Blog Archives

Mary Reid

8th August 2021

With a varied musical appetite, Mary performs as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral harpist, and in the community. She has a passion for giving recitals that showcase the harp’s full potential, especially in rural communities, and previous solo performances include Skye Chamber Music, Isle of Arran Music, Just Festival in Edinburgh, Classic Music Live! Falkirk, Ripon Cathedral, the Bowes Museum, Music at Junction 50, Holkham Hall in Norfolk, and Hove Music Society, as well as at London’s Wigmore Hall. She has performed on recordings with Trevor Pinnock, the Gabrieli Consort and on Paul Patterson’s CD of harp works. Mary has been concerto soloist with the King’s Chamber Orchestra, Kingston Chamber Players, the Dacorum Symphony Orchestra, the Thames Consort, and St Cecilia Orchestra in Yorkshire, playing works by Handel, Debussy, Mozart and Rodrigo.

Freelance orchestral work has recently included performances with the RSNO, Scottish Opera, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Philharmonic, Opera North, the Royal Opera House, London Mozart Players, and at the Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms. With a passion for chamber music, Mary has enjoyed working with smaller groups such as OperaUpClose, the London Sinfonietta, King’s Chamber Orchestra and the Riot Ensemble on several occasions. She performed alongside Christopher Hogwood in a Gresham College lecture-recital, and featured several times in RAM’s Tuesday Chamber Music Series. Upcoming performances in 2026 include a European Tour with the CBSO and continued work with her newly-formed flute and harp duo with Matthew Howells. (see Howells Reid Duo)

Mary also loves bringing joy to schools, churches and hospital settings. Mary currently works with Live Music Now Scotland, having completed four years on the Live Music Now scheme in London and now leads workshops and mentors younger musicians in SEN settings, as well as giving participatory performances for adults living with dementia.

Sample programme: Music for a Summer’s Evening

Le Rappel des Oiseaux – Rameau

La Source – Albert Zabel

Les Annesses Grises sur la route d’el Azib and La Voliere Magique – Marcel Tournier

Carnival de Venise – Félix Godefroid

* INTERVAL *

Follets – Hasselmans

Suite Galactique – Caroline Lizotte

Extracts from Spiders Suite – Paul Patterson

Impromptu Op 86 – Gabriel Fauré

Repertoire also includes:

J S Bach – Partita no 1 in B flat major

Alfredo Rolando Ortiz – Los Árboles de las Mariposas (The Butterfly Trees), Un Vals para Soñar (A Waltz for Dreaming),  El Pájaro Campana (The Bell Bird)

Deborah Henson-Conant – Baroque Flamenco

Félix Godefroid  – Étude de Concert Op 193

trad Scots A Red Red Rose

Aram Khachaturian – Oriental Dance, Toccata

trad Welsh arr John Thomas – Watching the Wheat

Gabriel Fauré – Impromptu Op 86

Alessandro Scarlatti – Sonata in A, K113

Jean-Philippe Rameau – L’Egyptienne

Louis-Claude Daquin – Le Coucou

J S Bach – French Suite No 6 in E, BWV 817

Sophia Dussek – Sonata in C minor, Op 2, No 3

Franz Liszt – Liebesträume

Claude Debussy – Valse Romantique

Claude Debussy – Rêverie

Henriette Renié – Pièce Symphonique

J S Bach – Italian Concerto

J S Bach – Partita no. 2 in C minor BWV 826

Benjamin Britten – Suite for Harp

Mikhail Glinka / arr Balakirev – The Lark

Mikhail Mchedelov – Variations on a Theme by Paganini

Elias Parish-Alvars – Variations on Themes from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor

Elias Parish-Alvars – Variations on Themes from Bellini’s Norma

Marcel Tournier – Images Suite

Albert Zabel – Fantasy on Themes from Gounod’s Faust

Scottish performances

12 noon, Friday 29 January 2027: Classic Music Live! Falkirk, Trinity Church

A Night at the Opera, three dates with Classical Musicians Scotland orchestra:

Sunday 12 October 2025, Newton Stewart Cinema and Theatre

Saturday 18 October 2025, Gibson Hall, Dollar

Wednesday 22 October 2025, St Andrews Hall, Crieff

1 – 2pm, Saturday 17 May 2025: Spire concert series, Glasgow

A Night at the Opera four dates with the Classical Musicians Scotland orchestra:

Sunday 13 October 2024, Crail Community Hall

Thursday 24 October 2024, North Esk Parish Church

Friday 25 October 2024, MacArts, Galashiels

Tuesday 29 October 2024, Lanark Memorial Hall

2 – 4pm, Saturday 19 August 2023, Low Parks Museum, Hamilton

12:00 to 12:45, Friday 4 November 2022, Classic Music Live! Falkirk Trinity Church

A Night at the Opera

10th April 2016

In 2016, Garnethill Synagogue asked us to provide a Candlelit Classics evening to help them raise funds for the upkeep of their truly unique building in Glasgow’s city centre, and A Night at the Opera was born.

We arrive with a full complement of professional musicians including four singers, five strings, four woodwind, a horn player, a harpist, a conductor/pianist and a compère and a wonderful evening is in store.

The programme of favourite operatic melodies include pieces to delight both the musical connoisseur and the less operatically minded, and homage is paid to Bizet, Delibes, Donizetti, Mozart, Offenbach, Puccini, Saint-Saens, J Strauss and Verdi with an acknowledgement to Lehar and Gilbert and Sullivan. Each item is introduced with polish and panache, explaining which character was singing, how he/she was feeling and why, and what he/she was expressing in the music. A surprise or two may also be in store!

Performances:

7.30pm, Wednesday 22 October 2025, St Andrew’s Hall, Crieff

7.30pm, Saturday 18 October 2025: Dollar Academy

7.30pm, Sunday 12 October 2025: Newton Stewart Cinema

7.30pm, Tuesday 29 October 2024, Lanark Memorial Hall

7.30pm, Friday 25 October 2024, MacArts, Galashiels

7.30pm, Thursday 24 October 2024, Northesk Church (Brunton) Musselburgh

7.30pm, Sunday 13 October 2024, Crail Community Hall

CANCELLED due to COVID, Sunday 29 March 2020, Edinburgh Synagogue “An Evening of Opera Classics”

Sunday 19 May 2019, The Spire Concert series, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4JP

Sunday 31 March 2019, Edinburgh Synagogue

Sunday 25 March 2018, Garnethill Synagogue Act III “Opera with a Twist”

Sunday 18 March 2018, Edinburgh Synagogue

Saturday 26 August 2017, New Kilpatrick Church, 28 Kirk Place, Bearsden, G61 3RT

Saturday 24 June 2017, Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow, at 12 Nelson Mandela Place, Glasgow

Sunday 26 March 2017, Garnethill Synagogue, “A Night at the Opera Act II”

Sunday 20 March 2016, Garnethill Synagogue, Candlelit Classics

Da Vinci Piano Trio

13th June 2012

Turning by James Black, premier performance, recorded 30 June 2024

Anthony Moffat, violin

Hailing from the Borders, Anthony Moffat was trained at the Royal Academy of Music, London by Armenian Soloist and Orchestra Leader, Manoug Parikian. He gained the highest award for violin on his graduation in 1987 winning the Marjorie Hayward Prize. His passion for Chamber music was encouraged and nurtured for many years by the members of the Amadeus Quartet but it is as devotee of the Piano Trio that he is best known outwith the orchestra.He was a founder member of both the Duke String Quartet and the Borante Piano Trio. As member of the Da Vinci Piano Trio he has toured the breadth of the country and broadcast on BBC Radio3.

His career as Orchestra Leader began as Co-leader of the Halle Orchestra until taking the post of Leader of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera in 2000. He has appeared as Guest Leader with BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. He plays on a fine violin by C.G. Testore of Milan ca. 1705

He has been leader of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera since 2001.

Rudi de Groote, cello

Rudi de Groote grew up in South Africa and studied at the Royal College of Music in London and has undertaken masterclasses with Torlief Thedeen, David Geringas, Franz Helmerson and Moray Welsh. He is currently principal cello with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He started his career as principal cello with this orchestra and then went on to hold the principal position in the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of English National Opera in London, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway, before returning to Scotland to rejoin the BBCSSO.

Rudi has performed as soloist under many orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra , the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and under the baton of Edward Gardner, Ilan Volkov, Francesco Corti, Martin Brabbins, Jerzy Maksimiuk and Garry Walker. He is frequently invited to be guest principal cello with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Liverpool Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia of London and the John Wilson Orchestra.

He has frequently performed as cellist with the Chilingirian String quartet, and has performed with Marcia Crayford, Robert Cohen, Steven Osborne, Isabelle van Keulen, Jorg Widmann, Garfield Jackson and the Belcea string quartet. As a teacher, Rudi has been on the faculty at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and has taught and coached chamber music at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Grieg Academy in Norway.

He has broadcast live for BBC Radio 3, DR, Norwegian Radio and BBC Scotland and has performed in recital at the Edinburgh and Cheltenham International Festivals. He plays on a cello by Ferdinand Gagliano dated 1777.

He is delighted to have been invited to take over from Robert Irvine in the Da Vinci Piano Trio and looks forward to many exciting concerts ahead.

Liivi Arder, piano

Estonian pianist Liivi Arder studied at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre under Professor Toivo Nahkur and Nata-Ly Sakkos. In 2010 she completed an Advanced Accompaniment Course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under Professor Fali Pavri and in 2013-2014 she studied at the RCS as a recipient of the Sam Hutchings Fellowship award.Liivi has taken part in several competitions including the Valentino Bucchi Competition in Rome (1st Prize ), 11th Pietro Argento Music Competition in Gioia del Colle (3rd prize in chamber music category), Con Brio competition (Estonian National Television prize ) and she was awarded the Hester Dickson accompanist prize.

Liivi has been a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EMTA) at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, and was active with EMTA New Music Ensemble that took part in the Contemporary Music Festival in South Korea, Seoul.

As an accompanist Liivi has been working for music summer courses and many masterclasses at the RCS and also for Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She has given chamber music concerts with Nikita Naumov, Ana Cordova Andres and Peter Wesley and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Glasgow West End Festival with the Daniel’s Beard ensemble. Along with Scottish mezzo-soprano Laura Margaret Smith she has performed at the Scottish Parliament House European Commission Estonian Presidency reception.

Currently Liivi is working as an accompanist and coach at the RCS String Department and Junior Conservatoire of Scotland.

The following was recorded at Music in the University, Glasgow University, 20 January 2022.

Arvo Pärt : Mozart Adagio from 3:20 minutes

Brahms Piano Trio no 1 in B major from 28:40 minutes

Performances

3pm, Sunday 17 January 2027: Biggar Music Club, Municipal Hall, Biggar

3pm, Sunday 21 February 2027: Melrose Music Society tbc

7.30pm, Friday 16 April 2027: Bute Arts Society

7.30pm, Friday 16 January 2026: Music in West Kilbride (Robert Irvine standing in for Rudi de Groote)

7.30pm, Friday 9 May 2025, Bute Arts Society

3pm, Sunday 13 April 2025, Melrose Music Society

7.45pm, Friday 21 March 2025, Music in Lanark