Music events coming up at Kirkcaldy's Old Kirk including Fife Strathspey & Reel Society; East Fife Male Voice Choir; Seonaid Aitken & Ben Shankland
It's a busy time in Kirkcaldy’s Old Kirk with plenty to enjoy over the coming days and weeks.
Here we take a look at some of the upcoming events in the Kirk Wynd venue.
On Friday, May 23, the Langtoun Singers are hosting their annual Music in May concert in aid of Parkinson’s UK in Fife. This performance is sold out.
Fife Strathspey and Reel Society will celebrate their 50th anniversary with the annual Fiddlers’ Rally on Saturday, May 24. Tickets are £12 (£6 for under 16s) and can be reserved by contacting [email protected] or obtained at the door on the night. The rally – featuring singer Kev Thomson, storyteller Beverley Bryant, piper Neil Wilkinson and The Sarah Hendry School of Dance – begins at 7.30pm.
If your taste is for a sharp-witted play about social justice, then come across the road to the Hunter Hall in Kirk Wynd on Saturday, May 24 at 7pm when The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists will be on stage. This is a play adapted by Neil Gore from the book by Robert Tressell, and directed by Louise Townsend. Originally set in Edwardian Britain, it is centred on a group of workers whose lives are a struggle with poverty and exploitation and how they are affected when Owen, a skilled decorator and socialist, joins them. This production, lasting an hour and a half, is sponsored by Fife Trades Council and entry is free but donations are welcomed for Kirkcaldy Foodbank. More details from Tam Kirby on Eventbrite.
The following week is busy with preparations for the Old Kirk, opening the Langtoun Fest with a weekend of music and the Auld Kirk Players presenting their own medley of short plays, monologues and sketches in "May Madness" at the Hunter Hall, on the other side of Kirk Wynd. Performances are on Friday, May 30 at 7.30pm and Saturday, May 31 at 2.30pm. Tickets cost £12 (£7 for children and students) at the door on the night.
Langtoun Jazz Proms are a new venture, bringing together five local choral groups and a number of bands to share a concert with a jazzy flavour! This event is opened on Friday, May 30 by a concert featuring local lass Seonaid Aitken, well-known as Scottish Jazz Award-winning violinist, vocalist and arranger, who joins forces with BBC Radio Scotland Young Jazz Musician winner Edinburgh pianist Ben Shankland to present a celebration of George and Ira Gershwin’s music. Tickets are £19 plus booking fee in advance from TryBooking.com, or £20 on the night card or cash. On Saturday, May 31 it is the turn of the local community vocal groups as Langtoun Jazz brings together Kirkcaldy Choral Union, The Songburds, Ensemble, Fife Opera and Kirkcaldy Gilbert and Sullivan Society to each perform a short programme of their own repetoire, incorporating some elements of jazz and swing, before becoming a mass choir of 100 voices to perform Bob Chilcott’s “A Little Jazz Mass”. The Mass will be directed by Richard Michael and is accompanied by a jazz trio. Doors open 1.30 for 2.00 pm. Tickets £14 (plus booking fee) from Trybooking.com, or £15 on the door payable by cash or card.
In the evening there is a change of style as East Fife Male Voice Choir perform their Annual Summer Concert at 7pm. Songs from shows, old favourites, classic pieces - a range of songs will be performed to please the listening audience. Tickets costing £12 (under 16s free) will be available at the door.
And on Sunday, June 1 The Langtoun Jazz Proms weekend turns its attention to instrumental performance for the final day. Four varied and talented instrumental bands – Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra, Tullis Russell Mills Band, Rosyth Concert Band and Madras College Band – will present their own repertoires with nods to jazz standards, show tunes, swing and popular music. A rare opportunity to enjoy such a range of musical talent from the youthful verve of FYJO to award-winning competition bands. Doors open 2.30 for 3.00 pm. Tickets £14 (plus booking fee) from Trybooking.com, or £15 on the door payable by cash or card.
It’s also worth nothing that on Fridays and Saturdays between 10am and 3pm over the summer months the Old Kirk will be open for the public to visit the beautiful historic building, climb the tower (weather permitting) and take in some of the rich history of the oldest building still in use in town. Take a virtual walk around Kirkcaldy in 1500 through our digital display created by the University of St. Andrews and evoke memories of 1975 with our young volunteers' Nineteen-Seventy-Fife exhibition as well as Kirkcaldy Civic Society's 50-year display. Entry is free but donations for the upkeep of the Listed building are always welcome.