What's on at Woodend Barn
Art for All - Four Week Course in Oils with Neal MacDonald
Wednesday 27 February & Wednesdays 5, 12, 19 March 
1pm - 3pm
4 week course in oils presented by Gray's lecturer Neal MacDonald. Investigate different approaches to colour using oil paint, theory and examples from other artists, including colour charts, complimentary colour and some limited palette work. Subjects will range from figurative to still life, contemporary work and art history, Scottish colourists through to Kadinsky on different surfaces canvas, board and paper.
£24 - must be booked in advance
Introduction to Oils with Neal MacDonald
Wednesday 27 February & Wednesdays 5, 12, 19 March 
7pm - 9pm
Introduction to oil paint with Neal Macdonald using a variety of surfaces - canvas, board and paper and using a limited palette with subjects ranging from still life to figurative.
£50 - must be booked in advance
Film Night - Hidden (Cache) (Cert 15) (2006) (117 mns)
Friday 29 February
7.30pm
Director Michael Haneke. Starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. Georges, who hosts a TV literary review, receives packages containing videos of himself with his family -- shot secretly from the street -- and alarming drawings whose meaning is obscure. He has no idea who may be sending them. Gradually, the footage on the tapes becomes more personal, suggesting that the sender has known Georges for some time.
"a compelling politico-psychological essay about the denial and guilt mixed into the foundations of western prosperity, composed and filmed with remarkable technique. It is one of the great films of this decade" - The Guardian
£4
Folk Session Night
Friday 29 February
8pm
Everybody welcome at the Folk Sessions whether to play, sing or listen - come along and enjoy an evening of good company!
Bring your own refreshments
£2 on the door
The Lang Byre Gallery present Local Reflections
Preview Thursday 6 March. Exhibition then runs until 1st April
Preview 6 - 8pm Exhibition runs until 1 April - viewing Monday to Friday 9.30am - 12.30pm and during all public events
Exhibition of new work in ceramics, printmaking and painting by Fran Marquis, Marga Schnell and Alison Davidson.
Prime Productions present Great Expectations
Saturday 8 March
7.30pm
Charles Dickens’ classic story of love and mystery makes terrific theatre. Pip longs to be a gentleman, but he is haunted by the memory of the mysterious Magwitch. Caught in the web of the reclusive Miss Havisham’s desire for revenge against all men, Pip’s love for the beautiful Estelle seems to be just another dream. Jo Clifford’s beautiful adaptation uses Dickens’ own words to create a classic work of modern British theatre. The production will feature a live soundscape from one of Scotland’s finest young composers, Dave Fennessy, an outstanding cast and all the theatricality audiences have come to expect from the company that brought you Sunset Song and Further Than the Furthest Thing.
£9/£7 concession
Book online at the Booth.
Neat promotion, assisted by Guarantee Against Loss scheme.
Tall Stories present Does a Monster Live next Door?
Sunday 9 March
3pm
Every day, Maud helps her parents make toys for other children. Every night, she hears frightening noises of a monster trying to invade the house. Maud needs help. But when a girl turns up, calling herself Detective Frieda, will she provide the right sort of help? Will Frieda discover the truth behind Maud’s strange family? Tall Stories, the company behind the immensely successful shows The Gruffalo and The Snow Dragon, have a brand new, mysterious, story to tell with all the words, drama, music and physical storytelling style Tall Stories are famous for. Does a Monster Live Next Door? Has been devised for older children, aged six and up, and their grown-ups. Storytelling, humour and music create a world where nothing is what it seems...
£6/£4 concession
Book online at the Booth.
Neat promotion, assisted by Guarantee Against Loss scheme.
Poetry Session
Thursday 13 March
7.45pm - 9pm
Come and share your poems on the subject of luck, superstition and/or anything else....!
Bring your own refreshments
£2 on the door
Mad March Party with Funk Connection
Saturday 15 March
7pm for dinner at 7.30pm - 12.30pm
The Mad March Party is the Barn's spring fundraiser so come along, get down and get funky with Aberdeen's biggest groovers, Funk Connection. A set of floor filling soul and disco classics is guaranteed - wear your dancing shoes! The price includes a 3 course buffet meal and a glass of fizz on arrival. There will be a raffle with an eclectic selection of prizes! Bar.
£30 includes 3 course dinner and a welcome glass of fizz
Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre present Finders Keepers
Tuesday 18 March
10am (running time 40 minutes - no interval)
Quirky animal stories for younger children, Experience the creatures and sounds of the jungle. Meet the mischievous Monkey who loves bananas and finally applaud the wits and brains of Hare in his clash with Lion – King of the Jungle. . . . Trickery, fun and table-top puppetry bring these wonderful stories to life.
"The children absolutely loved it, they were mesmerised by the beautiful animal puppets" - Kirkland Nursery, Garstang.
"A beautiful show" - Dubai International Children’s Festival
£5/£4 concession
Book online at the Booth.
Neat promotion, assisted by Guarantee Against Loss scheme.
WMS AGM and lunchtime concert
Wednesday 19 March 
AGM at 11am followed by lunch at 12 noon.
The WMS AGM is at 11am followed by a soup and sandwich lunch at 12 noon and a concert with pupils from Banchory Academy at 12.30pm. All welcome. Please book for lunch in advance as we need to know how much soup to make!
£5 for lunch - must be booked in advance
Film Night - The Flying Scotsman (2007) Cert 15 (102 mns)
Friday 21 March 
7.30pm
Director Douglas Mackinnon. Starring Jonny Lee Millar, Laura Fraser, Billy Boyd and Brian Cox. The Flying Scotsman is the remarkable true story about the turbulent life of Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree, who built his own bike out of washing machine parts and rode it to gold at the world championships. His triumph went down badly within the sport's corridors of power, however, and Obree's greatest challenges lay around the next bend.
£4
Hayseed Dixie
Wednesday 26 March
8pm
Hayseed Dixie have carved themselves a unique niche in music, playing bluegrass covers of classic rock tunes. Having branched out from the music of AC/DC, from whom they took their initial inspiration (as well as their name) they meld metal and country and re-arrange it for banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitar and upright bass, sung with accents straight out of Deliverance.
£15
Bar
Book online at the Booth.
Folk Session Night at Crathes Hall
Friday 28 March
8pm
Everybody welcome at the Folk Sessions whether to play, sing or listen - come along and enjoy an evening of good company!
£2 on the door
The Eska Mtungwazi Band
Sunday 30 March
7pm
With a unique vocal style in demand worldwide, Eska has collaborated with some of the UK's outstanding talents, including Damon Albarn, Cinematic Orchestra and Courtney Pine. Dubbed the "Queen of UK soul" and compared to people like Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway and Carole King, a tight, electrifying show centred around her jazz/folk/African sound is promised. Her band of musicians have outstanding individual reputations. Julian Ferraretto is a respected string arranger who has worked with Carleen Anderson and Karen Lane. Anselmo Netto, from Salvador, Brazil, played with some of Bahia's premiere Samba groups including De Boca In Boca and Terra Samba. Since arriving in London he plays the Bandolim (Brazilian 12-string Mandolin) regularly with Guida De Palma's Jazzinho, Ed Motta and Gilberto Gil. Robin Malarkey plays bass for Zero 7 and has collaborated with new wave jazz artists such as Bembe Segue and Finn Peters. David Okumo is the founder member of Jade Fox, and is a first call guitarist for London's "broken beat" pioneers Bugz In The Attic, 4hero and Mark de Clive-Lowe. Tom Skinner plays drums for Zero 7, Tomorrow's Warriors, Denise Baptiste and once for the late Stanley Turrentine.
£10 / 38 concession
Bar
Book online at the Booth.
REINVENTING THE REEL: Lau and The Ross Ainslie /Jarlath Henderson Trio
Friday April 4
8pm
Reinventing the Reel presents the state of the art in adventurous traditional music through two of the most exciting groups on the scene, Lau and the Ross Ainslie/Jarlath Henderson Trio. Since their Celtic Connections debut in 2006, Lau have made an enormous impression across the UK and Europe with a style of music that draws on rich traditional influences, fearless improvisation and frightening virtuosity.
Each of these Grade A musicians has a considerable reputation: Fiddler Aidan O’Rourke formed Tabache at the age of nineteen and has gone on to star with Blazin’ Fiddles, the Unusual Suspects, and Kevin Mackenzie’s Vital Signs.
As a session musician he has appeared on over sixty albums with artists including Runrig and Karen Matheson of Capercaille, and his composition credits include the highly acclaimed Celtic Connections commission, Sirius, and work as composer in residence at The Tolbooth in Stirling.
Martin Green’s freewheeling accordion style has featured with Martin Carthy, Kathryn Tickell, JohnRae’s Celtic Feet and Eliza Carthy, with whom he recorded the CD Dinner in 2001. Orcadian guitarist Kris Drever, who provides the rhythmical impetus, combines Lau with a solo career that has seen him win the BBC Folk Awards Horizon gong as Best Newcomer of 2007 and session and sideman work with John McCusker, Kate Rusby and Cathie Ryan.
In addition to releasing their debut CD, Lightweights & Gentlemen, 2007 saw Lau form heavyweight contemporary music band Parallelogram with flautist Brian Finnegan and a trio of top London jazz musicians.
InRoss Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson are two of the most accomplished young pipers around, as evidenced by Jarlath becoming the first Irish musician to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year title in 2003. Playing border pipes and uilleann pipes respectively, they draw on skills passed directly down from the late Gordon Duncan and the renowned Armagh Pipers Club and they infuse their own group with hearty experience gained from playing with the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, Dougie Maclean, Salsa Celtica, Flook! And Capercaillie.
"All musicians aspire to stretch themselves, but few seem so gripped by the urge as LAU.
Together they are nigh-on explosive." - The Scotsman
Bar
£10, £8 conc
Karine Polwart
Saturday 12 April
8pm
You'd be forgiven for thinking that multiple BBC Folk Award winning songwriter, and new mum, Karine Polwart could do with putting her feet up for a while. Instead, a pregnant Polwart decided to record not one, but two very different and distinctive new solo albums for release on her own label imprint, Hegri Music. It was, she confesses, "the kind of crazy plan I'd never make now!" But the result is both "This Earthly Spell" (March 2008), ten trademark Polwart originals that muse upon mortality and technology, duplicity and delight, and "Fairest Floo'er" (December 2007), a stark and intimate collection of her favourite Scots trad songs.
"grippingly understated storytelling" - The Times
"beautifully formed tunes and observations that are not afraid of big questions and soft emotions" - Irish Times
"righteous and beautiful" - Mojo
"Polwart's skill is to make these deeply personal tales utterly universal"Time Out
£14, £12 conc
Bar
Book online at the Booth.
WMS presents Joseph Long (piano)
Saturday April 26
7.45pm
As one of Scotland's finest concert pianists, Joseph Long is a familiar face on the concert circuit in the UK and abroad. His straightforward combination of stimulating programmes, brilliantly thought-out interpretations and informative verbal introductions has led to return visits to many venues. He is noted for his imaginative approach to programme planning and presentation, and his programming of lesser-known or contemporary works alongside mainstream repertoire brings the former to a wider audience than is often the case.Mozart – Rondo in A minor, Chopin – Ballade No. 4, Ronald Stevenson – Beltane Bonfire (Ronald Stevenson’s 80th birthday is in 2008), interval, Beethoven – Sonata Op. 111
Piano masterclass in the afternoon at 2pm – contact Adele Perry on 01330 825209 for more details. Cost of masterclass: £5 on the door
£10, £2 students, 12 and under free