Welcome to our website! 2015 was a very successful year for the Bardic Trio, here are some of our highlights!
March 2015- Passau Saiten Festival, Germany
Our first outing in 2015 was in the Passau Saiten Festival in Germany, where we premiered the festivals composer in residence and our dear friend, Eddie McGuire's new arrangements of Welsh songs [much to Sharron's delight!] The set, written whilst in Passau, includes two of Wales' most beautiful and well known songs, Suo gan and All through the night. Eddie's incredibly peaceful and serene settings of the songs were linked by the Jamie's lyrical reading of an excerpt from one of Wales' most eminent poets, Dylan Thomas 'Under Milk Wood' with .
We were very honoured to be joined by our special guest, Irish flautist, Aisling Agnew who's dulcet wooden flute tones added an even more special atmosphere to the concert which marked the finale of the festival. The festival audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy the concert, and our encore of the Bardic Trio's own arrangement of Auld Lang Syne- old running into the new version, saw the whole audience on their feet and singing along!
June 2015- St Magnus Festival, Orkney
Bardic Trio were delighted to be invited to perform at the renowned St Magnus Festival in a very chilly Orkney. Our concert was to be held in the magnificent setting of Balfour Castle, and we were honoured to have three pieces taken from the Balfour songbook and composed by the renowned Scottish composer, Artistic Director of the St Magnus Festival and friend, Alasdair Nicolson.
The Balfour Songbook is a collection of songs collected by the Lord Balfour, Laird of the estate in the mid 19th century which date back to music passed orally by the fireside, and link directly to the Island of Shapinsay and Balfour Castle. So it was indeed a great pleasure in performing the songs in Balfour Castle's dramatic drawing room with the backdrop of the water.
We were very pleased that this concert sold out very quickly and do hope to return one day with yet more songs from the collection!
July 2015- Classical Guitar Retreat
Bardic Trio were invited to perform at the Classical Guitar Retreat in the mystical Cathedral of the Isles by our guitarist and Director of the CGR, Matthew. We performed our Burns, Welsh and Balfour song sets to all the budding guitarists, who gave us a very warm reaction- it was wonderful for them to hear the director, Matthew play with his ensemble. Jamie and Sharron also gave workshops on life as a singer and harpist, a lot of questions were asked and at the end the guitarists got the chance to play through a guitar and harp duet arranged by Sharron & Matthew of 'Clychau Aberdyfi'.
Clychau Aberdyfi is a tune close to Sharron's heart, based on a legend that supposed that the church bells of an ancient submerged lost kingdom can be heard ringing below the waves on the beach at the mouth of the river Dyfi in Aberdyfi.
July 2015- Three Choirs Festival, All Saints Church, Hereford
We were very pleased to be asked to be part of the 300th anniversary of the Three Choirs Festival. Our concert, which involved sets of music from Ireland, Wales and Scotland was warmly received by a sell out audience in the pleasant acoustic of the All Saints Church.
August 2015- International Kodaly Symposium, Merchiston School, Edinburgh
We were delighted to be asked to play a concert for the International Kodaly Symposium by our friends at the National Youth Choir of Scotland. It was an honour to play to such an audience of musicians from across the globe. Many friends were made after this concert and we do hope that we will meet them again! The feedback after the concert was that all were 'raving' about our concert!
January 2016- A celebration of Scottish Song with Jamie MacDougall, Celtic Connections, Glasgow
Our lovely tenor and BBC Scotland's Classics Unwrapped presenter hosted an evening of scottish song - aptly timed to coincide with the great Robert Burns' [and Jamie's] birthday. We were excited to be part of the evening which included 3 other bands. The performance was broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland that night and also filmed. Please click this link to view the whole of our performance of Eddie McGuire's arrangements of six Robert Burns song for our trio. http://bbc.in/1JxMDBr
So onwards, we have lots of plans in the pipeline- more to follow! We already have concert tours booking up until 2017 and are planning to record a CD in the summer.
Slainte mhaith from the Bardic Trio!
March 2015- Passau Saiten Festival, Germany
Our first outing in 2015 was in the Passau Saiten Festival in Germany, where we premiered the festivals composer in residence and our dear friend, Eddie McGuire's new arrangements of Welsh songs [much to Sharron's delight!] The set, written whilst in Passau, includes two of Wales' most beautiful and well known songs, Suo gan and All through the night. Eddie's incredibly peaceful and serene settings of the songs were linked by the Jamie's lyrical reading of an excerpt from one of Wales' most eminent poets, Dylan Thomas 'Under Milk Wood' with .
We were very honoured to be joined by our special guest, Irish flautist, Aisling Agnew who's dulcet wooden flute tones added an even more special atmosphere to the concert which marked the finale of the festival. The festival audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy the concert, and our encore of the Bardic Trio's own arrangement of Auld Lang Syne- old running into the new version, saw the whole audience on their feet and singing along!
June 2015- St Magnus Festival, Orkney
Bardic Trio were delighted to be invited to perform at the renowned St Magnus Festival in a very chilly Orkney. Our concert was to be held in the magnificent setting of Balfour Castle, and we were honoured to have three pieces taken from the Balfour songbook and composed by the renowned Scottish composer, Artistic Director of the St Magnus Festival and friend, Alasdair Nicolson.
The Balfour Songbook is a collection of songs collected by the Lord Balfour, Laird of the estate in the mid 19th century which date back to music passed orally by the fireside, and link directly to the Island of Shapinsay and Balfour Castle. So it was indeed a great pleasure in performing the songs in Balfour Castle's dramatic drawing room with the backdrop of the water.
We were very pleased that this concert sold out very quickly and do hope to return one day with yet more songs from the collection!
July 2015- Classical Guitar Retreat
Bardic Trio were invited to perform at the Classical Guitar Retreat in the mystical Cathedral of the Isles by our guitarist and Director of the CGR, Matthew. We performed our Burns, Welsh and Balfour song sets to all the budding guitarists, who gave us a very warm reaction- it was wonderful for them to hear the director, Matthew play with his ensemble. Jamie and Sharron also gave workshops on life as a singer and harpist, a lot of questions were asked and at the end the guitarists got the chance to play through a guitar and harp duet arranged by Sharron & Matthew of 'Clychau Aberdyfi'.
Clychau Aberdyfi is a tune close to Sharron's heart, based on a legend that supposed that the church bells of an ancient submerged lost kingdom can be heard ringing below the waves on the beach at the mouth of the river Dyfi in Aberdyfi.
July 2015- Three Choirs Festival, All Saints Church, Hereford
We were very pleased to be asked to be part of the 300th anniversary of the Three Choirs Festival. Our concert, which involved sets of music from Ireland, Wales and Scotland was warmly received by a sell out audience in the pleasant acoustic of the All Saints Church.
August 2015- International Kodaly Symposium, Merchiston School, Edinburgh
We were delighted to be asked to play a concert for the International Kodaly Symposium by our friends at the National Youth Choir of Scotland. It was an honour to play to such an audience of musicians from across the globe. Many friends were made after this concert and we do hope that we will meet them again! The feedback after the concert was that all were 'raving' about our concert!
January 2016- A celebration of Scottish Song with Jamie MacDougall, Celtic Connections, Glasgow
Our lovely tenor and BBC Scotland's Classics Unwrapped presenter hosted an evening of scottish song - aptly timed to coincide with the great Robert Burns' [and Jamie's] birthday. We were excited to be part of the evening which included 3 other bands. The performance was broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland that night and also filmed. Please click this link to view the whole of our performance of Eddie McGuire's arrangements of six Robert Burns song for our trio. http://bbc.in/1JxMDBr
So onwards, we have lots of plans in the pipeline- more to follow! We already have concert tours booking up until 2017 and are planning to record a CD in the summer.
Slainte mhaith from the Bardic Trio!
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