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Highland Instrumental Instructor Returns From China

21st January 2013

Photograph of Highland Instrumental Instructor Returns From China

A local Highland Instrumental Instructor has just returned from touring China with The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. Inverness-based Strings Tutor, Rona Porter was delighted to tour with the SFO as they played a series of 10 New Year concerts all over China. The Orchestra of 64 players entertained around 8000 people in 8 cities in areas around Shanghai, and further south in Ningbo (twice), Hangzhou, Suzhou, Taicang and Liuzhou, Nanning, Fuzhou and Nanchang.

Now back in Inverness, Mrs Porter who teaches at Inshes PS, Milton of Leys PS, Millburn Academy, Strathdearn PS, Kilchuimen Academy and Primary, Invergarry PS, Glen Urquhart High School, Cannich Bridge, Balnain and Glen Uruqhart Primaries and who tutors with the Highland Regional Music Groups said: “What an amazing opportunity to take Scotland's traditional music abroad. I've been a member of The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra for 9 years and was lucky enough to tour Canada with them in 2005. This tour to China has been an amazing experience and has exceeded every expectation possible.

“Over 16 days, we played 10 concerts (starting in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh), had 8 flights, 2 fabulous Ceilidhs and one on the plane on the flight home from Beijing, 1 cross-country bullet-train journey, 36 hours in coaches. We travelled more than 16000 miles, and stayed in 10 hotels in 10 different cities. We saw some incredible sights too, including the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City, visited a silk factory, and experienced some enormous awe-inspiring Buddhist temples. We sampled Emperor Green Tea in a tea plantation and walked around a dragon pool on a very cold and misty morning. We ate some fantastic food, although we didn't always know what we were eating until after we had sampled it!

“It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I have over 700 photos. Our audiences at our Chinese concerts were great. We taught them how to do a Gay Gordons and a Military Two-Step and had them dancing in the aisles. We even made it onto Chinese TV! We took three Chinese pieces with us which went down really well; as did the pieces we did with our pipers. Every concert was a sell-out and we were mobbed after each concert with people wanting their photos taken with us and wanting our autographs.

As an instrumental tutor I hope that my pupils will see what amazing places can be seen by playing an instrument and I hope that my trip will inspire them to think beyond the hours of practice.”

The SFO has previously toured in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This is its first visit to China. The SFO is very grateful to Creative Scotland for a grant of £10,000 towards the costs of this venture. Some advertising revenue has also been gratefully received from Edradour Whisky and Visit Scotland. It is hoped that the concerts, attracted over 10,000 people, will generate interest in traditional Scottish fiddle music.

The SFO’s first concert after returning from the tour will be in Perth Concert Hall on Saturday 9th February 2013.

The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra (www.sfo.org.uk) is Scotland’s foremost traditional fiddle orchestra. Founded in 1980, it is a registered charity, and a voluntary organisation. The charitable aims of the Orchestra are (in summary) to promote the performance of Scottish Fiddle music, and to generate funds for other charities.
Membership and organisation

Membership of the SFO is nationwide. Members come from all over Scotland, from Orkney to Dumfries. Entry is by audition, the players include several music teachers, and performances are of a high standard. Members receive no payment for their performance, and the SFO is managed by a board drawn from the membership. It is normally self-funding, from the proceeds of its concerts, and it has raised over £1 million for other charities since it was founded in 1981.

Concerts
The orchestra gives about 6 concerts per year in major concert halls of the UK, to a total audience of around 10,000 people. The SFO regularly entertains at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and GRCH in Glasgow, and fills venues from Dumfries to Aberdeen. The Orchestra recently toured to Shetland, Orkney and Inverness, attracting some 3000 people over 4 events.
Outside Scotland it plays in major concerts halls including the principal venues in Birmingham, Manchester, Gateshead, London and Belfast, and has toured internationally in Canada, New Zealand, and the major concert halls of Australia.

Music
The Orchestra’s repertoire ranges from well-known traditional pieces to recently composed tone poems and slow airs. The make-up includes flutes, accordions, cellos, basses, piano, bagpipes and percussion, in addition to the massed fiddles. UK concerts also normally feature singers and dancers.

Musical arrangements come mainly from the pen of the late John Mason MBE, and include many pieces composed in recent years, in traditional styles.

SFO Orchestra’s website at - www.sfo.org.uk

Youtube film shows some of the orchesta entertaining on the flight back from China.