Other Events
Friday 4th October - Salutation Hotel – Ceilidh Dance – 8:30 to 11:30
with the Simon Howie Scottish Dance Band
The Ceilidh Dance has proved to be the ideal welcoming event for the festival and this year we are looking forward to dancing to the music of Simon Howie and his Scottish Dance Band.
Supper will be included in the ticket price and of course we will have the usual Raffle with great prizes to be won. The Ticket price is £7.50 and can be ordered by calling Audrey Fenton on 01738 492949 or emailing Audrey.Fenton@perthaccordionfestival.co.uk.
Saturday – Informal Music – Salutation Bar – 1:30 to 4:00 – Entry Free
with Simon Howie’s Band
The music session in the bar is one of the social highlights of the festival. This is an informal gathering where all musicians are welcome to participate. But to ensure that the music keeps flowing and that as many willing players as possible get the chance to perform Simon Howie’s Band will lead the proceedings as the house band.
Saturday – Grand Finale – Salutation Hotel – 4:30 to 6:00 - Entry with day ticket
featuring Gordon Pattullo & Gemma Donald, Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson and Colin Dewar & his Scottish Dance Band
The climax of the festival showcases the best of talent on the accordion & fiddle scene and this year is no exception as we welcome Gordon Pattullo & Gemma Donald (accordion & fiddle) in concert along with Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson (fiddle & guitar) and Colin Dewar and his band.
Saturday – Social Afternoon – Greyfriars Bar – 2 to 4pm - Entry Free
with Johnny Duncan on accordion
Background music provided by Johnny on accordion while you chat with fellow enthusiasts.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Gordon Pattullo & Gemma Donald (accordion & fiddle)
Gordon Pattullo is one of the most renowned accordionists in Scotland. He is always in demand at Accordion & Fiddle clubs as Guest Artiste and was voted the 2007 Guest Artiste of the year. He has recorded over 20 albums, 2 DVDs and has a wealth of experience both in radio and television broadcasts. In 2008 he was made Guest of Honour by the National Association of Accordion & Fiddle Clubs.
At eleven years of age Gordon started playing the accordion under the guidance of Jim Marshall at the Dundee Accordion School of Music and only two years later he became Scottish Junior Accordion Champion competing against over sixty rivals!
In 1977 Gordon started working for Andy Stewart and toured with him worldwide for around 10 years. Other famous names he has appeared with include Moira Anderson, Kenneth McKellar, Dana, Lulu and George Hamilton IV. His biggest influence was the late great Will Starr.
Gordon is a prolific composer and to date has one book of tunes published and has written enough for another two books or more! He is also always in demand as an adjudicator and as a tutor of the accordion which includes being a lecturer in traditional music at Perth College for 4 years.
Gordon has recently released his latest CD "Out of my Hands" on his own record label, GP Recordings and currently performs every summer in "Jamie’s Scottish Experience" in Edinburgh along with many top entertainers including fiddler Gemma Donald. Website: www.gordonpattullo.co.uk
Gemma Donald hails from Shetland and was described by fellow Shetland fiddler Aly Bain as "one of the finest players in the country". Since winning the coveted Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship in 2006, she has gone on to establish herself at the forefront of fiddle playing. She is also in high demand as an adjudicator having judged at Shetland's Young Fiddler of the Year alongside Aly Bain and Bryan Gear for three years running. In 2012 Gemma was invited to adjudicate at the annual festival of the National Association of Accordion & Fiddle Clubs.
Gemma is also an award winning composer and has won the Amber Fiddle Award for composition twice at Perthshire Amber (the Dougie MacLean Festival).
Her eagerly anticipated debut album "The Love o' da Isles" was released in December 2012 on her own label, Shoebox Recordings. It features a number of her award winning compositions and it reflects Gemma's diverse musical journey so far.
In 2012 Gemma appeared alongside Gordon Pattullo at the Ruby Anniversary Concert of the National Association of Accordion & Fiddle Clubs in Perth Concert Hall which has led on to a whole host of other engagements and they are now making a name for themselves as one of the top accordion and fiddle duos.
Maggie Adamson & Brian Nicholson (fiddle & guitar)
Maggie & Brian are an acoustic duo from the Shetland Islands who have played festivals across Britain, and as far afield as America, Norway, Canada and toured in Australia and Ireland. The Glasgow Herald & Scotsman have described them as "strong character and mature sense of expression", "jaw-dropping style" and "natural, diverse, gifted and exciting".
Maggie and Brian have been playing together for around 6 years, winning a Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections in 2008. They were nominated as best up and coming act in the Scottish Trad Awards in 2009 and 2 of their CDs have been nominated for BAAFI awards. They have produced four albums, Tammie Norie, Anidder Een , Back to the Hills and most recently released Hameaboot.
20 year old fiddler Maggie Adamson from Fladdabister is currently studying B Mus Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Maggie started competing at Musselburgh and Perth at the age of 9. Nationally, she has been "All Scotland" and Scottish fiddle Champion several times. In 2012 she won the Oban Masters, and became Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion for the second time . A member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Maggie has also been an ambassador for the National Young Jazz orchestra of Scotland, and has recently been on a Scottish tour with Donnie Munro.
Brian Nicholson is internationally recognised as one of Shetland's finest ever guitarists, as well as one of the busiest! He has played guitar from the age of 12. At 15 he joined the Shetland dance band Da Fustra and at 17 was a founder member of folk group Hom Bru. He also plays in No Sweat, (rock) , Matt Vinyl (Blues) and the Sheila Henderson Band (country). Brian has taught workshops and night classes for many years. He is internationally renowned for his Shetland style traditional guitar accompaniment, last year being invited to Tokyo for a recital.
Colin Dewar & his Scottish Country Dance Band
Colin started playing the accordion at the age of 4. At the age of 9, he started playing for a Scottish Country Dance Class in Kirkcaldy and continued to play there for approximately 9 years. This gave him a great grounding for strict tempo playing and allowed him to build a vast repertoire of sets for Scottish Country Dancing. Colin competed at various music festivals across the country including Perth, Auchtermuchty, Kinross and Musselburgh and became all Scotland Junior Champion in 1982.
Colin joined Grace MacLeaver and the Lochearn Dance Band to play lead accordion at the age of 14 and it was in this band that he performed his first "Take the Floor" broadcast. During that period he also played regularly with George Fleming's Scottish Dance Band for Scottish Country Dancing in Scotland, England and abroad.
He formed his own band at the age of 17, recorded his debut band broadcast in 1984 and has appeared annually on this programme since. The Colin Dewar Scottish Dance Band also featured on Phil Cunningham's "Scotland’s Music" television programme on BBC2 in 2007.
Colin recorded his debut solo album in 1980 on the Ayrespin label. Since then he has recorded a number of band albums for the RSCDS and at least 10 CDs in his popular "Special Requests" and "Ruthven Collection" series. Colin has also published 2 books of his own compositions.
The Simon Howie Scottish Country Dance Band
Simon began music lessons with Ian Anderson at Bill Wilkie's music school in May 1974. Ian's teaching methods were extremely comprehensive in that he ensured all young pupils learned Scottish and continental genres along with music theory. Simon's brothers, Angus and Norman both took lessons on piano and accordion respectively so the 3 young lads played at local events from an early age as well as being exposed to the vibrant 1970s Accordion and Fiddle club scene.
As the years progressed Simon took up Mickie Ainsworth's offer to visit him every Sunday morning for chord theory and harmony tuition. This was to be a turning point in his musical learning journey as the application of Mickie's wonderful ideas opened many new avenues.
Next came the formation of his dance band and under the new producer at BBC Radio Scotland, Ken Mutch, he auditioned and subsequently did their first recording at aged 18 in Aberdeen (1985). Accordion clubs and dances filled the diary and the band became one of Scotland's busiest bands at that time. Further radio broadcasts followed including live performances from St Andrews for Classic FM with Bill McCue (Hogmanay 1997), a memorable Radio 2 Broadcast, and numerous Take the Floors.
Perth Festival has played a lead role in Simon's musical calendar and a highlight was playing as the guest band in Bill Wilkie's variety concert in 2002. The band has made 3 commercial recordings (LP &CDs) over the years and Simon was one of the players in Jim McLeod's big band which was great fun. Reel parties and Highland Balls have become the band's main gigs, including the Royal Caledonian Ball each year in London's Grosvenor House, Park lane.
Trips abroad proved to be a huge source of enjoyment for the band and since 1989 they have been on over 20 trips to Hong Kong, Seoul, Japan and just recently Beijing. Simon is quick to acknowledge the support from his band members over the years, many of whom are big names in the music scene.
Johnny Duncan
Born in Dundee, Johnny Duncan started playing piano accordion at age of 6 years under the guidance of Hilda Taylor. About 4 Years later for reasons unknown he changed over to playing a 5 Row Continental Accordion. At the age of 14 years he started having lessons with Jim Money and continued with him for a further 4 years.
Johnny's musical tastes are very varied and he has played with various bands over his career covering a wide range of musical genres. However, Scottish music has always been a key part of his repertoire. He won the Senior Scottish Championship at Perth in 1973 and continues to play at many functions and accordion clubs all over Scotland and beyond.