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Durness Local News
6th. July
2007
Trumpet
Performance
Picture attached
Picture Attached Robert Dawson on electronics and the trumpet Mark O'Keeffe at
Smoo cave
Creative Scotland winner 2003, Mark O'Keeffe has held the post of principal
trumpet with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra since December 1996. He is a
native of County Cork, Ireland, where he began his musical studies at the age of
seven. Mark was chosen in 1992 as the winner of the RTE Musician of the Future
competition. he was appointed associate principal trumpet of the National
Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for four years. Over the past ten years he
has appeared as soloist with the BBC SSO on a number of occasions. In addition
to his career with the BBC SSO, he is a committed chamber musician playing in
several ensembles that share his passion for performing new music. Mark O'Keeffe
teaches at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow where he has
just completed, with distinction, a master degree in trumpet performance. On
Saturday night mark performed music for Trumpet and Electronics by 3 composers
John Maxwell Geddis, Jonathan Harvey and Pete Stollery in Smoo Cave. The event
was promoted by Firefly production as part of the Highland 2007 year of culture
celebrations. The hour-long concert in the stunning outdoor setting gave a
resonating mixture of sounds. The amplification and distribution of sound
sources with the reverberation of echoes and lingering effects from electronics,
natural sounds and trumpet gave a more spiritual and unearthly feeling to the
cave. Smoo Cave was formally believed to be the abode of spirits who guarded
this entrance to the nether world and this event creating music in the extreme
arose expectations of the arrival of the TARDIS and Dr. Who or caverns on the
walls to open, neither of which happened!.
The programme included Jonathan Harvey's 'Ricercare' for solo trumpet and
electronics, and works for trumpet and tape from Scotland's leading
electro-acoustic composers. All 150 tickets for this event were allocated and a
few more people arrived and were asked to remain at the mouth of the cave for
safety reasons. The performance was received with a mixture of interpretation
and reaction with the most common descriptionm given after the performance by
the audience as “Different” The clever combination and the mixture of sound was
not the expected for the uninitiated, some had anticipated a more conventional
classical style associated with a symphony Orchestra and there was a n elenmt of
disappointment form some.. The event was filmed for BBC television and recorded
for BBC radio.
Vandalism
Walkers have reported that the two Mountain Bothies on Cape Wrath Kearvaig east
of Cape Wrath and Strathan east of Sandwood Bay have been vandalised. The walls
and floors have been covered with paint splattering and obscene graffiti. The
matter has been reported to the police.
Exhibition
Picture Attached
Kevin Arrowsmith artist and Kevin Crowe priritor Loch Croispoil Bookshop and
Resturant.
The recently opened Loch Croispol Bookshop and Restaurant after extensive
renovations has started exhibiting local artists work. Photographer Kevin
Arrowsmith who recently moved to Durness with his family has turned his part
time hobby into an art and is holding his first exhibition at the bookshop.
Kevin moved form North Yorkshire where he was a Telecoms manager and has
practiced his skills as a photographer since his teens. Kevin first visited
Durness in 2003 as a participant in the Cape Wrath Challenge and Along with his
wife Frances, who works a s a nurse and midwife and there 2 sons Christopher and
they decided to move permanently north.
Sharing the exhibition space with Kevin is Jennifer Macleod a young artist based
in Thurso. Jennifer specialises in mixed media abstract art. The exhibitions run
until the end of August.
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