of Flight, Dace Base: Choreographer Kathryn Gordon has created immersive experience inspired by the birdlife of Shetland, where she lives. Dance, live music and visual projects will be combined to explore themes of arrivals, departures, place and flight. The piece, which was created in Shetland is aimed at encouraging audiences to 'reflect on the delicate balance between 'nature, movement and our emotional ties to place and each other.' River City and Shetland star Gail Watson will be appearing in Faye's Red Lines at the Fringe. Windblown, Queen's Hall: A palm tree removed from Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden after more than 200 years has inspired a new stage from award-winning singer-songwriter Karine Polwart. The Sabel bemudana palm was removed last year from the tropical palm house after outgrowing the building, which is currently closed for refurbishment. The tree, which had been transported to the attraction in the 1820s from its previous home on Leith Walk, had 'outgrow' the building and was said to be too frail to be relocated again. Johnny McKnight will be performing his pantomime-inspired stage show She's Behind You at this year's Fringe. (Image: Traverse Theatre) Polwart's show will imagine the poetic and musical voice of the tree in what she describes as 'an exploration of historical legacies, ecological loss, collective ritual and the multi-generational promise of gardens.' She's Behind You, Traverse Theatre: Scottish theatre-maker Johnny McKnight will be reflecting on 'a lifetime spent in pantomimes' in the one-man show he is creating with award-winning director John Tiffany, who was at the helm of the recent Edinburgh stage hit Wild Rose. McKnight, who has written more than 30 pantos and played 18 dames himself, will be looking back at his personal experiences across 20 years of Scottish production. The show, which is being adapted from a lecture McKnight delivered in full custom for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, is expected to be exploration of identity, courage and acceptance. The Traverse has billed She's Behind You as 'a celebration of shifting traditions and the unexpected beauty found in the anarchy of pantomime.' Faye's Red Lines, Gilded Balloon: River City and Shetland actress Gail Watson portray a woman with a paralysing fear of intimacy in Rab C Nesbitt creator Ian Pattison's play. The character played by Watson, who starred alongside Andy Gray and Jordan Young in last year's Gilded Balloon hit Chemo Savvy, will confront her long buried past and her solitary life. Skye: A Thriller, Summerhall: The Isle of Skye provides the backdrop to best-selling author and theatre producer Ellie Keel's debut play. It explores the events which unfold when four siblings on holiday believe they saw their their father on a beach four years after he passed away. The show is billed as 'a relentless search for the truth, on a rugged island where real people and ghosts seem to walk hand in hand among the mountains and lochs.' 24 Weeks, Gilded Balloon: The debate over reproduction rights in Scotland has inspired a play set in a not-so-distant future Scotland where abortion has been made illegal. The show focuses on the relationships between three friends who are divided on what to do when one of them falls pregnant.
Scotsman
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Actor who battled Matt Damon in Bourne Ultimatum to lead Glasgow stage fight workshop
The course is being run in association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... An actor who battled Matt Damon in the Bourne Identity and a Japanese martial arts specialist who choreographed key scenes in Kill Bill are to teach a stage and screen fighting workshop in Glasgow. Joey Ansah, who gained international recognition as Desh in The Bourne Ultimatum, is to teach the course alongside Tetsuro Shimaguchi, who gained international acclaim as the sword fight choreographer and actor - Crazy 88's 'Miki' - in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol 1. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Run by Stage Fight Scotland and Acting Action Ltd, in association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the four day course, The Claymore, billed as the first of its kind in over a decade, will teach stunts, stage combat, swordplay and martial arts. Joey Ansah arriving for the UK Premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum, in 2007. | PA Also teaching the course is Paul MacDonald, founder of the MacDonald Academy of Arms and chief swordmaker at MacDonald Armouries and Anita Nittoly, a stunt performer, fight director and stage combat instructor, whose stunt credits include The Boys, The Expanse and DC's Titans. Course director Rob Myles, a tutor at the Royal Conservatoire, first trained with Mr Shimaguchi when he was living in Japan 15 years ago and working as an English teacher, as well as a jobbing actor. 'I went over principally to train in martial arts, karate, judo, jujitsu and kendo, and then I was entered into a karate sparring session with a guy who was new to the club that day, and he had a long sleeve shirt,' he recalled. 'Long sleeves mean tattoos, which in Japan means that kind of very respectful version of organised crime.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Tetsuro Shimaguchi. | Rob Myles A few hours later, he was taken to A&E with a collapsed throat. 'That whole experience was a big epiphany for me of, 'Oh, I don't want to do this for real. I want to be a performer, and I want to tell stories, and if I want to be involved in violence, it's the safe depiction of it, not the painful kind.' Rob Myres, tutor at the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow, is leading the course. | Rob Myres He started training under Mr Shimaguchi before working to become an accredited tutor through the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat. 'I just absolutely fell in love with it,' he said. Now, he teaches stage and screen combat at the Royal Conservatoire, where he also holds short workshops which are open to the public. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He wants to pass on his skills to actors and stunt performers to boost the skill set available to directors in Scotland. 'I'm trying to bring all of those people together here to train and to develop those skills so that when these big productions come to Scotland, there are people from Scotland that can do the work for them they need doing,' he said. 'I imagine the core audience would probably be actors, performers, martial artists, stunt men, people of that nature. But then you can add to that people that do physical theatre, people who work in film, actors that are already there and want to update their skill set. 'But if there are people who are enthusiasts, people who just love it and have always dreamed of being a part of this, there's no better way to find out what that really means than coming to this workshop.'
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Beneditti entrances young and old in SCO finale
Keith Bruce four stars JOHANNES Brahms and child star violinist Joseph Joachim were friends from their teenage years, although well into their maturity when Brahms composed a concerto for him to play. Felix Mendelssohn was a published composer at 13 and conducted the precocious Joachim in London when the violinist was 12. There was plenty in the SCO's season finale programme to inspire the many young people in the audience, attracted by Scotland's classical star, Nicola Benedetti. The Brahms Violin Concerto has long been a staple of her repertoire, the rhythmic dance of the closing movement perhaps identified with her as much as any piece of music. Partnered with the chamber orchestra and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, the concerto was heard as a beautifully-integrated whole, and her dialogue with guest first oboe Jose Masmano Villar in the slow second movement as much of a highlight. There is still an arresting ferocity in Benedetti's first entry at the start of the work, and mature precision in her statement of the chords played across three strings now accompanies the expressive intensity that her fans, young and older, love in her playing. Emelyanychev ensured that every dynamic detail of the rich orchestration was heard in immaculate balance with his soloist. After the interval, the conductor's skills were even more in evidence on Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, an old war horse brought to vibrant new life. Whether or not the opening bars conjure up images of Romantic ruins at the foot of the Royal Mile – and despite the stormy weather depicted in sound being a long way from the current climate – this is music most people already know. Few, however, will have heard the clarinet's statement of the opening theme so perfectly placed in the mix, or the cellos recapitulation of the melody in the slow movement so richly-toned. Alert young eyes might also have spotted the viola section cope with their leader's broken string with slick professionalism. The SCO strings added an exquisite encore of the second of Edvard Grieg's Elegiac Melodies, Last Spring. It was a poignant tribute to the orchestra's former principal cello David Watkin, who become a much-loved teacher at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland when illness cut short a stellar playing career, and who died aged 60 last week.
Press and Journal
18-05-2025
- Health
- Press and Journal
The Ballater family whose cuddly bear helped thousands of children accept their stoma
Jenny Gow's daughter Eilidh was just three years old when she underwent life-changing surgery to have a stoma fitted. It was a frightening and confusing time; not just for the toddler, but for the entire family. 'We were told the stoma would make her well, and we jumped at that chance,' Jenny recalls. 'But the first stoma I ever saw was Eilidh's.' That moment — difficult as it was — planted a seed. And ten years ago, it bloomed into something extraordinary: A Bear Named Buttony. The Ballater-based charity, which Jenny launched with the help of local volunteers, now supports children and families across the UK who are living with stomas. Each child receives a cuddly bear, fitted with a replica pouch just like theirs, designed to make the experience less isolating. The idea for the bear came from a friend who sewed a button onto a soft toy as a stand-in for Eilidh's stoma. That original gift became Buttony. 'It just helped Eilidh feel seen,' Jenny says. 'And that's what the bears still do. They help kids see themselves. They say: this is normal, this is okay.' Now, a decade on, the charity is celebrating its tenth anniversary — and doing so with a very personal touch. A children's book, Nothing Can Stop Bear Now, is being launched this week, written by Jenny's youngest daughter Louise, a creative writing student at Stirling University. Louise grew up in the shadow of her older sister's condition. While Eilidh was in and out of hospital, Louise found it difficult to talk about the stoma. 'When Eilidh was younger, she wasn't comfortable with anyone knowing about the stoma,' Jenny says. 'There was so much stigma towards bowel disease generally. 'So Lou, as a younger sibling, found that difficult to not be able to talk about what was happening.' The new book tackles this head-on, showing how powerful it can be to talk about things openly. '[Louise] would never say she had anything other than a good childhood,' Jenny says, 'but it clearly wasn't easy. 'When there is a chronically ill child in the family, there was a lot of attention on one child and the other child having to make do.' Eilidh, now 27, still lives with a permanent stoma, which was the result of a congenital issue with bowel development. But she's also living a full life, studying film directing at Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and doing so, in her mum's words, 'with no fear'. 'She bungee jumps. She goes for everything. Maybe that's come from what she's already had to face,' Jenny says. Though the early years were tough, Eilidh is a proud supporter of the charity she inspired. 'She loves what it's become, that it helps other kids realise they're not alone.' And as for the stoma itself? 'She used to say it was prettier than a bumhole,' Jenny laughs. 'And at the end of the day, poo is poo — doesn't matter where it comes from.' Over the past decade, more than 11,000 Buttony Bears have been sent out to children across the country. But it's not just the children who benefit. 'We had a message recently from a granny,' Jenny says. 'She told us her grandson's bear helped the whole family adjust — his sister, his cousins, his aunts and uncles. That was really powerful to hear.' Another parent wrote to say their child, once too embarrassed to go to school, had changed their attitude after being given a colourful pouch cover: 'He's been showing everyone who wants to see it. Thank you for changing his outlook.' One message said simply: 'Buttony Bear is magical.' It's feedback like that which keeps the entirely volunteer-run charity going. Based in Ballater, the team includes around 45 people, five of whom have been with Jenny since day one. 'It's a labour of love,' she says. 'Some of us have no personal connection to stomas — they just see the difference it makes and want to be part of it.' Much of the stigma around stomas, Jenny believes, comes from lack of exposure and conversation. It is something she's determined to change. This year, the team will launch an educational pack for schools across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, designed to explain how the gastrointestinal system works and why some people need stomas. 'We want kids to grow up understanding it,' Jenny says. 'If you explain things early, they're not scary anymore.' She's also seen progress in wider society, not least from celebrities who've spoken publicly about their own stomas, including comedian Louie Green. 'Louie's an adult with a stoma,' says Jenny, 'but he was gifted a bear to help his children adapt and they found that really helpful.' As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, Jenny and her team launched Louise's new book at the Darroch Learg Hotel in Ballater last month. As part of the celebrations, anyone can pay £5 to sponsor a book for a Buttony child. Among the special touches was a letter of support from Queen Camilla, a local Deeside resident who has long championed community causes. 'It's really special,' Jenny says. 'It means a lot to have that kind of support — but honestly, what matters most is the children.' And though Jenny is already looking to the next 10 years, she's able to look back with pride on what the Ballater charity has achieved. 'We never imagined it would grow like this,' Jenny says. 'We just knew we had to do something.'
