Music and Migration in Georgian Edinburgh

Schedule

Fri Aug 19 2022 at 07:30 pm

Location

Georgian House | Edinburgh, SC

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A lecture recital by Brianna Robertson-Kirkland (soprano) with Claire Haslin (piano)
This is the first event in our Festival weekend in association with the exhibition Music & Migration in Georgian Edinburgh: The Story of Felix Yaniewicz, celebrating the co-founder of the first Edinburgh music festival of 1815.
When Felix Yaniewicz arrived in Edinburgh in 1815, the city had a lively, cosmopolitan musical scene. Since 1728, the Edinburgh Musical Society had engaged high profile European performers, including castrato singer Giusto Tenducci, who was a celebrated performer on the Italian, London, and Dublin stages. In 1771, the Edinburgh Musical Society recruited Italian musicians, Domenico Corri and his wife for their concert series, a decision that greatly influenced Edinburgh’s musical culture. The Corri family remained in Edinburgh for over forty years and became leading concert promoters and publishers in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Other Italians who came to the city included Pietro Urbani (1749-1816) who set up a publishing house to rival Corri’s. A hub for professional musical opportunities, Edinburgh attracted musicians from all around Europe and made it the perfect city to host a festival, which Yaniewicz pioneered in 1815.
In this lecture-recital illustrated with songs accompanied on the Yaniewicz & Green square piano c.1810, Brianna Robertson-Kirkland tells the story of the musical emigrés who transformed Edinburgh into a vibrant place for musical entertainment, setting the scene for Yaniewicz’s arrival in the city in 1815 and his emergence as a leading impresario at the centre of the city’s musical life until his retirement in 1829.
Brianna Robertson-Kirkland is a musicologist at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a special interest in historical performance in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Her musical collaborations include a project with Concerto Caledonia in Australia. As a singer she has studied with Emma Kirkby, and regularly gives lecture-recitals with musical illustrations to animate her research for a wider audience.
Claire Haslin studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A winner of the Sir Henry Richardson Award for piano accompaniment, she has subsequently performed at the Purcell Room, the Edinburgh Festival, the Montalcino Festival and the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh.
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Where is it happening?

Georgian House, 7 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

The Friends of Felix Yaniewicz

Host or Publisher The Friends of Felix Yaniewicz

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