The Galpin Society

The University of Edinburgh

CONFERENCE ON MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Edinburgh

23-25 JUNE 2022

URL: http://www.euchmi.ed.ac.uk/gxtpp.html

The biennial conference of the Galpin Society will be held in Edinburgh, 23rd - 25th June 2022.

The meeting will be hosted by the University of Edinburgh and will be centred on St Cecilia's Hall, location of the University's Musical Instrument Museum.

Overall Programme

Wednesday 22nd June

18:00 - 20:00 Welcome reception with music at Edinburgh City Chambers
The reception will take place in the splendid European Room, situated on the first floor of the historic City Chambers (Edinburgh's City Hall). The walls of the European Room are lined with impressive paintings depicting some of the most important episodes of Scotland's rich history. City Chambers was designed by John Adam and opened in 1760 as The Royal Exchange, a place for merchants to trade goods in Georgian Edinburgh. It was gradually taken over by the Town Council and in 1893 it was renamed 'The City Chambers'. Interestingly, the building was constructed on top of many small streets, known in Edinburgh as 'closes' that ran north to south across the breadth of the site. Some of these preserved medieval streets can be visited through the popular tourist attraction 'The Real Mary King's Close'. Participants may bring an accompanying person
Dinner on your own

Thursday 23rd June
Papers Session A, St Cecilia's Hall
Papers Session B, St Cecilia's Hall
Break for lunch
Papers Session C, St Cecilia's Hall
Demonstration of instruments from the University Collection: Scottish fiddle champion Tim MacDonald demonstrates violins and fiddles, including the Bassano 'violin without sides' and a selection of recently acquired Scottish-made instruments.
Papers Session D, St Cecilia's Hall
Dinner on your own

Friday 24th June
Papers Session E, St Cecilia's Hall
Papers Session F, St Cecilia's Hall
Break for lunch
Papers Session G, St Cecilia's Hall
Demonstration of instruments from the University Collection: Tony George, Professor of Ophicleide and Serpent at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, demonstrates low brass including the contrabass serpent, 'The Anaconda'.
Papers Session H, St Cecilia's Hall
20:00 Conference Banquet, South Hall, Pollock Halls

Saturday 25th June
Papers Session I, St Cecilia's Hall
Demonstration of instruments from the University Collection: Early keyboard specialist David Gerrard will perform on a selection of keyboard instruments in the collection.
Papers Session Session J, St Cecilia's Hall
Break for lunch and Galpin Society Committee meeting
Papers Session K, St Cecilia's Hall
15:00 Galpin Society Annual General Meeting, St Cecilia's Hall
Papers Session L, St Cecilia's Hall
Dinner on your own

Sunday 26th June
Trip to Kilmarnock: this excursion will take participants to the south-west Scottish town of Kilmarnock. During the trip we will visit the Dick Institute, where the Dean Castle musical instrument collection is being temporarily stored while the castle undergoes renovation. Curators are granting us special access to the Institute that day so we may examine the collection, which was assembled at the end of the 19th century by Charles van Raalte of Brownsea, Dorset. Highlights include guitars by Mateo Sellas (1638) and Magno Stregher (1621), a seventeenth-century Dutch bass drum, a treble viol by Henry Smith (1623), two early nineteenth century harps, a recorder by Walch, an oboe by Lenglet, two eighteenth century Italian dulcimers, an English guitar by Hintz, several interesting 18th century mandolins, and a number of lutes (all of them modified in the 19th century, likely by Franciolini). After lunch, we will venture to the impressive country park surrounding Dean Castle for a breath of fresh air while taking in the scenery around this fourteenth-century castle (weather permitting).

This page updated: 21.6.22

Further information: e-mail: euchmi@ed.ac.uk