It’s been a thrilling few weeks, preparing for and beginning the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s tour of “Once Upon A Tune” across Scotland. This has coincided with the news that “Once Upon A Tune” has been long-listed for the Yoto Carnegie medal for illustration, 2023. Only 18 books made this list, so I’m absolutely thrilled mine is there. I’m really happy for Otter-Barry books too, it’s great to see small independent publishers gaining recognition. I’m so grateful to them!
The concerts in Scotland are, if anything, an even greater thrill. The repertoire is slightly different to the book. We’ve taken two stories “Flight of the Bumblebee” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, and added Debussy’s “Sunken Cathedral” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Snow Maiden suite”, and given the whole concert a gentle eco theme, exploring bees, floods, and the melting of icy hearts!
“The Sunken Cathedral”, originally a piano work by Debussy, but performed at these concerts in a shimmering orchestration by Colin Matthews, is a real highlight, and I’m excited to announce that this work, and it’s associated story (The Legend of the City of Ys) will be in the companion book I’m currently writing. It’s beautiful, atmospheric music, and the story is terrific, if rather sad. It’s also particular thrill for me to be using “The Snow Maiden” music, as it’s a favourite work of mine, and a favourite story (Which I retold in “Koshka’s Tales”). Many years ago I bought some much-loved LPs of Rimsky-Korsakov’s music, a boxed set, performed by the RSNO. So to be hearing them play it live, with me painting along, all these years later, is wonderful. It’s quite something to work with these exceptional musicians, and the outstanding young conductor Ellie Slorach. Here’s a snap of us together in Motherwell, after a rehearsal.
These are all schools concerts, and free to children – an outstanding outreach project, visiting Motherwell, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth, Inverness and Edinburgh. Thousands of children will see and hear an orchestra for the first time. Thousands of children are hearing wonderful core “classical” repertoire! And many thousands more (around 15,000 and counting!) have signed up to see a filmed version, and to access all the resources provided by the RSNO. It really is an extraordinary project, and I’m thrilled it’s all come to fruition after many months of careful planning. My remit has always been to share this music with children. This is what inspired the book. Now the book is continuing to inspire a love of this incredible music, and I couldn’t be happier. Just look at their faces!
I must also praise all the backstage team, who have been truly exceptional colleagues, helping make the show work – it would be nothing without them. They worked especially hard on the first performances, in Motherwell, filming three shows, plus some extra bits, to create the resources for schools who couldn’t be there. We also filmed some art workshops, which I’m really excited about. Here’s a great capture, mid-performance. The Motherwell venue was so big, we needed THREE screens!
While I’m in Scotland, I’ll also be joining the RSNO for two public concerts, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, where I’ll be painting to Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. It’s a fantastic programme, with the extraordinary Jess Gillam (the astonishing Saxophonist) in the first half, then me and Mussorgsky in the second half. It’s going to be an amazing couple of concerts, really special I think. The Glasgow date is SOLD OUT but there are tickets available for Usher Hall in Edinburgh on March 3rd. You can get tickets here: https://www.rsno.org.uk/liveevent/pictures-at-an-exhibition/
Lastly, huge thanks to Martin Shields for his superb photography. You can find out more about his work here: https://martinshields.com/
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