Published: Thursday, 7th May, 2009 10:35am

Fiddle orchestra tune up for city concert

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MEMBERS of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, Scotland"s foremost traditional, music orchestra, paid an advance visit to Dunfermline last Saturday as part of preparations for their forthcoming "Homecoming" concert in the Alhambra Theatre on Saturday 16th May.

A spokesman for Dunfermline Heritage Trust, who are organising the event, explained more about the upcoming concert.

'This is going to be one of the biggest "Homecoming" events in Fife during this year of celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, and we are delighted to be hosting it,' he said.

The fiddle orchestra has never played in Fife before, as there hasn"t been a venue large enough for them to perform in until the recent refurbishment of the Alhambra Theatre.

The programme will feature the "Tam O"Shanter and Cutty Sark Overture" and a memorable arrangement of "Highland Cathedral".

The large group of fiddlers, dancers, pipers and singers will be compered by Jim McColl MBE of the Beechgrove Garden. He will provide some insight into the music in his own inimitable, humorous way.

The Beechgrove Garden team gave the medieval herb gardens in Abbot House a make-over prior to opening as a Heritage Centre in 1995.

The inaugural concert of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra was on 20th March 1980 in the Music Hall, Aberdeen. Since that time the orchestra has settled into a sequence of five major concerts each year – in the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, the Music Hall, Aberdeen, the Barbican, York, and the Barbican Centre, London. It has delighted packed houses from Vancouver to Toronto and the Sydney Opera House.

Tickets, priced £15, are on sale at Ticketmaster, Third Base Records in Chapel Street and in Abbot House on 733266. Further information can be found on www.visitdunfermline.com.

l Members of the orchestra are pictured in the gardens of Abbot House.