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The Arabesque Duo
News

Reviews, notice board and other bits and bobs!
If you have any flute and/or harp events notices that you would like to post here,
please email us at info@arabesque-duo.com

 
 Waxing Lyrical! January 2007 
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We like to think we have come across most situations on gigs over the past 12 years (unexpectedly accompanying a snake charmer and a juggler on stilts being high on the list), but we have never experienced a power failure before yesterday. With the appalling storms across Britain, some households were still without power, including the wedding venue below. The staff valiantly carried on in torchlight to get everything prepared in time and the wedding went ahead as planned. Reading music by candlelight was not fun though and not an experience we would like to repeat!!!

The photo has been heavily enhanced so that you can see Russell!

 Charity RecitalOctober 2006 
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Charity Recital

Wednesday 18th October 2006 at 7.30pm

St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Nantwich. Cheshire

An evening of “Tranquil Classics” as part of the 150 year celebrations
of St. Anne’s Church in aid of St. Luke’s Hospice

Music to include works by Mozart, Bach, Elgar, Faure and Rodrigo

Retiring Collection

Further details – Rev. John Daly 01270 625494

 ReviewJune 2006 
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Buy the CD We are delighted that CDBaby are now selling our "Sonata" CD and that they like it so much they have made it Editors Pick on their home page. Considering they only feature 3 CDs on their home page and that covers ALL genres of music, we are delighted that they have chosen our CD! They are a great company doing fantastic things for independent musicians, so if you haven't bought one of our CDs yet, go visit CDBaby.

Flute and harp: it's a combination long treasured by composers for the infinite delicacy and expressivity shared between the two instruments' tessituras, textures and colors. Depicting incredible lightness and fragility, conjuring images of ice castles and the most frail of flowers, this combination is only more transfixing and enchanting than can be expected. While zipping and dancing through a mesmerizing variety of works, this duo not only holds onto the intense translucency naturally achieved by their pairing, but these two players push the listener to a much greater level. Beyond subtlety and frailty is a passion, an unmovable conviction and mountainous determination spilling forth, mixing with the luscious musicality that cascades from these compositions. It is all too rare to find a duo of this sort with as much guts and might as sensitivity, driving every note and powering every phrase so that the listener never leaves the edge of their seat. Arabesque Duo inspires a new look at the juxtaposition of harp and flute for its potential gusto and fervency- and that is quite a notable achievement.

Review by CDBaby

 Wedding ban on religious music lyrics liftedNovember 2005 
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 Sir James Galway International Flute SeminarAugust 2004 
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During August Russell took time out to play at the Sir James Galway International Flute Seminar in Switzerland. Sixty flute players from all over the world converged on the small town of Weggis situated by Lake Luzern for a fantastic week with Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway.


Above: Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway with Russell Gillespie

Left: Sir James Galway and Russell Gillespie

 REVIEWMay 2004 
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TAPESTRY
Royal Northern College of Music
19 February 2004

"Also on site was saxophonist and composer Andy Scott, whose three-movement Sonata for flute and harp might just be a hit in the making. Fuelled by concise and skilfully developed rhythmic themes in the outer movements and a wonderfully elegiac melody in the second, this was one of those rare moments when a significant new work strikes gold with both the performers and the audience, the enthusiasm expressed in Gillespie’s spoken introduction more than justified.

Here and elsewhere, the whole Tapestry concept was one of an outstanding team of players with a genuine commitment to sharing new repertoire that attracts rather than alienates. See them, hear them and enjoy..."

Paul Fowles - Classical Guitar Magazine

 ConcertsJanuary 2004 
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Arabesque Duo are collaborating with Duo Mandala - mandolin and harp duo - for a tour this quarter, combining an exciting range of repertoire for the two duos and premiering a new piece especially written for this tour for alto flute, bass mandolin and harp....

12 Feb 04    Essex Lakeside Theatre at Essex University 1.05pm
13 Feb 04    Cambridge Mumford Theatre, Anglia Polytechnic University 1pm
19 Feb 04    Manchester RNCM 7.30pm
8 May 04    Suffolk - OLD GRANARY STUDIO in Raveningham, nr Beccles evening
9 May 04    Brighton - Friends Meeting House 4pm
    
Mozart flute and harp concerto plus duo recital 2nd half of concert:
15 May 04    Cheshire - Middlewich Concert Society 7.30pm

 Duo MandalaDecember 2003 
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For info about Duo Mandala and their debut CD release "Tapestry" on the Black Box label visit www.alisonstephens.com

 New Flute MusicJune 2003 
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A. Scott - Sonata for flute and harp

We are really excited about this new addition to the flute and harp repertoire:

  • Click here to buy Andy's flute music

  • Click here to listen to soundbytes of his piece

 ReviewJune 2003 
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Review for Sonata CD Arabesque Duo, ara101

"Andy Scott's piece... will become, I believe, a major work in our repertoire. Andy is Professor of Saxophone at the RNCM, and his writing is both vibrant and refreshing. The work is influenced by both Eastern and European folk rhythms and jazz harmony. It calls for various special effects and timbres form both instruments, and Russell Gillespie and Lauren Scott give a convincing performance. The flute playing throughout is lyrical and expressive, and Lauren Scott's playing is graceful, eloquent and technically assured. This is an enjoyable CD..."
British Flute Society - March 2003

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 Promoter's Info
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High quality photos for promoters - click here