James Ross
James Ross
Chasing the Sun
Blas festival
James Ross performs his new composition at the Blas festival, run in partnership with Fèisean nan Gàidheal, a Foundation funded organisation.
Composer James Ross from Wick in the north-east of Scotland began his musical studies on the accordion with respected musician and composer, the late Addie Harper. He went on to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, following by an MA in Traditional Irish Music Performance from the University of Limerick, where he studied piano under Professor Michael O Suilleabhain at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
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James has since performed extensively throughout Britain, Ireland, America and Canada, and has earned a growing reputation as a composer. His An Cuan suite was premiered to critical acclaim as part of the New Voices series at Celtic Connections in 2005. He composed a three-movement orchestral work for Caithness Orchestra as part of the Highland 2007 celebrations, and was invited by Distil to compose a piano pibroch for their showcase concert. |
In 2006-2007, James was artist-in-residence at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton, setting to music poems by Sorley MacLean.
James’s first album, featuring his own arrangements of traditional tunes, was released on the Greentrax label in January 2006. He is in demand as a session musician and has recorded on several traditional music albums.
James is currently working with Irish singer Michelle Burke of Cherish the Ladies, and he teaches piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Since November 2001 James has been involved with Live Music Now!, a scheme established by the late Yehudi Menuhin to take live performances of music to a wide range of community venues and supported in Scotland by the Scottish Arts Council.
Chasing the Sun is a new work by James Ross, commissioned for the Blas festival. The work combines music and image to depict a journey along the north coast of Caithness and Sutherland. It is written for piano, string quartet, saxophone, whistles and bagpipes, and will be performed by James Ross, Mr McFall’s Chamber and Fraser Fifield, in collaboration with photographer Catriona Murray.
The title of the piece represents the association of this journey with the following of the sun as a gradual movement made along the natural coastline uniting land with sea. The light of the sun is explored as a source of beauty and sensuality, with the power to influence the numerous moods and essential drama of this coastal region. Crucially, the sun in its relation to the land and sea symbolises the constant natural cycle of change. As each new season arrives, the character of the light changes, as it also does through different parts of the day.
The repetitive yet inexplicable alterations of the sun tie harmoniously with the similar ebb and flow of the waves. Underlying all this is the startlingly unique character of the north of Scotland as a place where nature exists as a profound aspect of its being, with the power to inspire one with such feelings of reflective tranquillity and the power to create.
The Blas festival takes place annually throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Devised by The Highland Council in partnership with Fèisean nan Gàidheal and the Promoters Arts Network, Blas celebrates the culture of traditional music and Gaelic in the Highlands. The festival creates opportunities for young musicians to play and learn with leading artists, and also widens opportunities for communities to experience and enjoy live music and Gaelic performances which support their culture.
Blas takes performances to communities throughout the extensive Highlands and Islands region. James Ross's Chasing the Sun will be performed at Coigach Community Centre, Achiltibuie on Tuesday 9 September, the Assembly Rooms in Wick on Wednesday 10 September and at Resolis Hall on the Black Isle, on Thursday 11 September.
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For more information visit the Blas festival website. | |