Francesco Geminiani, Trio Sonata 'Bush aboon Traquair'
James Oswald, A Sonata of Scots Tunes
Johann Schmelzer, 'Bagpipes'
& Music of William Byrd, Robert Bremner & William McGibbon

Special Guests:
Krista Bennion Feeney & Rachel Evans, Baroque Violin
Barbara Poeschl-Edrich, Baroque Harp

With its rolling green pastures, rugged coastlines and ancient castles perched high on majestic cliffs, the region of Ireland and Scotland provided a magnificent backdrop for a diverse musical life in the eighteenth century. A place full of history and legend, this was fertile ground for a remarkable musical phenomenon: the intermingling of Italian art music with folksong and fiddle traditions of Irish and Scottish culture. Worlds collided. Bawdy drinking songs and ballads found their way into European concert music. Blind harpers brought their iconic Irish music to aristocratic circles, eventually appearing prominently in some of HandelŐs most sublime masterpieces. Irish and Scottish composers wrote Italian-style sonatas liberally flavored with their own indigenous popular tunes. And throughout Europe, composers of great distinction created picturesque musical fantasies by incorporating Scottish fiddle tunes, bagpipe drones and Irish dances into their own music.