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2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 ancient history

2008

• Tuesday 15th April: a private booking for the University of Edinburgh in the magnificent Playfair Library.
• Thursday 3rd April: a short free concert at 6pm in the National Portrait Gallery. This was, within two days, the tenth anniversary of our first performance in what has become a regular venue, and our repertoire and style has, of course, changed enormously over those years. Even so, we managed to include Gaelic, Estonian, Armenian, French, Latin, and contemporary American pieces. The audience crowded in and much extra seating had to be found.

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2007

• Sunday 16th December: our annual three-quarters of an hour in the "St Giles at 6" series. I can reasonably call it an annual concert, since we have done it in ten of the last eleven years. As always, an audience of several hundred gathered to hear us (admission free) in the wonderful atmosphere and acoustic of the great building.
• Saturday 15th December in Cranshaws Parish Church - another free concert, this time in a small and lovely church in the borders. The audience came from far and wide, and packed the pews, and afterwards enjoyed the village's hospitality in the village hall.
• Wednesday 12th December in Priestfield Parish Church, the tenth year that we have sung a Christmas programme there. As in every other year, we were well received by an ample audience, who continue to buy tickets in spite of having heard us so often before. Since the ticket money goes into the church's reconstruction fund, this must be a Good Thing.
• Saturday 8th December in Rosslyn Chapel - sold out three weeks in advance! Our first full Christmas concert of the year, introducing some new repertoire - John Tavener and Morton Lauridsen at one extreme, and Winter Wonderland at the other, and a bucolic Apple Tree Wassail. A very good-humoured (even before the interval glass of wine) audience, and record sales of CDs, tell us that we kept up the established standard and got the season off to a good start.
• Thursday 6th December in Glasgow Cathedral: one spot in a very grand - and packed - concert in support of Cancer Research UK. We can now say that we have shared a bill with royalty, because one of the readings was by HRH The Duke of Gloucester. Also on the programme were Richard Wilson, Magnus Linklater, Blythe Duff, Carol Smillie, David Robertson, and the Lord Advocate. None of them actually sang, so I might claim without disrespect that we held our own. And so we really would have done, except that one of the musical spots was contributed by the incomparable Michael Chance. We felt fortunate to have performed before he came on.
• Friday 30th November, singing as background music at a private function in The Mansfield Traquair in Edinburgh. It was a novel experience for most of us to sing at an event where scarcely anybody paused to listen to us, or even cast a glance in our direction. All the same, it is a spectacular venue with an excellent acoustic which brought out our best. We enjoyed ourselves, and so did all the guests at the function. From the very complimentary reports we got afterwards, we had not really been unheard and unnoticed.
• Saturday 6th October in Juniper Green Parish Church Hall. A free concert commissioned as part of Juniper Green's 300th year celebration, with a very welcoming audience who had (mostly) not heard us before, and accordingly were keen to buy our CDs. To reflect the pretext for the event, we sang mostly songs with a Scottish connection. Fortunately there are plenty of those in our back catalogue; but, with plenty of new singers, there is nothing dusty or routine about how we perform them.
• Saturday 22nd September in the Swallow Theatre, Whithorn. We have been coming to the Swallow Theatre since 1998, and our concerts there have always been a joy, with a warm and hospitable welcome and a good audience. This was no exception, but it was distinguished as Ollie's first full length concert and the first visit to Whithorn for several of us - and a first outing for much new repertoire. It all went very well, and the fun continued through the post-concert party (lavishly provided by our hosts), and the now-traditional walk to St Ninian's Cave the next morning, to lunch in the famous Steam Packet in Isle of Whithorn.
• Saturday 1st September. John and Susan's big party to celebrate John's retirement, Susan's **th birthday, and their **th anniversary. Rudsambee were there, of course, and singing. In fact, all the music was home-grown, with a magnificent scratch ceilidh band, Sam's amazing drumming, and Sebastian and Daniel's jazz. A big thankyou to everybody!
• Sunday 19th August: a free "St Giles at 6" concert, 45 minutes of singing to an audience of (mostly) tourists and refugees from the Festival - hundreds of them. They were very appreciative and bought quantities of CDs.
• Friday 6th July: a joint concert with Svatobor choir from Sušice in the Czech republic, in Edinburgh's Canongate Kirk. This was the culmination of Svatobor's three-day visit, and a resounding success. A gratifyingly large audience supported the occasion with great enthusiasm. The astonishing quality and variety of Svatobor's first half was a very hard act to follow; but fortunately our second half was different enough for comparisons to be irrelevant. Our first venture upon Ernst Toch's Geographical Fugue had the audience on the edge of their seats, as they sensed that this was more of a circus event than a concert item, and that we might fall headlong from the high wire at any moment - but we got home with never a wobble!
• Thursday 21st June: performing a set in the Edinburgh French Institute's Fète de la Musique. It was very well received, and attracted much interest. Allegedly. Your correspondent was lazing about on the island of Paxos at the time, and cannot vouch for the details.
• Sunday 27th May - we enjoyed a visit from a very entertaining group of Norwegian singers, Grendakor from Nordås (Bergen). We fed them on haggis, neeps, tatties and whisky, and we sang the evening away until they had to depart, far too soon, because of their very early flight home the next morning. A few photos will give you the idea.
• Thursday 19th April: our first concert under Ollie's direction. A half-hour free concert in the National Portrait Gallery, with a packed audience. They had to bring out more seating to accommodate the crowd, which was partly (but far from entirely) made up of old friends coming to wish us well and check that we could still sing. We didn't disappoint them. It went very well. It was particularly encouraging to get enquiries afterwards from singers and a choir leader who had never heard us before.
• Sunday 4th March in St Mark's Church, Edinburgh - a group of us sang for a Songs of Celebration event.

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2006

• Saturday 16th December in Cranshaws Kirk. A free concert in a lovely church in the very attractive and sociable village of Cranshaws, deep in the Borders, with mince pies and mulled wine in the village hall afterwards. After seven years, this was our last concert with Frances.
• Sunday 10th December in St Giles Cathedral - a free concert in the "St Giles at Six" series, packed with an audience of at least three hundred. Wonderful atmosphere, rich acoustic: a delight to sing another Christmas concert here, but a twinge of sadness that Frances won't be leading us next year. Sadness rapidly dispelled by an evening at Vittoria's.
• Sunday 10th December in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, at 1.45pm. Admission free. A good audience gathered to hear us and appeared to enjoy the performance in spite of the unhelpful acoustic, background noise and distractions.
• Saturday 9th December in Rosslyn Chapel, at 7.45pm. Sold out, with people queueing for returns. A very good evening indeed.
• Wednesday 6th December in Priestfield Church, Dalkeith Road, at 7.30pm. A good audience, appreciative as always, and an enjoyable opener for our Christmas series.
• Wednesday 25th October: a concert in the Biggar Festival, scheduled to conflict with two competing attractions - but plenty of people paid to hear us, and liked us well enough to buy an unprecedented number of CDs.
• Saturday 7th October: a weekend trip to the Lake District to sing in the Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth, with Piping Hot Recorders - featuring the world premier of The Snow Maiden
• Saturday 23rd September in St Martin's Church, Dalry, in support of the Bethany Christian Trust: scarcely a ticket sold by the Saturday morning, which drove some of us out to leaflet the farmers' market, but on the evening an ample and generous audience appeared.
• Saturday 8th July: singing for a wedding
• In late May, we set out on a very busy and active short tour, singing four concerts -
  • Wednesday 24th: Aros Centre, Portree, Isle of Skye
  • Thursday 25th: Lochcarron
  • Friday 26th: Arisaig, in the Astley Hall (and, in the afternoon, a workshop for the children of Arisaig Primary School)
  • Sunday 28th: St Columba's Church, Boat of Garten
  This was generously supported by a grant from Awards for All.
• Thursday 4th May in the National Portrait Gallery: a half-hour concert, admission free, to a welcoming and enthusiastic audience. Several friends and ex-Rudsambistas were there to enjoy some of our familiar songs and some new ones, and to bring us news of their doings. Afterwards there was the now traditional dinner at Vittoria's.
• Saturday 22nd April in Rosslyn Chapel. Songs in English, Latin, French, Gaelic, Croatian, Polish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Armenian diddling, and something Caribbean. Very well received by a discerning audience - discerning, but not as large as normal at Rosslyn. That was just as well, since the reserve seating had disappeared, and if any more people had come along then they would have had to stand. So I shamelessly record yet another FULL HOUSE!
• Saturday 8th April: singing for Rachael and Jake's very lovely wedding in St Mark's Unitarian Church, and at the ceilidh that evening in the Mansion House at Edinburgh Zoo.

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2005

• Sunday 11th December in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. We were happy to be back once again singing our Christmas music in the "St Giles at 6" series, with, as usual, a very large and appreciative audience. It could be the free admission that attracts them, but they like us well enough to buy lots of CDs. This was our last public performance for the year, although we did congregate a week later for our Christmas party with some totally different music: Jenny's frighteningly accurate rendition of her Granny's version of "Stay young and beautiful", for instance, and Sam's spectacular Nigerian drumming.
• Saturday 10th December in Rosslyn Chapel - all tickets sold, and a lovely occasion as always. Bitterly cold, but that too is normal for Rosslyn. Two Norwegians in the audience complimented us on our Swedish, but evaded the question when we asked how they had liked our new Norwegian piece.
• Wednesday 7th December: our annual concert in Priestfield Church - proceeds to the rebuilding fund that maintains this remarkable building, which celebrated the 125th anniversary of its opening on December 10th. Introducing some new Christmas repertoire, including splendid pieces from Norway, Nigeria and New Zealand, and a Plygain carol from Wales.
• Wednesday 30th November: BBC Radio Scotland's Radio Café programme used "Mary's Song", from the CD Citrus and Honey, when they were discussing the poetry of Marion Angus in their poll to find "Scotland's favourite poem".
• Saturday 26th November: singing at a wedding in Linlithgow.
• Friday 11th November: we enjoyed an evening workshop with Cathy-Ann MacPhee who taught us the words and tunes of a good number of traditional Gaelic songs (see photos). Do not suppose that the word "taught" implies that we learned them all! We did our best, and we have a good recording of the whole session, so we can go over them again as often as we need.
• Friday 21st October - singing at the ceilidh for AnnaLauren's wedding. This featured AnnaLauren's rendering of "Whistle daughter whistle". When she finally did whistle, ear-splittingly, her husband of seven hours appeared from nowhere, picked her up, and bore her away, rendering Rudsambee and the audience incapable with laughter.
• Saturday 1st October on the island of Arran, in Whiting Bay Village Hall: a programme in fourteen languages (one more than our previous record) taking us from Brazil to Macedonia, from Finland to South Africa. See the review by Moira Starks from the Arran Banner. For several of us, it was our first visit to Arran, and we loved it. We enjoyed singing to a very receptive and warm audience, albeit not a large one. It would have been larger by one if the new-found friend who paid us for a ticket in the bar of the Lagg Inn on Friday night had remembered about it on Saturday.
• Saturday 21st May: a cappella songs from around the world in Rosslyn Chapel. This was a shared concert with Soundsphere four-piece vocal group from York (there's more about them here). An excellent evening, as always at Rosslyn. It was a novel pleasure to sing to an enthusiastic near-capacity audience for the first half of the concert, and then to relax in the audience ourselves while Soundsphere delighted us with their brilliant singing and presentation in the second half. The evening was distinguished by the first appearance in public performance of Frances' stookie (that's a plaster cast).
• Thursday 5th May, in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh - a short 6pm concert, admission free, led by Anne, since Frances had had too little time to perfect the technique of conducting while balancing on one leg and manipulating a pair of crutches (see next entry). There followed an hour or so in the pub with Anna, who was back for the briefest of visits after leaving us last year to emigrate to New Zealand. After that, there was no option but an evening at Vittoria's, which kept your correspondent away from the polling station until it was too late to cast a vote in the general election.
• Saturday 30th April: Kay and Cailein's wedding. Frank conducted the service; we sang at it; Anne played the organ.
  
  In the evening, we sang more at the ceilidh, Robin danced with every woman in the choir (except those who claimed that their knees would not take the strain) and Frances got a bit wild in the Dashing White Sergeant and ruptured her achilles tendon. Frances wants you to know that this was caused by some oaf in the next set kicking her on the back of the calf, and it is a recognised common injury in Scottish A&E departments. It has a recognised treatment, too: three months in plaster, and no driving.

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2004

• Sunday 12th December, in Rosslyn Chapel - packed out with a splendidly receptive audience, all tickets sold, big CD sales. We're all agreed that this was the best of this year's Christmas concerts. The chapel was, as always, freezing cold, so that we could see our breath condensing as we sang, but a glass of wine at the interval fortifies audience and singers, and the place is so atmospheric and beautiful, and so good acoustically, that it is always a joy to sing there.
• Saturday 11th December - a private concert in a retirement home for Scottish ex-servicemen.
• Wednesday 8 December - at Priestfield Church, Edinburgh: our seventh Christmas concert for our friends there, with all proceeds going to their rebuilding fund.
• Sunday 28 November - midwinter and Christmas songs in St Giles Cathedral at 6pm. A lovely place to sing, and, as always, an appreciative audience. This was also the first opportunity to buy our new CD, Out of the Christmas flame, which was delivered to us promptly by the ever-reliable RPM in spite of our impossibly short deadlines and the usual misfortunes that beset CD production.
• Saturday 25 September – at the Swallow Theatre, Whithorn, a restored and converted barn set among the rolling Galloway hills. The first time we sang there was back in 1998. Once again, we enjoyed singing to a full house, and we were overwhelmed with hospitality after the show too. By a happy coincidence, two friends from Arendal in Norway (see below - 2002) had just arrived on a visit to Scotland, and two no-shows left space for them in the auditorium.
• Thursday 2 September - National Gallery of Scotland: a short early evening concert, admission free.
• Saturday 17 July (pictures): arriving in York under a gloomy sky and drenching rain, and contemplating a concert in a cemetery, we expected only a small and morose audience. But our host choir, Soon Amore, gave us a warm welcome, the sun broke through, the cemetery turned out to be packed with interesting curiosities and attractive corners, and the Cemetery Chapel was an architectural gem with glorious acoustics. The audience streamed in with their pre-concert picnics and wine, making the most of the change in the weather, and then packed every seat in the chapel. Whatever Rudsambee and Soon Amore sang, separately or together, they received with huge enthusiasm, and eventually they demanded more encores than we had ready to sing for them. Better yet, they bought lots of CDs. Altogether it was a very good day indeed. Our thanks go to Soon Amore for suggesting it, organising it, publicising it, selling the tickets, accommodating us and feeding us, and even finding a pub that would tolerate our less polished singing after the show! And, in case you're wondering, they sing brilliantly too.
• Monday 21 June - Music Day at the Danish Cultural Institute in Edinburgh: singing a set in a musical mid-summer celebration featuring several groups, amateur and professional, and a variety of styles.
• Sunday afternoon 6 June - busking around Edinburgh's Meadows Festival.

  Drew Reith 9th August 1947 - 31st May 2004 Rudsambee mourns the loss of a fine tenor, a gifted musician, and, most of all, a friend and fellow spirit. Drew joined us early in 2004, and rapidly established himself as a valued member of our group. He is sadly missed when we meet and when we perform.

• Saturday 22 May (pictures) – Cantemus chamber choir from Stavanger in Norway hosted part of our Norwegian tour in 2002, and we were delighted to join them in a concert in historic Rosslyn Chapel: an outstanding occasion in every way. It was a beautiful warm evening, Cantemus sang gloriously, every ticket was sold, and CDs were in great demand too. Cantemus had already given a splendid lunchtime concert in St Giles that day, and they would not stop singing until long after midnight. We know, because we kept them company in that famous Edinburgh centre of Gaelic and Hebridean culture, the West End Hotel, where the music is live and the whisky comes in lavish measures. Thankyou, Cantemus, for an unforgettable day, and we hope you had a quiet journey home on Sunday!
• Friday 21 May - singing a set to conclude an awards ceremony for Adult Learners in Liberton Kirk Halls.
• Saturday 8 May - a joint workshop with Soon Amore singers from York
• Thursday 15 April, a free early-evening concert in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, one of our favourite places to sing. This was Anna's last concert with us; we all wish her (and Ben and Maia and Holly) happiness and success in New Zealand, but we hope they'll come back to see us.
• 2004 began with a three-month gap in public performances while Rudsambee recorded a new CD of Christmas music, and Alison walked through Tanzania to complete her very successful Oxfam fund-raising project.

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2003

• Sunday 14th December in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh - a Christmas concert in the "St. Giles at 6" series. That was our second visit to this beautiful church in 2003, and, once again, we enjoyed singing to a large and enthusiastic audience.
• Saturday 13th December in Old St Pauls Church, Edinburgh. Alison was planning a trek through the Rift Valley in Tanzania to raise money for Oxfam (if you’d like to know more, have a look at her website). All the proceeds from this concert - more than £300 - went to her sponsorship fund.
• Wednesday 10th December in Priestfield Church, Edinburgh. This has become a regular concert for us and we’re very pleased that they enjoy having us back each year.
• the Sligo International Choral Festival, 31st October to 2nd November (pictures)
  • singing in four classes in two days
  • a slot on local radio
  • a session in the Harp Tavern (part of the festival programme)
  • several sessions in McLynns
  • and we were honoured to be asked to sing at the opening at Drumcliffe Church (where W B Yeats is buried) of a major new sculpture inspired by his poem "He wishes for the cloths of Heaven"
  • following which, the Usual Suspects proceeded on a tour to Achill Island and Galway
• Sunday 28th September in St Margaret's Church, Dunfermline - a concert in aid of the charity Chernobyl Children Life Line
• Thursday 11th September in the National Gallery of Scotland - a half-hour of songs related to pictures in the collection.
• Wednesday 6th August, in Priestfield Church, Edinburgh
• Sunday 3rd August at Culross Fayre
• Sunday 15th June, in St Giles Cathedral, where we got a pleasingly large audience. In case you think that was just because the concert was free, I can tell you that they liked us well enough to buy an unprecedented number of CDs after the show.
• Sunday 27th April, in the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh (pictures) - with Tjølling Sangforening from Norway, directed by Øivind Mikalsen, and with the brilliant young Norwegian organist Johan Wallace.
• Sunday 13th April: a Palm Sunday concert in Culross Abbey
• April: Sari Kontkanen went to the Sahara for a 100Km sponsored walk for Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres. She had to raise a lot of money for this - see our Christmas Concert in Rosslyn Chapel. More came from the guests at the Burns Dinner where we sang. Our thanks to everyone who supported Sari!
• Saturday 29th March: singing for Christine and John's wedding in Aberdour's ancient church, and afterwards at the reception in Hopetoun House - very grand indeed! We returned in the evening to enjoy the ceilidh in the ballroom (hung with centuries-old tapestries), but we felt no need to sing - the brilliant Portobello Ceilidh Band provided all the entertainment.
• Thursday 6th March: singing at a Royal Gala Dinner for BESO (British Executive Service Overseas)
  • in the Hub, Edinburgh
  • in the presence of BESO Patron, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal
  • raising funds (£50 per guest, and there were plenty) for the work of BESO's Scottish office.
    
• Friday 17th January: Robert Burns songs (and more) for a corporate Burns Dinner

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2002

• Sunday 15 December: singing for a lovely wedding in Dalmahoy Church near Edinburgh.
• Christmas 2002:
• In the Royal Museum of Scotland: Sunday 1st December
• In Rosslyn Chapel: Saturday 7th December - every seat sold
  • Back in this beautiful venue after more than four years! Rosslyn Chapel is over 550 years old, famous for its extraordinary architecture and astonishing history, and a site of legend and mystery.
  • All the proceeds of the concert - £630 - went to one of our singers, Sari Kontkanen, in support of her sponsored 100 km walk through the Sahara Desert in April 2003, to raise funds for the Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres.
• In Priestfield Church: Wednesday 11th December
  • Priestfield Church is kind enough to let us use the hall for rehearsals whenever we need to and, in return, we always give a Christmas Concert. They use the funds raised to continue with the major external refurbishment of the church.
• At Paxton House, Berwick-upon-Tweed: Saturday 14th December
• a magnificent country house on the border midway between Edinburgh and Newcastle, which is also a partner gallery of the National Galleries of Scotland and home to seventy paintings from their collection
• Saturday 2nd November, in St Cecilia's Hall
• our first appearance in the Scottish International Storytelling Festival
• Saturday 21st Sept, Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh
  • A polyglot evening featuring Danish, Welsh, Gaelic, Croatian, French, Bengali, Polish, Icelandic, Georgian, Scots and English, plus songs from Norway, Shetland, South Africa, the Isle of Man and Igulik.
• Saturday 31st August, singing a set in Scottish Love In Action's "music and fun in the park" fund-raiser.
• This is an Edinburgh-based charity which has built a home and school for 190 children, most of them orphans, in Tuni in South East India. They need £18,000 a year to keep the children fed, clothed and educated. On this one day, they raised £7,400.
  
• Sunday 18th August, an afternoon concert in Dunbar Parish Church. We recorded our CD "bottled at source" here, and were delighted to be asked to sing in this beautiful church again.
• From the 4th to the 9th of June, in Norway.
  • Tuesday 4th to Thursday 6th in Stavanger, with a concert on the 6th jointly with Kammerkoret Cantemus in the Rogaland Kunstmuseum
• Friday 7th to Sunday 9th in Arendal, for the Arendal Choral Festival - visiting our good friends the Liga av Sang og Munterhed, and singing in the public open-air concert in Kanalplassen on the Saturday and the concert in the Hove amphitheatre on the Sunday. Here are some photos and an article from Agderposten.
• Saturday 1st June, Morningside Baptist Church, Holy Corner, 7.30pm: helping the church to raise funds for its refurbishment
• Thursday 2nd May, in the Straiton IKEA just South of Edinburgh: singing in support of a collection by "Save the Children".
• Saturday 16th March: singing in the mixed voice choirs class in the Coleraine Festival in Northern Ireland. After our disappointment in 2001 - see below - we were determined to get to Coleraine this year, and the three-day trip more than fulfilled our expectations. We had a great time in every way - and we won third prize. Then we recovered from the celebrations with a visit to the Giant's Causeway:
  

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2001

• Christmas:
  • In the Museum of Scotland, on Tuesday December 4th, 7.00pm.
  • On Saturday December 8th, 7.30pm, at Priestfield Parish Church.
  • On Tuesday December 11th in Aberdour - St Columba's Episcopal Church, 7.30pm.
  • On Sunday December 16th, in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh - a concert in the "St Giles at 6" series;
    and later, a set in Gorgie Salvation Army Band's Christmas Concert in the Methodist Central Hall.
• On Saturday 27th October, we sang (in Polish) at the wedding of one of our number in St Mary's RC Cathedral, Edinburgh.
• Saturday 6th October, in the Swallow Theatre, Whithorn: taking part in a commemorative event to celebrate the life of Jill Sumner, who founded the theatre with her husband David. Included the first performance of a new piece by Sheena Phillips, Music for Jill, a setting of words that Jill had chosen herself: Norman MacCaig's poem "If your hand came".
• Tuesday 25th September, in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle - performing by invitation at a Royal Gala Dinner in the presence of the Princess Royal.
  
• Saturday 25th August: an afternoon concert in the National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh, by seven voices.
• Sunday 30th June, in the Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh - sold out!
• Saturday 23rd June: a small group of the choir sang in Malleny House for a private audience - the Friends of Malleny House.
• Saturday 9th June, in Biggar.
• Sunday 22nd April: an afternoon concert in the National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh.
• We managed to make a late entry into the Glasgow Music Competition, and sang in the mixed voice (non-competitive) class on Saturday 24th March. A very enjoyable afternoon and evening with a lot of other fine singers, and some compensation for missing ...
• ... our planned appearance in the Coleraine Festival in Northern Ireland, in the mixed voice competition on March 24th. The festival had to be cancelled at a couple of weeks' notice because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

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2000

• Carol concerts for Christmas:
  • In Methodist Central Hall, West Tollcross, on Sunday 17th December. Two spots in Gorgie Salvation Army Band's annual City Carol Service.
  • In Priestfield Parish Church, Dalkeith Road, on Wednesday 13th December.
  • "St Giles at 6" - Sunday 10th December, St Giles Cathedral.
  • In Balerno Parish Church, Friday 8th December, in support of "Riding for the Disabled".
  • An early evening concert in the Museum of Scotland, Tuesday 5th December.
• Saturday and Sunday 16th/17th September, in Whithorn: concerts for the feast of St Ninian, including the World Premiere of Sheena Phillips' "Memorial". Sheena flew in from America to conduct this piece.
• Sunday 27th August, in the Peebles Festival, a workshop and a concert.
• Sunday 28th May, one set in an afternoon of music at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Part of the BBC Music Live festival.
• Saturday 27th May, in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street, Edinburgh. Part of the BBC Music Live festival.
• Saturday 29th April, in Dunbar Parish Church. We liked the acoustic so much that we returned to Dunbar in October to record our next CD.

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1999

• Sunday 12th December, "St Giles at 6" - a selection of Christmas music in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. This was our last concert with Sheena as Director before she and her family emigrated to America.
• Three more Christmas concerts: Saturday 11th December, in Priestfield Church, Edinburgh; Tuesday 7th December, in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Sunday 5th December, in Carnoustie (Angus)
• Wednesday 22nd September, in the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh: Songs of Sorrow and Love, from Scotland, Iceland, Croatia, Poland, North America, South Africa and the Caucasus; new settings of ancient Welsh and Arabic poetry. Very well reviewed in the Evening News
• Sunday 19th September: singing three sets in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle - part of Historic Scotland's "extravaganza" to entertain the tourists
  
• Sunday 29th August, in Peebles: a very well attended workshop in the afternoon, and an evening concert - two events in the annual Peebles Festival.
• Saturday 3 July to Saturday 10 July: tour of the North-West of Scotland - Portree (Aros Theatre) and Armadale (Arainn Chaluim Chille) on Skye, plus Lochcarron, Poolewe, Ullapool and Kinlochbervie.
• Sunday 23 May: an afternoon concert in the church at Challoch
• Saturday 22 May: an evening concert at the Swallow Theatre, Whithorn
• Saturday 8 May: a lunchtime concert at St Giles and an evening concert at St Fillan's Church, Aberdour, jointly with Københavns Folkekor visiting from Denmark
• Wednesday 5 May at St Mary's Church, Haddington, also with Københavns Folkekor
• Sunday 28 March - an afternoon performance at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen Street
• Saturday 9 January - participating in the Twelfth Night celebration at Wiston Lodge near Biggar

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1998

• Wednesday 16 December at St Peter's Church, Peebles, 7.30pm
• Tuesday 15 December at the Georgian House, Charlotte Square - a private concert for members of the National Trust for Scotland
• Sunday 13 December at 6pm: St Giles Cathedral [ MAP - see location 4 ] offering another varied and original programme of Christmas music to an audience of well over 300.
• Saturday 12 December at Priestfield Parish Church
• Saturday 14 November: for the opening of the Christmas exhibition at Out of the Nomad's Tent, 21 St Leonards Lane
• Julia's wedding, in Helensburgh.
• An evening concert in the Peebles Festival on Sunday 30 August, in St Peter's Church.
• Saturday 29 August - the Edinburgh Mela at Meadowbank Stadium: a half-hour set at 4pm.
• Wednesday 26 August: singing a few numbers in BBC Radio Scotland's live broadcast of Mr Anderson's Fine Tunes from the Festival Theatre (venue 199).
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe: at St Mark's Unitarian Church (venue 125, not far from the Castle), on 25 and 26 August at 8pm - two lively concerts featuring festive music from the Middle East, Africa and India and other songs from Scotland and far-flung parts of Europe.
• Saturday 4 July: We travelled to Whithorn in south-west Scotland to perform at the tiny Swallow Theatre - deep in the most beautiful countryside, converted from a cow byre, powered by solar panels and wind generators, packed with a very appreciative audience.
  
  We loved it. The Swallow Theatre brings in all kinds of interesting performances, and if you are ever in those parts you should try to get there.
  We also stayed on (some of us pitched tents in the field next to the theatre) to sing the next day in church at Mochrum, and to visit St Ninian's cave.
• Wednesday 24 June: back again in the astonishing architecture, ethereal acoustics and wonderful atmosphere of Rosslyn Chapel, with a new programme of religious music and secular pieces from Scotland and France.
• On Sunday 21 June, as part of hugely enjoyable Fête de la Musique at the Institut Français d'Ecosse in Edinburgh: an evening performance from our repertoire of French and Scottish songs. Excerpt included in BBC Radio Scotland's coverage of the event.
• Saturday 6 June, for the Annual General Meeting of the Franco-Scottish Society (at Battleby in Perthshire) - a digestif of French and Scottish songs to round off the luncheon.
• Saturday 30 May, presenting a set of songs from around the world at the "Mela in May" - an outdoor multicultural arts festival. The event was closer to "the Mela in the Monsoon" as the Edinburgh weather turned cold and rainy for the weekend - but everybody had a good time anyway.
• Saturday 23 May, presenting five of our pieces in the Edinburgh PERFORM competition at the St Bernard's Centre (Saxe Coburg Street, Edinburgh), and winning three prizes!
• Friday 22 May, at a private function where Rudsambee and the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union hosted two visiting choirs from Norway, Straumsnes Songlag and Abildsø Bygdekor.
• Wednesday 20 April: at the Edinburgh Folk Club, as one of the introductory acts for the Bushbury Mountain Daredevils, an excellent Birmingham-based group.
• Sunday 5 April: at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery - a forty-minute programme of songs from Europe about love and death, spring and winter, praise and passion.
  

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1997

• recording a few items as part of BBC Radio Scotland's Hogmanay broadcast, at the BBC's Queen Street Studios, Edinburgh, on the evening of Friday 19 December.
• Sunday 14 December: St Giles Cathedral , Edinburgh
  `St Giles at Six', an hour of Christmas music before the evening service.
• Saturday 6 December: Wiston Lodge, nr Biggar: our customary fireside carol evening at YMCA Wiston Lodge.
• Friday 5 December: Whitburgh House, Midlothian, in support of the Crichton Church Trust.
• Thursday 4 December: The Georgian House, Edinburgh [ another link ] [ MAP - see location 14 ]. An evening of carols and other seasonal music, for members of the National Trust for Scotland.
• Saturday 20 September: Rosslyn Chapel
• Saturday 13 September: Methven Castle (see review)
• Sunday 7 September: Stirling Castle
• Sunday 31 August: Peebles Festival - workshop and concert
• Wednesday 11 June: in Rosslyn Chapel
• Sunday 11 May: at the Burrell Collection, Glasgow

2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - ancient history - back to Rudsambee's home page