St Cecilia's Hall

Weekly Tour
2025-09-26 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join Dona to learn all about our early keyboard instruments.

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The Edinburgh Quartet - St Cecilia's Lunchtime Series
2025-09-23 13:00 - 14:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
The Edinburgh Quartet launches a new series with the first of six concerts featuring Beethoven’s six op.18 string quartets. Since their founding in 1960, ‘Scotland’s string quartet’ has brought world-class classical music to every corner of Scotland and beyond. The quartet is thrilled to begin this collaboration with St. Cecilia’s Hall, Scotland’s oldest concert hall (1763), and looks forward to welcoming you to this special lunchtime series. The programme for the first concert will be as follows: Ludwig van Beethoven – string quartet op. 18 no. 1 Caroline Shaw – The Orangery, The Beech Tree Antonin Dvorak – string quartet op. 96, ‘American’

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Gong Bath at St Cecilia's Hall
2025-09-20 14:00 - 15:30 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Experience the mesmerising sounds of gongs resonating in the unique setting in St Cecilia’s Concert Hall, Edinburgh.

Take some time out from the busy lives we live and simply ‘be’ with therapeutic sound. Typically, you lay down to receive the sound which enables your mind, body and senses to subtly release, inviting a sense of relaxation. There are spaces available to lay down, but if you prefer there are comfortable seating options available to attend as a viewer/listener.

* What is involved?

You may be guided with words to encourage your body, mind and senses to shift into a presence of being. People who have attended sessions in the past have felt this beneficial to prepare for the sound; however, on occasion this is not included if Melissa is intuitively guided to move directly with sound.

You will receive approximately 60 minutes of sound created by gongs, shruti box, voice and some other ambient sounds. This is an opportunity for you to immerse with sound and switch off to the outer world.

* What do I need to bring?

If you are laying down, you will be for approximately 60 minutes. Please be mindful of your own body and what may support it to be comfortable. Many people bring a yoga mat and something thicker to place on top of this; a cushion or pillow for your head; a blanket; eye-mask; and whatever else you feel may be an enhancement to help your body to be comfortable.

* Are you are a student?

This event opens a warm welcome to new and returning students studying in the beautiful city of Edinburgh with special tickets available.

* Are you a member of the public living in or visiting the city?

The invitation to attend is open to you also at the general or concession rate!

* Please note that all participants are required to be in silence with phones off or on silent/airplane mode. Talking/whispering is not permitted since this is a therapeutic experience, together we would like to embrace a collective agreement to support each other to cultivate this environment.

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Weekly Tour
2025-09-17 14:00 - 15:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join David to learn about all things keyboard to bagpipes.

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Weekly Tour
2025-09-13 14:00 - 15:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join Jim to learn about the development of instruments over time.

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Instrumental Women of Fender
2025-09-04 18:00 - 19:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join us on Thursday, 4th September at St Cecilia’s Hall for one of our informal talk series lectures with historian Jayme Kurland. In 1946, the electric guitar company Fender began its operations in southern California and relied on a small group of Mexican American women to wire amplifiers, wind pickups, and assemble their products, among other tasks. In this talk, historian Jayme Kurland discusses who the women of Fender were, the unique skills that they brought to their work, and their impact on American popular music. Jayme Kurland is a Ph.D. candidate in history at George Mason University in Virginia, US. She has worked with musical instrument collections in curatorial positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Her dissertation project, “Instrumental Women: Amplifying Women’s Labor at Fender Electric Instruments Company (1946-1965),” examines the contributions of Mexican American women workers to the manufacturing of electric guitars and amplifiers in Fullerton, California. Jayme also founded the digital history website Instrumental Women which highlights the contributions of women to musical instrument making, past and present.

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Weekly Tour
2025-09-02 14:00 - 15:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join Claire to learn all about some of the oldest keyed instruments in our collection.

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Maths Week Scotland Family Trail
2025-09-02 - 2025-09-29 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join us this September for our brand new Maths Week Scotland Family Trail!

Following the usual route around the museum, see if you can spot Finn Finity hiding in the galleries and answer his musical maths questions! A special Maths Week Scotland badge awaits those who complete the trail.

Booking is free, however, we ask that you book your tickets in advance to avoid overcrowding. Donations are appreciated. Multiple time slots are available during Museum opening hours.

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Sounds of St Cecilia’s V: The Art of the Arranger
2025-08-23 15:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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 recycling of his own music resulted in masterworks such as a solo violin movement becoming a full-scale cantata. Featuring the 1709 Barton harpsichord. ‘Pure delight’ (Scotsman). In support of the FoSCH bursary fund.

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Attila the Stockbroker's Early Music Show
2025-08-22 14:00 - 15:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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, rauschpfeife, sausage bassoon and loads of different recorders, and play songs from his 2018 album Restoration Tragedy about the Levellers, Diggers and Ranters and their challenge to Cromwell during the Commonwealth after the execution of Charles I in 1649.

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Meraviglia d’Amore: The Wonder of Love
2025-08-21 15:00 - 16:00, 2025-08-21 13:00 - 14:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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, accompanied by superb musicians: Sean Heath, historic harpsichord (courtesy museum) and Andrew Liddell, baroque violin and viola da gamba, bring ‘haunting… purity… informed interpretation… storytelling quality – metaphorical journey’ **** (BroadwayBaby.com). ‘Calm… perfect diction’ **** (ThreeWeeks). An hour of delicious sound which brings pure joy.

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Sounds of St Cecilia’s IV: L’Homme Armé
2025-08-20 15:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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.

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Edinburgh Renaissance Band: Viol Rackett Show
2025-08-17 15:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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, viols, fiddles, crumhorns, gemshorns, bells, bagpipes and racketts, accompanied by colourful costumed dancers. Fronted by musical director Murray Campbell, whose lively presentation provides a delightful show. Suitable for all ages. Children especially welcome and free, but ticketed.

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South Asian Heritage Month Community Day
2025-08-16 10:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join us on the 16th of August 2025 for our first ever South Asian Heritage Month Community Day! We have a great line-up of performers, workshops and tours to showcase the vibrant and diverse practices that are tied to our collections are still very much alive today. There will also be a mehndi artist on site, and our various family trails available as well. Tickets are free, but we encourage you to book ahead to avoid any disappointment! All performances and workshops are drop-in and will be first come, first served.

Full programme will be shared closer to the day.

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Sounds of St Cecilia’s III: The Early Jazz Clarinet
2025-08-15 15:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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 Shackleton Collection. Supported by The University of Edinburgh and the Shackleton Fund.

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Jacobites, Italians and Music in Edinburgh
2025-08-14 18:00 - 19:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join us on Thursday, 14th August at St Cecilia’s Hall for one of our informal talk series lectures, with Dr Brianna Robertson-Kirkland who will explore the story of the first generation of the Corris through images, storytelling and song.

From the Italian Jacobite court to Edinburgh’s St Cecilia’s Hall, in 1771, Charles Edward Stuart’s personal musicians, Domenico and Francesca Corri, travelled with their brother/brother-in-law, John, to start a new musical life in Scotland. Despite their Jacobite links Roman Catholic faith, and many scandals that included bankruptcy and legal battles, they emerged as one of the most important and powerful musical families in Scotland. Indeed, their story reveals much about Edinburgh’s musical history. Join Dr Brianna Robertson-Kirkland as she explores the story of the first generation of the Corris through images, storytelling and song.

Dr Brianna E. Robertson-Kirkland is a Lecturer in Historical Musicology at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland . She has sung in master classes and private lessons with early music specialists including Emma Kirkby, Nicholas Clapton and Robert Toft and regularly performs lecture-recitals at conferences and events.

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Sounds of St Cecilia's II: Delights for Violin and Harpsichord
2025-08-13 15:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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 on the 1755 Kirkman harpischord.

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Classical Bagpipe Music – Scotland’s Hidden Treasure
2025-08-10 19:30 - 21:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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 using pentatonic scales or variations thereof, so although the pipe has a limited number of notes, a wide variety of tonal mood is possible, as you will hear at this concert.

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Sounds of St Cecilia's I: Clair-Obscur
2025-08-09 15:00 - 16:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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 clair-obscur pieces of indescribable darkness and melancholy, in contrast with moments of brightness and serenity. Alongside Bach’s keyboard suites, Khou has adapted for harpsichord some particularly touching pieces by Marais and Weis. Supported by the Keyboard Charitable Trust.

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From Cleopatra with Vengeance, an Abbreviated Opera
2025-08-08 15:00 - 16:10, 2025-08-08 11:30 - 12:40 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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 early period instruments from St Cecilia’s instrument collection, is part of The Cantata Series and all proceeds benefit the hall. Performed in Italian with English subtitles.

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Magical Melodies: Musical Storytelling
2025-08-05 11:00 - 12:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
From fiddlers in fairy hills to golden harps and magic geese, Scotland is filled with fantastical folklore of magical musical adventures. Join storyteller and musician Ailsa Dixon, in the music museum St Cecilia’s Hall, for a fun-filled family friendly romp through myth and legend. From learning a wee bit of Scots and Gaelic folksong, to hearing jigs, reels and legends of magical ceilidhs, this is a wonderful and accessible introduction to Scottish music for wee ones. Tales of pipers, harpers and curious melodies abound in this hour of enchanting story and song.

Highlight Tours of St Cecilia’s Hall
2025-08-01 - 2025-08-22 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
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.

Summer Family Trail
2025-06-26 - 2025-08-29 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join us this Summer for a free, fun Summer-themed family trail! Following the usual route around the museum, see if you can spot all 8 buckets & spades hidden throughout the galleries and answer some music-related questions to win a Summer-themed sticker at the end!

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Dementia Social: Instruments of Rock
2021-06-04 10:30 - 11:30 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
From electric guitars to synthesizers, learn how musical instruments shaped the sounds of rock and roll.

Our Social Programme creates a friendly environment where everyone is welcome, and all contributions are valued. Sessions are online via Zoom. We will start with a time to chat and share a virtual tea and cake. This will be followed by a short presentation by the Learning Engagement Curator of St Cecilia’s Hall around the theme of the session. A lived streamed musical performance rounds off the session with a bit of time at the end for questions for our musicians. All our Social programmes are inspired by our collections, build confidence, inspire creativity, and are focussed on having fun. They are suitable for those who might be regular visitors, those who have always loved visiting, as well as those who have never come to our museum before.
Register here
Joining instructions and Zoom link will be emailed with confirmation of registration to the event.

Dementia Social: The music and instruments of Mary, Queen of Scots
2021-05-07 10:30 - 11:30 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Discover the musical world of Renaissance Scotland and listen to some of the instruments that Mary, Queen of Scots would have played.

Music was an important part of the royal court of Mary Stuart and she herself played the lute and the virginal. Learn about the music and musical instruments played during her lifetime and enjoy a performance of Renaissance music.

Our Social Programme creates a friendly environment where everyone is welcome, and all contributions are valued. Sessions are online via Zoom. We will start with a time to chat and share a virtual tea and cake. This will be followed by a short presentation by the Learning Engagement Curator of St Cecilia’s Hall around the theme of the session. A lived streamed musical performance rounds off the session with a bit of time at the end for questions for our musicians. All our Social programmes are inspired by our collections, build confidence, inspire creativity, and are focussed on having fun. They are suitable for those who might be regular visitors, those who have always loved visiting, as well as those who have never come to our museum before.
Register here
Joining instructions and Zoom link will be emailed with confirmation of registration to the event.

Demo Event
2020-09-18 18:00 - 20:00 | Sypert Concert Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH1 1LG
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Desconstruttori Postmerdernisti presents 'In the Beginning was the Sound'
2018-06-07 18:00 - 20:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Decostruttori Postmodernisti (DP) are four young Italian professional musicians who blend sharp technical skills with the verve of cabaret, presenting well known pieces in the most unlikely ways imaginable. The otherworldly sound of the Theremin is joined by piano, violin and cello alongside ukulele, melodica, kazoo, bird whistle and slide whistle.
DP’s repertoire, often ironic, ranges from Italian classics such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly to Mozart to Stravinsky to Somewhere over the Rainbow – a classic all of its own.
Tickets: £12 Adult / £10 concession / £8 for groups of 6+
Tickets available here.

Drawing Class: The strings, shadows and curves
2018-06-02 09:00 - 15:00 | St Cecilia’s Hall, 50 Niddry St, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1LL, United Kingdom
Join artist Cecile Simonis and Learning and Engagement Curator Sarah Deters to explore musical instruments from two different perspectives. First listen to a brief talk about the history and sounds of the instruments, then respond by making your own work and understand different drawing techniques in an artist-led drawing session.
This class will focus on drawing string instruments and rendering the light that falls on their beautiful texture and enhances their curves.
Reserve your place here.
Please bring with you:
A sketchbook (not too small-no smaller than A5), or a clipboard and a few loose sheets of paper
Brown paper or Grey paper (not too dark or too light, try to choose it mid tone. Kraft paper works)
A white pencil and a black pencils. The best ones for this techniques are the Derwent ‘Drawing’ pencils
An eraser and a sharpener
