St Cecilia’s Hall offers a historic venue for a wide range of events. Scroll down to see what we have on!
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Each tour takes place at 2pm and lasts approximately an hour. Join us on these guided tours of the musical treasures on display at St Cecilia’s Hall, Scotland’s oldest concert hall and home to the University of Edinburgh’s Musical Instrument Collection. Topics and guides vary daily – see the schedule below for details.
One day only. When Ptolemy tries to usurp the throne, Cleopatra seduces Caesar to win it back. A one-hour reduction of Handel's most performed opera, Giulio Cesare. An Operaland production featuring Michael Temporal-Darrell (baritone) as Caesar, Alice Wang (soprano) as Cleopatra, with Miguel Carranza's inspired costume and stage design. The music will be performed on …
Marin Marais, Silvius Leopold Weiss and J.S. Bach, recognised for the extraordinary beauty of their works, were first admired as virtuosos of their respective instruments: viol, lute, and keyboard. As composers and as improvisers, they took inspiration in each other's harmonic language and flourishing and particular ornamentation. These three composers are brought together again, with …
In this concert you will hear a variety of piobaireachd, the classical music of the great Highland bagpipe, Scotland’s national instrument. The musicians, Alasdair Henderson, John MacDonald and Brodie Watson-Masse, are all leading exponents of this wonderful music. The tunes will be played in continuous fashion, giving a unique musical experience. Most piobaireachd are composed …
George Weir, a young violinist at present studying at the RCS in Glasgow, performs music for violin and harpsichord by Bach (Sonata in G BWV 1021), Handel (Sonata in D major) and Corelli (Sonata op. 6 no. 5), as well as an unaccompanied violin piece by the little-known Austrian composer Johann Vilsmayr. John Kitchen accompanies …
This concert will pay homage to jazz clarinettists of the 1920/30s including Benny Goodman and Barney Bigard. Featuring an exciting young trio of Glasgow’s finest jazz musicians: Tom Gibbs (clarinet), Alex Handyside (guitar) and Timmy Allan (bass). The performance will include period instruments from University of Edinburgh’s world-famous Musical Instrument Collection, notably a clarinet from …
The Edinburgh Renaissance Band with the Edinburgh Early Dancers return for 2025 with a lively performance of their ever-popular Viol Rackett Show, our best-loved programme of music and dance from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The award-winning troupe of eleven musicians show off a large range of period instruments, including shawms, cornetti, sackbuts, nakers, …
At the Heart of the Hundred Years' War. An exploration of the music heard during the period of the Hundred Year War – spanning from Burgundy, the Flemish region and England. Programme includes music by Guillaume de Machaut, Gilles Binchois, Guillaume Dufay and more.
There are two performances of this concert: 13:00-14:00 and 15:00-16:00 Be transported to 17th century Venice, Naples... baroque into the 20th century. Packed delighted audiences in 2024. Exciting new programme with beautiful music by the greats – Monteverdi, Caccini, Ferrari, Lundi, Velasquez, Falvo and more. Weep and laugh – the wonder of love. Elspeth McVeigh, …
Back by popular demand, the self-taught and self-proclaimed David Munrow of punk brings his Early Music Show to the beautiful surroundings of St Cecilia's Hall for the fourth time. He explains how his fascination with early music came about, inspired by his first encounter with the humble recorder aged six. He'll demonstrate the crumhorn, cornamuse, …
The critically acclaimed team of McDonald and Kitchen perform virtuoso works for recorder with continuo and obbligato harpsichord by Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann and Corelli, which also exist in alternative versions. Ever commercially astute, Telemann often specified idiomatic alternative instrumentation for his works. Arranging Italian violin sonatas for recorder was almost a cottage industry, and Bach's …