AIYF 2010 Residency Courses Now Open!

Hi everyone,

We are pleased to announce that the residency opportunities for AIYF 2010 are now available. They will give participants the chance to improve your talents and work with some of the best artists from around the world.

Balmoral Splore Traditional Music School: 2 - 6 August 2010

Splore is aimed at musicians between the ages of 12 – 16. It gives young musicians the chance to explore and develop their skills in traditional music. All participants must be grade 2 or above. Classes will be taught in fiddle, whistle, guitar, accordion, piano, clarsach and percussion along with other instruments depending of Splore numbers and time.

For more information or to apply please click here.

Ceol Mor Trad Music Big Band: 30 Jul – 7 Aug 2010

Ceol Mor is AIYF’s trad big music band. It consists of some of the most promising musicians from Scotland and North America. They perform unique arrangements of trad Scottish music by mixing it with different, exciting, musical styles.

The band will have a 9 day residency at the 2010 AIYF, including a week of rehearsals and gigs in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, including a performance at His Majesty’s Theatre.

Ceol Mor is open to musicians aged 16 – 26, grade 5 and above.

For more information or to apply please click here.

Dance Lab: 27 Jul – 5 Aug 2010

Dance Lab gives young dancers of varying levels the chance to explore dance styles indepth with leading tutors from Scotland and across the globe. It consists of three master classes and a youth option listed below:

• Master Class 1: 27 – 29 Jul 2010 with Robert Lori
• Master Class 2: 30 Jul – 1 Aug 2010 with Scottish Ballet
• Master Class 3: 2 – 5 Aug 2010 with Andy Howitt Artistic Director of Y-Dance
• Young Dance Lab, is open to dancers aged 8 - 14 and gives younger dancers the chance to learn different dance styles and stimulate their imaginations.

For more information on either Dance Lab or to apply please click here.

Chamber Music Project: 2 – 6 Aug 2010

The AIYF Chamber Music Project is new to 2010 and gives musicians the chance to work with The Hebrides Ensemble (www.hebridesensemble.org.uk) and Director Will Conway. There are 20 places available in the Chamber Music Project with no accommodation or tuition fees.

For more information or to apply please click here.

Ceol Mor gig a great success!

Review By Fiona Mackenzie at http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/:

FIONA MACKENZIE checks out the next generation of Scottish traditional music talent IMAGINE a younger version of The Unusual Suspects, say 25+ strong, mix in some of Harris Playfair’s commitment and musical passion, add a few exciting new commissions from Corrina Hewat, Dave Milligan and Aidan O’Rourke, and you have ‘Ceòl Mòr’ ...

An eventual by-product of the Splore event in Aberdeen and directed by Dave Francis, this is a large scale Youth Folk Orchestra, although right from the initial bars you’d be fooled into thinking it was more of a rock and brass orchestra, with some fiddles and clarsach along the way too. Donald Shaw’s ‘Harvest’ has set the pace for youth projects in the last few years at Celtic Connections, and it is encouraging that more exciting large-scale projects such as this are emerging to fill the gap for many young musicians who find themselves perhaps in between Fèisean and going professional. Encouraging, too, to see that the vocal aspect of the piece was not all left up to the female of the species. The commitment and enjoyment of the participants was hugely encouraging for the future of ‘traditional’ music.

Three new commissions were performed alongside some of Playfair’s arrangements, including Hewat’s vocal arrangement ‘Boy Fae Kelso’ and Milligan’s’ How did we get to here?’ Aidan O’Rourke’s magical piece will surely become a staple of the repertoire for large groups now. Solo opportunities for both vocalists and instrumentalists were afforded across the board, allowing each section of the ‘orchestra’ to shine at various points in the programme. The brass section lifted the arrangements out of the trad genre and into one all of its own at times, a sort of ‘jazzitional’, for want of a better word. The audience were baying for more. Great potential here for future development and plaudits to the directors for the logistical problems a project such as this must present.

Ceol Mor on Bebo:

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=4528795374

Ceol Mor to play at Celtic Connections

Saturday 26th January 2008, 1.00pm
The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall : Strathclyde Suite

Ceol Mor will be playing at Celtic Connections alongside the six finalists from 2007's Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition.

http://www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/68481