Music and Meditations for Easter
Kim comes from Chelmsford in Essex. At the Royal College of Music in London she studied recorders as well as the oboe- She has a particular love of Baroque music — Bach, Handel and Telemann.
Robert grew up in MethlicE He studied piano, organ and harpsichord at the RCM where he also met Kim, It is with great pleasure that he takes another opportunity to play the Midstocket virginals.
Today's recital begins a busy season of concerts for Robert and Kim, mostly separately. Kim will be playing in the Verdi Requiem in Stirling and Cupar, Bach Cantatas in Dundee and in the Ruthven Festival in June_ Robert will be performing with Sopranaria — Moira Docherty and Barbara Scott, in Arbroath, Ruthven and Perth in May and June- Both Robert and Kim are involved in Tayside Opera's 2024 production, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, which will be performed in Brechin on June with piano and at the Space Theatre, Dundee from 5th to June, with orchestra. Robert and Kim have been performing together for over 40 years. They love combining their two great passions in life — their Christian faith and their love for music. Robert and Kim live IO miles north of Perth in the Tay loop — early mornings sometimes bring a delicate and magical line of rising Tay mist on the North, South and East.
Virginals are one of the earliest types of keyboard instrument with one string for each note, encased in a wooden box, It was a very popular instrument in Tudor and Jacobean times and both Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots were very skilled players. Any great lady would have a "Pair of Virginals" in her chamber to play for her own pleasure and for her lady attendants. Like the harpsichord which was later to overtake virginals in popularity, the strings are plucked by a quill, Dominco Scarlatti was the court harpsichordist at the royal court of Spain. He was born in 1685, the same year as Bach and Handel and he wrote over 600 one movement sonatas for the harpsichord. His harpsichords had two keyboards so he could produce echo effects. Many Of his compositions use the keyboard to imitate the sounds Of the guitar. Until the piano was invented in Italy in 1709 all keyboard instruments were limited to playing at one particular volume, if they had only a single keyboard. Christofori's hammer action changed all that and the exciting development Of now being able to play loud -forte, and soft — piano, by altering how the keys are struck meant that the less than imaginatively named Forte-piano ("The Loud-soft") began its steep rise in popularity. The lid of our virginals at Midstocket is decorated in the traditional way with a beautifully painted scene. This particular instrument was built in the 1970s and the lid shows the Dee valley in all it's glory.