Making Music 2025 - Linlithgow String Orchestra in an exciting collaborative project
4th May 2025
In its 10th year, the Linlithgow String Orchestra has embarked on its most ambitious project to date. We were successful last year in our application to become a music group paired with a composer for the duration of 2025 and in January we were able to announce that we have been assigned to work with Edinburgh-based composer, Deborah Shaw aka @AuroraEngine.
Hailing from Shildon, County Durham, the historic ‘Cradle of the Railways’ Edinburgh-based
Shaw will collaborate with the Linlithgow String Orchestra as part of Making Music’s Adopt a Music Creator 2025 programme to create a new bespoke composition to mark Rail 200:- the bicentenary of the railway's birth in the UK.
Taking inspiration from both the physical power and deep social impact of trains the composer is working in collaboration with the orchestra to develop elements of the new work, and from live field recordings of George Stephenson's ‘Twizell’ locomotive, to capture the breath, hiss, and heartbeat of steam in motion, the rhythmic undulation of a moving engine, and the textures and timbres of the steam age:- purring pistons, sighing valves, and the mechanical sounds of locomotion.
Beyond the industrial, the composition will explore the wider legacy of the railway: its role in the Industrial Revolution, its environmental impact, and its musical influence, particularly on jazz, rhythm, and blues. It will also consider the local history of Linlithgow Station, one of the oldest in Scotland.
Overall, the piece contemplates journeys, both physical and personal. What journeys have locomotives taken us on? How does technology shape our creative worlds?
Every musician begins a journey the moment they first pick up an instrument, learning its mechanics, discovering its voice. As they move into ensemble playing, they become part of a greater machine, many small parts working together in harmony, forming a musical locomotive.
The work is funded and supported by Creative Scotland and Making Music (the driving forse behind the Adopt-a-Creator scheme, supported by the PRS foundation and includes mentorship from Scottish composer, Ailie Roberston.
This creative process is an exciting new experience for the string orchestra, which has become known in recent years for its varied programmes and collaboration with other local Linlithgow groups including the Reed Band, the Ladies Choir and St Michael’s Church Choir. Bill Jones, who also directs the music at St Michael’s, is keen to develop community projects and this year’s opportunity is one to savour. Before November’s world premiere, the group’s next concert in June marks a number of anniversaries: Ronald Binge’s “Sailing By” (aka The Shipping Forecast theme) will recognise 100 years of BBC radio’s weather reports for sailors, an arrangement of Orlando Gibbons’ beautiful “The Silver Swan” is included to remember the great Renaissance composer who died exactly 400 years ago and 2025 also represents the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great waltz king, Johann Strauss the Younger. Tony Kime, who has previously penned a number of Scottish dance tunes for the group, has written a special arrangement of Strauss’ beautiful “Roses of the South”. The summer concert will therefore be full of beautiful tunes and we are delighted to be able to play the programme twice: once in the Priory Church, South Queensferry on Saturday, 7th June (7pm) and then on Sunday, 8th June at 2.30pm in the Burgh Halls, Linlithgow.
Future concerts:
Saturday, 7th June at 7pm: Priory Church, South Queensferry EH30 9RA
Sunday, 8th June at 2.30pm: LInlithgow Burgh Halls EH49 7AH
Sunday, 9th November at 7pm: St Michael’s Church, Linlithgow EH49 7AL (featuring world premiere performance by Deborah Shaw)
