St Cecilia's Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum

06/12/2023

We bet you've noticed the patterned exterior of our building but did you know that this pattern can be found in hidden areas throughout the museum? How many do you know of already?

04/12/2023

This week at St Cecilia's Hall we have a special child-friendly concert brought to us by the Spinacino Consort! With music by the group as well as familiar music for sing-a-longs and musical games its sure to be a fun afternoon! Make sure to book your place now to avoid missing out! https://www.spinacinoconsort.com/

02/12/2023

A reminder of the upcoming tours at St Cecilia's Hall this December. Book now to avoid missing out! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/weekly-tours-december-tours-at-st-cecilias-hall-tickets-755340883917

02/12/2023

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our keyboard galleries (Binks Gallery and 1812 Gallery) are currently closed. Our downstairs galleries and our concert room are still open to visitors!

01/12/2023

It's the 1st of December which means it's officially Christmas in our books! Why not celebrate the start of the festive period at St Cecilia's Hall and take part in our festive trail around the museum? Can you find all 8 snowmen hidden around the galleries?

26/11/2023

Today we are celebrating by sharing our guide to gift-giving this festive season featuring some items for sale in our shop as well as some of our upcoming concerts in 2024! Why not pop in during our opening hours and treat your musically inclined friends, family and loved ones to an extra special gift this festive season?⛄️❄️

19/11/2023

Join us on the 8th of December for a special concert by the Spinacino Consort - Spinacino Bambino! Aimed at children under 6 but with all ages welcome this concert brings together real music played by the group + a range of familiar tunes for sing-a-long and musical games. Book your place now https://www.spinacinoconsort.com/

18/11/2023

Got your ticket yet for our free afternoon of musical performances? Only one week to go until our Big Celebration Day 2023 🥳🤩🎼 Get your ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/st-cecilias-big-celebration-day-2023-tickets-733340831167?aff=oddtdtcreator

16/11/2023

Join us this December for the final (bi)weekly tours of 2023! Tickets are on sale now! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/weekly-tours-december-tours-at-st-cecilias-hall-tickets-755340883917

15/11/2023

11/11/2023

Only two weeks until our annual celebration of local and community music! Confirmed acts include a saxophone quartet, clarinet and guitar duo, shamanic songs and much more. Drop in between 1pm - 5pm. FREE. Secure your spot for an afternoon of eclectic music making on our Eventbrite page: https://edin.ac/3QTbpCj

11/11/2023

Following our previous post’s consideration of materials relating to the slave trade, here we will explore Edinburgh’s relationship with sugar, a commodity that was produced using slave labour.

During the early 18th century between two and four vessels sailed from Leith to the New World each year, mainly to Charleston, New York, Boston, Jamaica and Grenada. The accounts of imports to Leith in 1770s show that these ships returned from the colonies with rum, muscovado sugar, rice, indigo, mahogany and, sago powder. When the sugar reached Edinburgh it then had to be refined. There were at least six sugar refining factories or “sugar-houses” in Edinburgh and Leith. One such enterprise was the Edinburgh Sugar House Company who set up a factory in this Close in 1752. It refined sugar imported from the West Indies. Jamaica Street and Antigua Street are also reminders of Edinburgh’s connections with trade in the West Indies.

Want to learn about how our museum was connected to the slave trade? Come along to our informal talk on November 14th titled ‘Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths: St Cecilia’s Hall and the Slave Trade’. For more information and to buy your tickets visit our Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

To find out more about Edinburgh’s history with sugar visit https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/edinburghs-pantry-sugar-and-spice

Image: ‘Glasgow City, Port Dundas, 40 - 50 Speirs Wharf, Port Dundas Sugar Refinery’, AlasdairW, licensed under the Creative Commons, Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glasgow_City_-_Port_Dundas,_40_-_50_Speirs_Wharf,_Port_Dundas_Sugar_Refinery_-_20230916151414.jpg

10/11/2023

We can't wait to have Mally Smith play here next Friday! Care to join us? Book now via our Eventbrite

One week of my new single, The Dark, out in the world! Thanks so much to everyone who’s listened, shared, purchased 🖤 I’m so grateful!

I’ve got one last gig in 2023, coming up next week, and it’s going to be a really special one! Join me and the band for an evening of music and drinks and nibbles at St Cecilia's Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum next Friday 17 November ✨

Tickets are on a sliding scale! Link in comments 🔗

📸 by Laura Meek Photography

09/11/2023

Want to learn about how some of the instruments in our collection are connected to the slave trade?

Join us on November 14th to uncover some uncomfortable but important truths about the many connections that our museum has to the slave trade.

Tickets available now via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

08/11/2023

As well as owning enslaved peoples, many members of Edinburgh society were also involved in an extensive range of professions and trades involved in maintaining the infrastructure of the slave trade. For example, James Gillespie owned a shop at 231 High Street and made his fortune selling Virginia to***co and s***f. Money from his fortune was left to build a school in Marchmont that still bears his name. Furthermore, William Alexander, Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1753, owned four ships which often returned from colonies with rum, muscovado sugar, rice and mahogany.

Mahogany and its connection to our museum’s collection will be explored in our
upcoming informal talk on November 14th titled ‘Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths: St Cecilia’s Hall and the Slave Trade’. Join us then to learn about how our museum was connected to the slave trade. For more information and to buy your tickets visit our Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

To find out more about mahogany and its connections to the slave trade visit https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/facing-our-past-the-difficult-history-of-mahogany

Image: Gillespie Crescent and Barclay Church, Copyright kim traynor and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence., Available at: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1419938.

07/11/2023

Join us this festive season for a special Christmas-themed Family Trail running from the 17th of November to the 16th of December! Can you find all 8 snowmen hiding around our museum?

06/11/2023

A reminder of the upcoming weekly tours this month! Book now to avoid missing out! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/november-tours-at-st-cecilias-hall-tickets-740667716077?aff=oddtdtcreator

05/11/2023

Many of Edinburgh’s most notable citizens, who could have attended performances in our concert hall, owned and exploited tens of thousands of enslaved people. The British government paid 3,000 slaveholders 20 million pounds in what they called ‘compensation’ for the emancipation of slaves in 1833, the equivalent of around 17 billion pounds today. One of the biggest compensation payments went to Peter McClagan of Great King Street who, received £21,480 for the "407 enslaved" at a plantation in British Guiana, about 1.7 million pounds in today's money. John Blackburn, a slave owner and Queen Street resident, submitted three claims for 638 slaves in Jamaica.

Want to learn about how our museum was connected to the slave trade? Come along to our informal talk on November 14th titled ‘Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths: St Cecilia’s Hall and the Slave Trade’. For more information and to buy your tickets visit our Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

To find out more about Edinburgh’s part in the slave trade visit https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2018/11/edinburghs-part-slave-trade/

Image: ‘Great King Street, Edinburgh New Town’, Kim Traynor, Licensed under Creative Commons, Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_King_Street,_Edinburgh_New_Town.JPG

04/11/2023

Items held by the National Library include material on prominent Scottish politicians' engagement with the slave trade, including Henry Dundas (1742-1811). Dundas was one of the most influential Scottish political figures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In his role as Secretary of State for War, Dundas oversaw the British invasion of Haiti, where a revolution led by enslaved people had begun in 1791. The invasion was partly motivated by the fear that enslaved people in the British colonies would take inspiration from the Haitian Revolution. Through the remainder of the 1790s, Dundas was instrumental in delaying the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

Want to learn about how our museum was connected to the slave trade? Come along to our informal talk on November 14th titled ‘Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths: St Cecilia’s Hall and the Slave Trade’. For more information and to buy your tickets visit our Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

To learn more about evidence of Scottish involvement in the transatlantic slave trade that exists in the National Library of Scotland's collections visit https://www.nls.uk/collections/scotland-and-the-slave-trade/involvement/

Image: ‘Henry Dundas őrködik a város fölött (Henry Dundas watches over the City)’, Gyula Péter, licensed under the Creative Commons, Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Dundas_%C5%91rk%C3%B6dik_a_v%C3%A1ros_f%C3%B6l%C3%B6tt_(Henry_Dundas_watches_over_the_City)_-_panoramio.jpg

03/11/2023

Mally Smith shares what she wants her music to say! Mally is set to perform here on November 17th as the last concert in a series focusing on highlighting LGBTQ+ experiences in music.

You can find Mally's website here: http://mallysmith.com/

Tickets available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/folk-folk-inspired-music-concert-mally-smith-tickets-672960572187

02/11/2023

Interested to learn about how some of our instruments can be connected to the slave trade?

Join us on the 14th of November for a short talk by Dr Paul Newton-Jackson that shines a spotlight on a clavichord and harpsichord from our collection both made by Johann Adolph Hass, and what they can tell us about materials connected to the slave trade.

Tickets available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

01/11/2023

Join us on Saturday for the Edinburgh Dance Assembly 1723! Featuring two 18th century dance workshops in the morning, and an 18th century inspired Ceilidh in the evening there's something for everyone! Book your tickets now! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/731883502257

01/11/2023

Research started by NHS Lothian Charity in 2021 has found connections between the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (est. 1729) and the enslavement of people of African descent. Between 1744 and 1795, around 11% of the infirmary’s entire income and 42 per cent of its charitable donations came from slavery-associated sources. This means that of the 18,785 patients admitted to the infirmary between 1808 and 1817, 1,390 of them experienced healthcare provided using slavery-associated.

Want to learn about how our museum was connected to the slave trade? Come along to our informal talk on November 14th titled ‘Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths: St Cecilia’s Hall and the Slave Trade’. For more information and to buy your tickets visit our Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

To find out more about Royal Infirmary Edinburgh’s slave trade connections visit https://org.nhslothian.scot/aboutus/atlantic-slavery-and-the-royal-infirmary-of-edinburgh/

Image: 'Engraving of the Northern aspect of the Royal Infirmary at Infirmary Street', Part of the University of Edinburgh’s Collection, Licensed under Creative Commons. Available at: https://images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/UoEsha~2~2~53273~102110:North-Front-of-the-Royal-Infirmary-?qvq=q:Thomson-walker&mi=46&trs=667 #

31/10/2023

For Black History Month this year we’re celebrating black composers past and present. Our last composer is Pamela Z (1956-Present).

Born in 1956, Pamela Z is an American composer, performer, and media artist best known for her solo works for voice with electronic processing. Her signature instruments are her classically trained bel canto voice and unique gesture-activated audio controllers. Throughout her career, she has pioneered innovation, utilising interactive technology and blending elements of music, spoken word, dance, theatre, and visual art in her performances.

She has extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan and has received numerous honours and awards, including the MIT McDermott Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, the ASCAP Music Award, and the NEA Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship.

With a wide-spanning portfolio of work, in addition to her solo voice and electronics works, Z has composed chamber works commissioned by contemporary music soloists and ensembles such as Kronos Quartet, the New York string quartet ETHEL, Del Sol Quartet, and Orchestra of St. Luke's and has composed and recorded film scores for independent filmmakers.

To find out more check out this article: https://pamelaz.com/about/bio/

Follow for more of our Black History Month series to learn about many amazing black composers past and present.

31/10/2023

🎃Happy Halloween!🎃 While we can't guarantee that Sabrina and the Spellman sisters will be making an appearance at our next concert, will surely be working some musical magic of her own.
Tickets available on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/q***r-voices-in-folk-concert-mally-smith-tickets-672960572187?aff=oddtdtcreator
***r

30/10/2023

We may not be able to offer midnight margaritas 🍹 but we will have food, drink, and some short tours during the social after our concert on the 17th of November. Fancy joining us? Come along!

Tickets available on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/q***r-voices-in-folk-concert-mally-smith-tickets-672960572187?aff=oddtdtcreator

***r

29/10/2023

For Black History Month this year we’re celebrating black composers past and present. Today’s composer is William Grant Still (1895-1978).

Brought up by his mother and grandmother in Little Rock, Arkansas, William Grant Still is a famed composer and conductor. Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers”, Still is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance and, having composed nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, art songs, chamber music, and solo works, he is perhaps best known for his “Afro-American Symphony” (1931).

Among his many awards he received three Guggenheim Fellowships in music composition, at least one Rosenwald Fellowship, a Mu Phi Epsilon Citation of Merit, and a citation for Outstanding Service to American Music from the National Association for American Composers and Conductors.

Still’s concern with the position of African Americans in American society is reflected in many of his works, notably the Afro-American Symphony; the ballets Sahdji, and Lenox Avenue. As well as this activist ideology, Still also made history as the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, have an opera performed by a major opera company, and have an opera performed on national television.

To find out more check out this article: https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Grant-Still

Follow for more of our Black History Month series to learn about many amazing black composers past and present.

29/10/2023

Work by the National Library has shown that Scots were directly involved in the transatlantic slave trade as investors, owners of enslaved people, and overseers on the plantations. They were also in the extensive range of professions and trades involved in maintaining the infrastructure of the slave trade.

In the lead up to the last in our 2023 informal talk series on November 14th titled ‘Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths: St Cecilia’s Hall and the Slave Trade’ we’ll be taking you through some of Edinburgh’s connections to the slave trade and discussing how Edinburgh society often profited from the trade. For more information on our talk and to buy your tickets visit our Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

To find out more about the National Library’s work on Scotland’s connection to the slave trade visit https://www.nls.uk/collections/scotland-and-the-slave-trade/involvement/

28/10/2023

It doesn't take a mind reader to know that what your November needs is a feel-good concert. Care to join us for one?

Book your tickets now for a November 17th concert by the amazing singer-songwriter Mally Smith! Described as reminiscent of a young Joni Mitchell, Mally's beautifully honest music will capture your heart.

Tickets are priced inclusively! Book now via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/q***r-voices-in-folk-concert-mally-smith-tickets-672960572187?aff=oddtdtcreator

To find out more about Mally check out her website here: http://mallysmith.com/

27/10/2023

Tickets for the November weekly tours are now available! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/november-tours-at-st-cecilias-hall-tickets-740667716077

27/10/2023

Mally Smith is set to perform here on the 17th of November as part of an event series we've created so let's learn a bit more about her influences and inspirations!

Tickets are priced inclusively to ensure that everyone can have the opportunity to see this amazing group perform! Book now via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/folk-folk-inspired-music-concert-mally-smith-tickets-672960572187

You can find her website here: http://mallysmith.com/

27/10/2023

For Black History Month this year we’re celebrating black composers past and present. Today’s composer is Jessie Montgomery (1981-Present).

Born in New York in the 1980s Jessie Montgomery is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and music educator. Raised by a musician and a theatre artist and storyteller, her compositions interweave classical music elements with improvisation, poetry and on social justice.

After receiving numerous Sphinx awards and grants as a young performer and composer, she now serves as composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, the organization's professional touring ensemble. In 2016, Montgomery was elected to the board of Chamber Music America.[10] In 2021, she became the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Mead Composer-in-Residence.
As such an influential composing force, Montgomery was selected by the New York Philharmonic as one of the featured composers for their Project 19, which marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting equal voting rights in the United States to women.

Interested in supporting rising talent, Montgomery devoted her early career to performance and to teaching at organizations such as Community MusicWorks and has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization since 1999 through which she helps to support young African-American and Latinx string players.

To find out more check out this article: https://www.jessiemontgomery.com/about/

Follow for more of our Black History Month series to learn about many amazing black composers past and present.

26/10/2023

Want to learn about how slavery was involved in the building of Scotland’s oldest concert hall?

Join us on November 14th to uncover some uncomfortable but important truths about the many connections that our museum has to the slave trade.

Tickets available now via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uncovering-uncomfortable-truths-st-cecilias-hall-and-the-slave-trade-tickets-580248467787?aff=oddtdtcreator

24/10/2023

For Black History Month this year we’re celebrating black composers past and present. Today’s composer is Margaret Bonds (1913-1972).

Born in Chicago to an activist and physician father and musical mother, Bonds grew up in an environment in which she met many of the leading black writers, artists, and musicians of the era. Having studied piano under Florence B. Price, one of the composers celebrated in this series, Bonds’ college experience was one plagued with hostility and racism and although she was permitted to study there, she was not permitted to reside on campus.

Despite this, Bonds went on to win the prestigious national Wanamaker Foundation Prize, earning her public attention, and later became the first black person to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Combining the influences of her father’s activism with her mother’s musicality, Bonds did much to promote the music of black musicians with her own compositions and lyrics addressing racial issues of the time.
Working to support and encourage the musical community she opened the Allied Arts Academy where she taught art, music, and ballet as well helping to establish a Cultural Community Center in Harlem, and serving as the minister of music at a church in the area.

To find out more check out this article: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/women-in-music/margaret-bonds-black-composer-studied-florence-price/

Follow for more of our Black History Month series to learn about many amazing black composers past and present.

22/10/2023

For Black History Month this year we’re celebrating black composers past and present. Today’s composer is Rudolph Dunbar (1907-1988).

Born in Guyana, Rudolph Dunbar rose to fame as an acclaimed conductor, clarinettist, and composer. His incredible musical talents became apparent early on with Dunbar invited to serve as a clarinettist in the British Guiana Militia Band at the age of nine.

While studying at the Institute of Musical Art, now called the Juilliard School, Dunbar participated in the Harlem Renaissance’s music activities, working with leading composer William Grant Still and developing as a Jazz musician.

By the 1940s Dunbar was a sought-after composer and conductor. In 1942, he was invited to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra before an audience of 7,000 in the Royal Albert Hall, becoming the first black person to hold that honor. Over the course of his career, he became the first black man to conduct orchestras in England, Germany, Poland, and Russia.

Paying forward his own success, Dunbar also supported and encouraged other Black composers and highlighted classical music pieces that honoured African and Caribbean countries as they evolved from colonial rule to independence between the 1950s and the 1970s.

To find out more check out this article: https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/w-rudolph-dunbar-1907-1988/

Follow for more of our Black History Month series to learn about many amazing black composers past and present.

20/10/2023

For Black History Month this year we’re celebrating black composers past and present. Today’s composer is Henry Threadgill (1944-Present).

Raised in the South Side of Chicago, Threadgill grew up around parade bands and the blues and this has influenced much of his work in which he has challenged bedrock ideas about jazz. Coming to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles rooted in jazz, Henry Threadgill has been celebrated as one of the most original, forward-thinking composers and multi-instrumentalists in American music.

In 1967, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, playing with a rock band in Vietnam during the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968. Following his discharge in 1969 he played in and formed multiple ensembles. Many of these ensembles, such as Very Very Circus and New Air, are characterised as using unorthodox instrumentation and pushing musical boundaries.

Threadgill has received numerous awards and honours throughout his career including the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2020 which was celebrated in an online concert and show on April 22, 2021. Awarded in recognition of lifetime achievement, the honour is bestowed on individuals who have made significant contributions to the art form.

To find out more check out this article: https://www.henrythreadgill.com/bio

Follow for more of our Black History Month series to learn about many amazing black composers past and present.