Where music is heard at its best: 3 must-visit venues in Edinburgh
Edinburgh-based Music Patron composer Stuart MacRae shares his favourite places to listen to live music.
Usher Hall
I would have to start with the Usher Hall, which I think is probably one of the world’s great concert halls. It’s a beautiful building, quite old-fashioned inside, and it feels very grand when you’re in there.
There’s a magical atmosphere when a hush descends before the concert, and then the sounds that come up from an orchestra or from singers in there, particularly if it’s something like the Edinburgh Festival Chorus performing, have a magical kind of space–filling effect.
It’s usually completely acoustic when I go there, no amplification and everybody is completely immersed in the performance, so I love to go to concerts at the Usher Hall. They don’t just have classical music, they have a really wide variety of different kinds of music in there throughout the year, and we’re really lucky to have that in Edinburgh I think.
The Queen's Hall
The second one I would choose is The Queen’s Hall, which is again a place that hosts a wide variety of music. I’ve heard anything from folk music, to electro–acoustic music, to chamber recitals. It’s an old church, so it wasn’t designed as a concert hall, but it’s been beautifully refurbished recently and you sit on pews and everybody’s facing inwards towards the musicians on the stage.
It’s also special for me because we recorded my album Ursa Minor there in 2021. We had the whole place to ourselves for three days, and that was just such a great space to use for that recording.
I think the first time I went to The Queen’s Hall was about 33 years ago, something like that, and it was a new music concert by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. It’s the first hall that I ever heard contemporary music played live in – my first proper new music concert – so the fact that it’s just down the road from me now is great.
Playhouse Theatre
Another Edinburgh venue that I think is really great is the Playhouse Theatre. It’s great for amplified music and it‘s got a really warm atmosphere. I’ve seen the Philip Glass Ensemble there and Scottish Ballet. You go in the front entrance and then it’s got a double foyer which welcomes you in, like you’re entering into a warm, friendly labyrinth. And then you get in and surprisingly, the stage is way down below you, it‘s not like a usual theatre where you go up lots of stairs because it’s built into a slope.
And further afield?
St Magnus Cathedral
Outside Edinburgh one of the most amazing places I’ve been to concerts – and actually performed – is St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall in Orkney.
It’s an incredible place because it’s a medieval cathedral on an island, built by Vikings essentially, and it’s got this incredible red stone, these huge wide pillars, and it’s got an absolutely beautiful, amazing acoustic. And I think it’s one of the reasons that the St Magnus Festival in Orkney was started, they needed that kind of central venue, it’s really inspiring.
Last year I was performing my piece Incarnadine there, with flautist Ewan Robertson, underneath this huge model of the sun, with projections of images of its surface, as part of the Orkney International Science Festival. It was such an incredible, atmospheric occasion.
