Alice Allen (cello),  Katrina Lee (violin)

Duncan Strachan             Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (GAIA commission)

Elizabeth Maconchy       Theme and Variations

Corelli                                   Sonata for Violin and Cello Op.5 No.9

Sally Beamish                    Stone, Salt and Sky (GAIA commission)

The Gaia Duo are the Ensemble in Residence at Chamber Music Scotland from 2019-2021. Katrina and Alice are familiar to the Peebles audience as members of the Brodick Quartet, who opened our 2018/19 season. As GAIA, they are committed to unveiling the unheard voices of female composers from the past, whilst also supporting female contemporary composers.

Their fascinating programme showcases works by two women composers, a new work by Sally Beamish, one of today’s foremost composers, and the other by Irish-English composer Elizabeth Maconchy, described as ‘one of the most substantial composers these islands have yet produced’.

The concert opens with another new commission, from Duncan Strachan, perhaps best known as cellist with the Maxwell Quartet and now emerging as a leading young composer. Completing the programme is a sonata by Baroque master, Corelli, whose Opus 5 set is described by Andrew Manze as ‘arguably the finest and most influential ever assembled’.