Preview: Athenaeum Winds

Atheneum Winds, five of Scotland’s finest young wind instrument exponents, are coming to the Eastgate Theatre on Tuesday December 1, in a performance that promises to set concert-goers up nicely for the lead-in to the festive season.

The multi-award-winning musicians of Athenaeum Winds have all studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and have appeared with Scotland’s major orchestras. As a group, they have established a strong reputation for their outstanding musicianship and their imaginative programming, combining mainstream works with neglected or modern pieces.

The group will play a characteristically varied programme, from the Classical elegance of Mozart to the jazz-infused Dance Suite by Norman Hallam (himself a former clarinettist with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra).

There’s also a work by a flautist, the highly attractive Wind Quintet by Frenchman Paul Taffanel (a contemporary of Fauré) and (to show the group holds no prejudice against viola players), the virtuosic Kleine Kammermusik by Paul Hindemith, filled with his characteristic deadpan humour.

Completing the programme are arrangements of French piano music, the short Novelette by Poulenc and the Suite No.1 by Debussy, which includes the famous ‘Girl with the flaxen hair’ and ‘Cakewalk’.

The concert is open to everyone and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets costing £14 for adults (or £7 if accompanying a child under 12) are on sale from the Eastgate Theatre Box Office (01721 725777); admission is free for all school students and for members of Music in Peebles.

Full details of the concert, and more about the artists, 
can be found at www.musicinpeebles.org.uk, together with information about Music in Peebles.