St Mary’s Music School concert celebrates female composers

A CONCERT at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh will celebrate the work of female composers as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival.

“Landscapes and Dances: Songs She Scored Out” will feature music by women whose names were often scored out when their works were published or performed.

The concert, which will take place on 26 October at the city’s Canongate Kirk, will also include the premiere of Dottyville, a piece of chamber music composed by harpist Ailie Robertson an performed by Gaia Duo.

Robertson’s work was inspired by Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart Hill and is the latest piece commissioned as part of the “Seven Hills” project to celebrate the music school’s 50th birthday next year.

“The idea for entitling my piece, Dottyville, comes from the poet Siegfried Sassoon,” she explained.

“Craiglockhart Hospital was one of the most famous shell-shock treatment centres, set up after the battle of the Somme in 1916.

“Two of the finest war poets were treated there – Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.

“It was Sassoon who nicknamed the place ‘Dottyville’ in a letter of 1917.”

Read more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s culture pages.

Plus, don’t miss an interview with Line of Duty star Martin Compston in the November issue of Scottish Field magazine.

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