Music at Woodend Barn
Folk Session Night
Friday 25 January
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
Music Improvisation Group
Sunday 3 February
2pm - 4.30pm
This event is inspired by Fred Frith's improvisation workshop during the sound-festival 07 and is for all beginners in this field. Please bring instruments/voices and open minds. Phone Haworth 01771 624272 or Fiona 01330 825274 for more info.
£5
WMS presents Navarra String Quartet
Sunday February 10
3pm
Xander Van Vliet - violin, Marije Ploemacher - violin, Simone van der Giessen - viola, Nathaniel Boyd - cello). Winners of the 2005 Florence International Chamber Music Competition and in 2007 a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowshihp, the Navarra Quartet are fast emerging as on of the outstanding quartets of this generation. This afternoon's programme is Haydn's String Quartet in B flat, Op.76 No.4 (The Sunrise), Bartok's String Quartet No.1, Op 7 and Schubert's String Quartet No.13 in A minor, D.804 Rosamunde.
This concert is sponsored by the Tunnell Trust.
£10, £2 students, 12 and under free
The Jani Lang Band (Balkan Ceilidh)
Friday February 15
8pm
After a successful year of gigs and festivals, the Jani Lang Band (Balkan Ceilidh) return to the Woodend Barn with their first album and new members including Hungarian masters of eastern-european Gypsy music, the world famous Kalman Balogh (ex Vasmalom) on cimbalom and the fantastic singer-guitar player Guszti Balogh. This special night is going to be the launch of the band's new album, called Devil in a Box. An unmissible opportunity to see the band with a full line-up including these fantastic musicians from Hungary. Prepare yourself for the hottest Balkan-Gyspsy music this country ever produced!
Jani Lang - Fiddle, Vocal; Tom Roche - Button Box; Martin MacDonald - Guitar; Kalman Balogh - Cimbalom; Guszti Balogh Vocal, Guitar; Mike Rae - Bass; Aly Salam - Percussion
Bar
£8, £6 conc
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
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
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
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. Ross 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
WMS presents Eleanor Dennis (soprano) with Christina Lawrie (piano)
Saturday May 17
7.45pm
Eleanor Dennis (soprano) with Christina Lawrie (piano) Songs: Purcell; Hark the Echoing Air and Sweeter than Roses; Faure; Apres un Reve, Chausson; Le Colibri, Mozart; Se'il Padre perdei, Strauss; All mein Gedanken and Du meines Herzen's Kronelein, Quilter; Love's Philosophy, Gurney; Sleep and Bridge, Love went a-riding. Solo piano: Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata in C minor op. 13, Chopin's Ballade no. 4 in F minor op. 52 and Liszt's Mephisto Waltz no. 1.
£10, £2 students, 12 and under free