Students learn from composer Errollyn Wallen

MUSICIAN Errollyn Wallen has been appointed as the visiting professor of composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow. Her role includes one-to-one teaching, as well as leading seminars and workshops. Born in Belize, Wallen gave up her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York to study composition at the…

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Outdoor venue for Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival

ORGANISERS have moved Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival from The Biscuit Factory to The Corn Exchange’s outside venue. The event, which is due to take place on 9 and 10 October, will feature Scottish breweries including Fierce, Vault City, 71 Brewing, and new kid on the block Newbarns. Foreign breweries sending beer to the festival include…

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Pinot punch-up: New Zealand v Oregon

Who will come out on top in a comparative tasting between Oregon and New Zealand? Peter Ranscombe grabs his whistle to act as referee. ONE grape unites most if not all wine lovers – pinot noir. Its spiritual homeland is Burgundy in France, yet winemakers around the world use the variety to test their mettle, from…

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A delicious lemon mousse dessert recipe to enjoy

Tim and Anna Dover enjoy cooking up a treat. Tim Dover has honed his cookery skills in some of the world’s finest kitchens, through spells at The Witchery in Edinburgh, The Peat Inn in Fife, Daniel in New York and with Martin Wishart in Leith. Tim and Anna’s children are already passionate about cooking, and…

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Car clubs and bike share schemes rise in Scotland

More Scottish people are ditching their own cars and are finding new ways to travel through taking up travel incentives like pay-per-drive car clubs or joining bike share schemes. CoMoUK, a charity that promotes the environmental, economic, health and social benefits of shared transport for the public good, has published two new reports into car…

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The globetrotting miniature Kelpies return home

Scotland’s Kelpie maquettes have returned home after more than six years of international globe trotting. The original 1:10 scale maquettes, designed by sculptor Andy Scott, will returned to the Helix Park, Falkirk on Monday, after visits to places including New York, Chicago, Milan and London, and for the first time, the smaller versions have met…

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Glasgow has itself a Moët little Christmas

A new Moët & Chandon cocktail tastes just peachy in the Dear Green Place, as Peter Ranscombe discovers. IT MIGHT not be fashionable among wine writers to say it, but I do enjoy a glass of Moët. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of grower Champagnes, the sparkling wines made by farmers…

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Smokehead whisky ready to launched The Smoker

Smokehead Islay Single Malt Whisky has teamed up with Tyler Lunceford over the past nine months to build a one-of-a-kind, customised Ducati, inspired by vintage motorcycles. And now the time has come to reveal ‘The Smoker’. The expertly crafted motorcycle will be unveiled to media, trade and bike fanatics on 12 November in London at…

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Cask Trade gears up for its first whisky auction

Peter Ranscombe meets Simon Aron, who has created a platform to put barrels of Scotch under the hammer. BARELY a week goes passed when a whisky auction doesn’t hit the headlines, with investors bidding for record-breaking Scotch in London, New York and Hong Kong. Yet the vast majority of those spirits swap hands in bottles,…

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The mystery and hunt for the fabled Blue Horse

Dark and atmospheric, this much-anticipated novel set in the art world tells the story of George Newhouse who is a newly appointed art curator at the Public Gallery in Edinburgh. His obsessive search for a missing Dutch masterpiece, the titular Blue Horse, leads him from Edinburgh to London, Venice and New York. The painting’s provenance…

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