CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF CREAR CONCERTS

You are warmly invited to a musical dinner at Crear on Saturday 18 August at 6.30pm to celebrate ten years of Crear Concerts

The Dinner will be prepared by Alan Boslem at Crear Kitchen.

Musical guests include Christopher Robson (counter tenor), Rosemary Joshua (soprano) and Ursula Leveaux (bassoon) with a concert by Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw.

Numbers are limited so please call 01880 770 369 during office hour.

or email concerts@crear.co.uk to reserve your place. Please notify us of any dietary requirements.

6.30pm for 7pm dinner – dress casual.

Donations welcome to the ‘Piano in Peril’ appeal and to ‘space to create’.

CHRISTOPHER ROBSON (counter tenor)

The Scottish singer, Christopher Robson, is today widely regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the counter-tenor voice, with a repertoire ranging from Medieval monody to the Avant-Garde. He studied briefly at the Trinity College of Music in London in 1972-1973. He also studied with 4 Nigel Wickens, James Gaddarn, Paul Esswood and Helga Mott. He took part in master-classes with Peter Pears, Laura Sarti and Geoffrey Parsons. He was winner of the GLAA Competition in 1979 and finalist in Kathleen Ferrier Competition in 1978.

ROSEMARY JOSHUA (soprano)

Rosemary Joshua is a British soprano, particularly known for her performances in Handel’s operas.

Joshua was born in Cardiff and studied at the Royal College of Music. After completing her studies there, she made her debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Angelica in Handel’s Orlando. Other early operatic appearances were Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Scottish Opera, and both Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier for English National Opera. She has gone on to sing major soprano roles in many of the world’s leading opera houses and festivals, including Adèle in Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen at La Scala, Milan and De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam; Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress at the Glyndebourne Festival, and Zerlina at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

She has appeared in concert across Europe and throughout the UK. Her discography includes, for Chandos Records, the title roles in Handel’s Partenope and Semele, Sophie in highlights from Der Rosenkavalier, and the solo in Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées.

URSULA LEVEAUX (bassoon)

Ursula Leveaux is a sought-after chamber musician and is currently the bassoonist of London’s Nash Ensemble, the resident Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall.

She is also in demand as performer on Period Instruments having recently been appointed Principal Bassoon to the Academy of Ancient Music.

She is a prominent orchestral player having held the position of Principal Bassoon with  the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 1987 to 2007. Ursula is frequently invited to appear as guest principal with major orchestras and ensembles  in Britain and throughout Europe.

KAREN MATHIESON (singer)

Karen Matheson OBE  is a Scottish folk singer, who frequently sings in Scottish Gaelic. She is lead singer of the group Capercaillie and was a member of Dan Ar Braz’s group L’Heritage des Celtes, with whom she often sang lead vocals, either alone or jointly with Elaine Morgan. She and Morgan received much acclaim for their joint lead vocal on the Breton language song “Diwanit Bugale”, the French entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. She made a cameo appearance in the 1995 movie Rob Roy singing the song “Ailein duinn”.

She grew up in the small village of Taynuilt in Argyll. She was awarded an OBE in the 2006 New Year’s honours list.

DONALD SHAW (musician, composer, producer)

Donald Shaw is a Scottish musician, composer, producer, and one of the founding members of the group Capercaillie. His sister is fiddler Eilidh Shaw.

Brought up in Taynuilt, Argyll, a part of the world steeped in Gaelic song and traditional music, Donald Shaw was involved in all styles of music from an early age. Originally taught the accordion by his father, at 16 he won the All-Britain accordion championship performing Paganiniana, Hans Brehme’s renowned adaptation of Paganini’s Theme and Variations. A year later, whilst still at Oban High School, returning to his love of roots music, he co-founded Capercaillie, with whom he still writes, produces and performs.

Throughout his musical life Donald has been involved in composing for film and TV, most recently composing the music for the Bafta nominated film, American Cousins, directed by Don Coutts (starring Shirley Henderson and Dan Hidaya). The film won numerous awards including best film at Milan film festival. He also scored One Last Chance, a feature film written and directed by Stewart Svaasand for Dougray Scott’s Production company Hero Films. For the soundtrack of One Last Chance, Donald recorded with Louisiana musician Dirk Powell (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) to create a score influenced by early American folk music.

In 2002 he was rewarded with two Royal Television Society awards for Best Soundtrack and Best Theme in UK television. The RTS awards were for the acclaimed drama Crowdie and Cream (co-composed with Charlie McKerron) and involved bringing over 20 musicians together from around the world, together with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His expansive 70 minute score for the feature film Transition (released in 2000) was also BAFTA nominated for best soundtrack.

As well as film music, he has produced and recorded on more than 50 albums for artists in all areas of music, and collaborated with high profile artists as diverse as Nanci Griffith, Peter Gabriel, Ornette Coleman, Dulce Pontes, Dan ar Braz, Bonnie Raitt and James Grant. He was musical director for the BAFTA winning BBC arts show ‘Tacsi’, in which he produced collaborations with more than 200 of the finest musicians working in Scotland as diverse as jazz maestro Tommy Smith, piping guru Martyn Bennett and the BT Ensemble. It was with this vast experience that he launched the independent label Vertical Records in 2000, which has released many critically acclaimed albums by artists.

In January 2004 he composed “Harvest”, a commission for the opening night of thee Celtic Connections festival involving 100 musicians from all Celtic regions of Europe. Also involved where some of the finest young traditional musicians from throughout Scotland from the ages of 13 to 18. “Harvest” was also performed at the 2006 Celtic Connections Festival.

In 2006, Shaw was appointed Artistic Director of Celtic Connections 2007. He won the Scots Trad Music Composer of the Year award in December 2006.

He is married to fellow Capercaillie member Karen Matheson. They have a son called Hector.