Geddes Peterson Foundation Award Commemorates Colleague

Sharing details of this award, which the Scottish Music Centre announced yesterday.  John Maxwell Geddes was a much-loved colleague at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - it's great to see him commemorated in this way.

"In memory of our dear friend & colleague composer John Maxwell Geddes, the Geddes Peterson Foundation Award is OPEN for the second year. [...] Please retweet / spread the word for Emerging Classical Composers info at http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/geddes-peterson-foundation/oundation/ "

Please visit the Scottish Music Centre link above, for full details! 

A Lost Empire!

Why not discover some of Glasgow's lost theatre culture!

Just a 3 min walk from RCS is the former site of Glasgow's most famous theatre. You ever wondered why the 1960s office block on the corner of West Nile and Sauchiehall Street is called ‘Empire House’?  Well this was the site of the world famous Glasgow Empire Theatre a UK mecca for light entertainment and music hall acts.

The Empire was notorious within showbiz circles as "The English comic's grave", if their act was slow or thin. Among those judged this way were Bob Monkhouse, Tommy Cooper, Bernie Winters and Morecambe and Wise. Des O'Connor pretended to faint when the Glasgow audience started jeering his act and was duly dragged off stage.

Glasgow Empire Theatre, known as the Glasgow Palace Empire until the early 1900s, it opened in 1897 on the site of the Gaiety Theatre at 31-35 Sauchiehall Street. It was one of the leading theatres in the UK chain of theatres owned and developed by Moss Empires under the chairmanship of Sir Edward Moss.  It was the largest theatre in the city for many years.

The Empire presented variety, revues, musicals and dance, including Pavlova, winter circus, pantomimes and ice spectaculars especially those produced by Tom Arnold. Over the years many stars appeared including Lilly Langtry, Laurel and Hardy, Sir Harry Lauder, G. H. Elliott, Tommy Lorne, Evelyn Laye, Will Fyffe, Harry Gordon, Robert Wilson, the Logan family and Andy Stewart. Dance bands included Jack Hylton and Joe Loss. Top quality American artistes were greatly welcomed, including the Andrews Sisters and Billy Eckstine. Fats Waller made his European debut in the Empire in 1938. Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray, Frankie Laine, Connie Francis, Eartha Kitt, Howard Keel, Guy Mitchell, Mel Tormé and Liberace were joined

The Empire presented variety, revues, musicals and dance, including Pavlova, winter circus, pantomimes and ice spectaculars especially those produced by Tom Arnold. Over the years many stars appeared including Lilly Langtry, Laurel and Hardy, Sir Harry Lauder, G. H. Elliott, Tommy Lorne, Evelyn Laye, Will Fyffe, Harry Gordon, Robert Wilson, the Logan family and Andy Stewart. Dance bands included Jack Hylton and Joe Loss. Top quality American artistes were greatly welcomed, including the Andrews Sisters and Billy Eckstine. Fats Waller made his European debut in the Empire in 1938. Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray, Frankie Laine, Connie Francis, Eartha Kitt, Howard Keel, Guy Mitchell, Mel Tormé and Liberace were joined by Frank Sinatra, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Jack Benny and a great favourite Danny Kaye.

Comedian Ken Dodd famously disparaged attempts to psychoanalyse humour with the rebuttal, "The trouble with Sigmund Freud is that he never played second house at the Glasgow Empire after both halves of the Old Firm had just lost!"

The record for the longest running show in the city is held by The Andy Stewart Show, twice-nightly with a change of programme each six weeks, for 26 weeks in 1961 and again in 1962, with 400,000 tickets sold each year.

The final curtain came down on the theatre on 31 March 1963 with a cast that included the Red Army Choir, Duncan Macrae, Robert Wilson, Iain Cuthbertson, Albert Finney, Rikki Fulton and Andy Stewart. This city lost its most famous theatrical landmark the following year. So next time you pass the Empire house you can imagine the screams and tears of performers as they failed to entertain the Glasgow public.
For more information visit this website below.

Click here

An Indelible Impression?

Archives and Collections – Object of the Month – May 2019

The RCS Archives and Collections contain a wonderland of fascinating and unusual objects. These include a visitor book signed by Charles Dickens and various musical instruments that have survived centuries of use. However, some comparatively recent artefacts are fading into the mist of time much more quickly. One such item is the Archives and Collections Object of the Month, for May 2019.

Dr Tommy Smith (now Head of Jazz at RCS) commissioned the acclaimed Scottish poet Edwin Morgan to write a set of poems about famous figures from Scottish history, which Dr Smith then set to music in a song cycle called The Sons and Daughters of Alba. Morgan faxed the poems to Smith, and these original (if that’s the right word) faxed copies now reside in the RCS Archive. It is one of these works, ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ which is on display in the Whittaker Library. You may need to step in close to read it, but it will be worth the extra effort! The poem describes the eventful life of Mary Stuart, from her childhood to her infamous execution.

There is an irony in a poem about a woman who left a profound mark on Scottish identity and culture being presented on a medium which is rapidly erasing itself. Early fax machines often used thermal (heat transfer) printers when receiving and reproducing information, with rolls of thermal paper as their printing medium.  This meant that whatever was reconstituted as a fax (facsimile or copy) could only be in black and white, but it also meant that whatever was printed would fade over time, and eventually become unreadable. It’s almost as if the words are being swallowed by the “Swirling mist on Inchmahome” described in the poem.

While it is still visible, why not pop over to the Whittaker Library to take a look at this rare work from one of the most prolific and accomplished Scottish poets of all time.


Want to know more?

Contact: archives@rcs.ac.uk

Endangered! The ability to empathise?

How do you feel? How well can we tell?  

According to a 2010 study from the University of Michigan, the ability to empathise declined by 40% over the past three decades.  Is this important? Should we be concerned?

This month's featured e-resource is The Moral Dimensions of Empathy.  It outlines the ways in which empathy is important in meeting the demands of morality. RCS staff and students can read the whole book online at www.springer.com.  

You can look for the book on the library website using the "Search Catalogue Plus" option.

NB if you're not using a library PC, use the "login via Shibboleth" option and use your RCS username and password to access.

Glenda Jackson as Lear! Discover Shakespeare Unlimited podcasts!

Glenda Jackson as Lear

 

Glenda Jackson as King Lear in King Lear, 2019. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe.

 

Discover the Folger Shakespeare Library podcasts. One such podcast is to be found on the latest episode of Shakespeare Unlimited, the Tony-, Emmy-, and Academy Award-winning actress Glenda Jackson talks about the intricacies of her performance as the title character in the new Broadway production of King Lear directed by Sam Gold. 

Click here to listen to the Podcast

International Workshop for Actors and Performers!

Ever wanted to do an international performance workshop with some of the best directors and artists there are?

Between 22 July – 5 August 2019, in Venice, this is such an opportunity.

Biennale College – Theatre is a selected group of performers/actors who will undertake a series of workshops leading to a performance.

 Biennale College – Theatre 

The Biennale College – Theatre project is a true factory of ideas that explores the potential of theatre in terms of languages, codes, techniques, and technology in the theatre sciences. These workshops are led by key figures in European theatre/performance and technical experts from around the world. You are too late to apply for this year but you could pop it in your diary to apply for next year with a deadline in April. Please note, if you are selected for this you would need to be self funding in terms of travel and accommodation.

Click here for website

ARJ

Behind the Scenes : BBC Radio 4

A very good series of short audio documentaries about international contemporary stage directors whos work can be seen in the UK. This week 15/05/19 the work of British director Robert Icke is looked at.  Icke is famous for his re-invention of the classics texts. This documentary follows him while working on productions in London and Basel.

Black Men Walking by Dawn Walton

The series investigates the work of other such directors such as Miroslow Balka, Robert Lepage, Akram Kahn and David Grieg. The programme is broadcast on Wednesday's mornings at 09.00 or 21.30.  You can also access all the series on BBC Sounds.

Click here for BBC Sounds

ARJ

Blethers

Blethers - a Scottish term meaning "chatters"

Shared by a colleague on the Traditional Music course, our trad music musos will be glad to see that TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland) publishes their "Blethers"  newsletter online in spring and autumn.  It aims to showcase projects and initiatives by traditional artists across Scotland and further afield.

Read it here:- 

https://tracscotland.org/about-us/blethers/

Because we're kind and generous folk at the Whittaker Library, we've also put the link on our library portal so that RCS staff and students will be able to find it again when they need it!  Visit the library pages, and look for Subject Gateways > Music.

(The RCS portal is only accessible to our staff and students, and is password protected.)

Theatre Portraits Exhibition V&A (Behind the Curtain)

Check out this new exhibition..

 

 

You'll spot some very familiar faces in this collection of portraits by artist Francis Hamel. His sitters have all held the position of the Cameron Mackintosh Chair of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University and RCS President. This prestigious visiting professorship has previously been held by actors, writers, directors, and producers including Arthur Miller, Ian Mckellen and now Deborah Warner. The post was founded to promote the interest, study and practice of contemporary theatre. Now open at the V&A museum, London.

 

Click here to go to the exhibition website