Scottish Early Music Consort

A Conversation with Angels: the music and writing of Hildegard of Bingen

Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, in a calm moment between offices and engagements, sits in her garden, repotting seedlings, correcting her secretary’s proofs, and listening to the angels singing... This show seeks to bring a little of Hildegard’s extraordinary diversity of mind to a twentieth century audience, using her words, her music and her pictures. Performed in Glasgow and at Stationers’ Hall in London.
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Celtic Voyages

Voyages: from Iona to Galicia, from the sacred to the secular, between traditional, ancient and contemporary music and dance, from life to death and into life again, the sea does not divide the Celts, but unites them. This is music theatre, created on Mull, which weaves together ancient Scottish plainsong in honour of Columba, and medieval Galician lovesongs, with contemporary and traditional Gaelic song and dance, performed by traditional and classical singers and dancers. An atmospheric and passionate evocation of the soul’s journeyings. Performed on Mull, Iona, Benbecula and Lewis, in Glasgow, and as part of the British Council’s Scotsfest in Milan.

For text and translation of one of the most beautiful pieces in the show, the 'Lament of the Swan', click here

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St Kentigern’s Easter Journey

The Easter story in plainsong: the three Maries and St John at the foot of the Cross; the angels at the open tomb; and the encounter on the road to Emmaus. These short but powerful dramas, from the 12th-15th centuries, with the addition of verses from the Office of St Kentigern, patron of Glasgow, recounting his legend, are brought to life with Byzantine-inspired costumes and fantastic lanterns in a severely beautiful production. Performed at the North Wales festival in St Asaph’s Cathedral, and in Kentigern’s own cathedral in Glasgow.

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Scenes of Love and War

Seventeenth century music-drama and the art of recitative: Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda is the climax of a sequence of dramatic pieces by Monteverdi and his English contemporaries which tell their own emotional story. Performed throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and in Birmingham, Belfast, and Glasgow.

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Celebrating Mr Purcell

Reminiscences of Purcell's contemporaries from the theatre world of 1695 form a dramatic elegy for Henry Purcell. Some of his greatest theatre music is performed in its original play-context, by actors and singers, who tell the story of Purcell’s short but productive life. Performed in Glasgow and London, a Covent Garden Festival commisson for Purcell's tercentenary.
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Lady Hamilton’s Attitudes

Inspired by Haydn’s cantata The Battle of the Nile, written for Emma Hamilton to sing in praise of her lover Lord Nelson, this programme includes Vanhal’s Battle of Trafalgar sonata, Haydn’s Scots song-settings, and his Arianna a Naxos for soprano and fortepiano. At home with the Hamiltons (Nelson is away at the Admiralty...), Emma sings and performs her celebrated Attitudes, while Sir William muses on life, love, volcanoes, and the Navy. Performed in Aberdeen, Glasgow and, by special invitation, for the opening of the Vases and Volcanoes exhibition at the British Museum.
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A new production of this show was made for Trafalgar year, 2005 and is still available for touring.

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