Events

Happening at ACMS ...

Masterclass with Daniel Toderas

Former ACMS pianist Daniel Toderas treated us to an amazing piano masterclass last night. Daniel performed a favourite piece from Prokofiev and then worked with each of our pianists on a piece of music that they are currently learning.

 

End of Term "Pop" Concert

Aberdeen City Orchestra Youth Orchestra

ACMS pupils Lewis, Freya, Freyja and Douglas as part of Aberdeen City Orchestra Youth Orchestra performed John De Sinone's Unprecented Times and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony at their recent concert.

 

ACMS at the Beach Ballroom

Music by Vivaldi, conducted by Owen, and Highland Cathedral, conducted by Douglas.

March Concert 2024

Evensong at St. Andrew's Cathedral

Our singers thoroughly enjoyed joining St. Andrew's Cathedral Choir for a service of Choral Evensong on Candlemas. Wonderful renditions of music by Stanford, Eccard and Byrd.

Lunchtime Concert at Cowdray Hall

Specialist Weekend - Jazz

 

Come and Play Day - Jazz

Cathedral at Noon

Holocaust Memorial Day

ACMS pianist Petra is honoured to have been invited to take part in the Scottish memorial Day Ceremony in the Scottish Parliament in edinburgh. Petra performed the Chopin's Nocturne Op.9, No.5 for the assembled audience.

 

A busy week at ACMS ...

Caithness, Orkney & Shetland Association Burns Supper

Pipers Taylor and Kai were on excellent form performing on Friday night at the Caithness, Orkney & Shetland Association Burns Supper at the Aberdeenshire Cricket Club.

348d78f7-8ed3-4e2d-ad09-524be9c54e6b

Kingswood & Parkhill Courts

Once again ACMS was delighted to be asked at perform for our local sheltered housing residents.

Cruden Bay Golf Club

Singers Olivia and Chloe, and voice tutor Dr Milne performed at Cruden Bay Golf Club's Burns Supper on Saturday Night.

Music Theory

ACMS pupils have been mentoring our P6 and P7 busary pupils in music theory. Lots of learning and smiling going on.

 

Piping Competition

ACMS piper Kai completed at the Vale of Atholl, Pitlochry, under 15 piping competition last weekend. Competing in lots of categories Kai was delighted to come overall champion runner-up, and to win two trophies.

Specialist Weekend January 2024

Cathedral at "Noon".

Amelia and Chloe gave a stunning vocal recital of Baroque arias and duets at St. Andrews Cathedral on Saturday.

Guitar Come and Play Day

The Guitar Come and Play Day was a huge success. Thank you to all involed and to Mr Stewart for running such an engaging course.

Specialist Weekend Rehearsals

Lots of time spend working on the early music of Vivaldi, Handel, Purcell & Monteverdi. Well done to all who worked so hard.

 

Christmas Concert 2024

 

"A Christmas Medley"

Local composer Clara-Maunder wrote this piece of Christmas music especially for all 32 ACMS pupils, and had lots of fun rehearsing it with us at our last Specialist Weekend.

 

ACMS and the Aberdeen City Orchestra Youth Ensemble

As part of the ACOYE ACMS pupils Freyja, Lewis, Freya and Douglas performed on Friday at Fountainhall Church at the Stocket. The audience were treated to excerpts from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Emille Mayer's Symphony No.1, and Eddie McGuire's Fiddler's Farewell.

 

Festive Concerts at the Beach Ballroom

ACMS joined together with pupils from the Aberdeen City Music Service to entertain the audience with a variety of Christmas hits.

ACMS were delighted to premier "A Christmas Medley" which was especially composed for them by local composer Clara-Jane Maunder.

A Visit to Berrymoss Court Sheltered Housing, Dyce

ACMS Entertain New Machar Scouts

St Machar Cathedral Recital Concert

ACMS was delighted to be asked to perform at the beautiful St Machar as part of their Sunday afternoon recital programme.

 

Specialist Weekend 4 - "Percussion"

A very busy ACMS Specialist Weekend, lots going on in preparation for our upcoming concerts.

This weekend we focussed on percussion. All the planning and running of the Saturday morning Come and Play session was taken on by S6 pupil Owen.

Caithness, Orkney and Shetland Association 125th Anniversary Celebration

Dyce Community Centre Lunchtime Concert

A group of ACMS pupils treated some local residents to a selection of Scottish Traditional music, and some songs from the 30s, 40, and 50s.

"Cathedral at Noon" Recital

ACMS pupils will be performing at the monthly "Cathedral at Noon" recital at St. Andrews Cathedral Church, King Street Aberdeen.

This month pianist Kian peformed a selection from Bach, Mozart, Samuel Barber and Avishai Cohen.

Scottish Ensemble In Sync

Last Friday Dyce Acedemy music pupils weretreated to a performance by Scottish Ensemble In Sync.

One of their members is former ACMS pupil Kirstie Logan.

Violinist Kirstie left in 2010 to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London. She has gone on to tour both this country and the world. Kirstie has fond memories of her time at ACMS and is very aware of the opportunities it gave her, especially the chance to perform in front of a live audience at such a young age.

Autumn End of Term Concert

Jazz Masterclass with Neil Birse (piano), Ray Estaire (vocalist) and Matthew Kilner (saxophone)

A New Song

One of our local primary schools, New Machar Primary, asked us to help them compose a new school song. A group of ACMS pupils visited the school and collaborated with their pupils and the new song is soon to be be released.

Come & Play Day

Our ACMS Come & Play day was a hit! 30 local string players joined ACMS pupils for a morning of music making. Thanks to all involved.

ACMS Alumnus Cameron Barnes visited us today.

Former ACMS piper and musician visited ACMS today, entertaining us with songs from his current tour and answering question about life in the music business. We loved the song he wrote for his daughter and the audience participation.

As a multi-instrumentalist he has toured the world, teaching and performing with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. He recently founded his own folk / rock band Break the Butterfly, which he fronts. His acting roles with the National Theatre of Scotland include Black Watch, and The James Plays trilogy. He is also a successful recording musician.

At the Town House this morning ...

What a great start to the day! ACMS pupils and Aberdeen City Music Service musicians performed Scottish traditional music to Aberdeen City councillors at the Town House this morning.

ACMS Visit Scottish Opera

Scottish Opera visited the Lemon Tree Aberdeen on Tuesday 26th September and 13 singers from ACMS were lucky enough to be in the audience. We were treated to a range of Arias from the 1700s to the present day. After the performance the cast generously spent time with our pupils answering questions and talking about their personal journeys to becoming opera singers.

 

 

Specialist Weekend 1 - "vocal"

Our first Specialist Weekend of the year was both busy and successful.

Vocal tutor Dr Milne lead a Lieder workshop for the singers and was delighted to be joined by two pupils and their singing coach (Mrs Andrew McIntosh) from Gordonstoun School.

We were lucky to have many of our tutors with us over the weekend. Mr Birse worked on repertoire with the pianists, Mr Maunder with the string players, and Mr Bone with the Traditional group.

Sunday afternoon finished with a small informal concert for pupils, staff and parents.