Celtic Connections – Tinderbox Orchestra & Kathryn Joseph
Celtic Connections is Glasgow’s annual folk, roots and world music festival that takes place every January- it was also Tinderbox Orchestra’s first gig of 2022! After the release of our Kathryn Joseph EP (Here is the link if you haven’t had the chance to listen yet: ), we were lucky enough to share the stage with Kathryn at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on the 29th January.
In the lead up to the gig, the orchestra rehearsed every Sunday and had a set of rehearsals the week of – which was quite tricky due to COVID restrictions. We were lucky enough that North Edinburgh Arts and The Pear Tree let us use their spaces.
We worked on our own hour-long set along with the three beautiful Kathryn Joseph pieces that we recorded for our EP- The Blood, The Weight and The Weary. In addition to our usual orchestra line-up we were also lucky enough to be joined by a small singing ensemble that was made up of tutors from our community projects.
On the day of the gig, bursting with excitement and nerves, we piled into cars and drove over to Glasgow early for our set up and sound check. A quick rehearsal, some dinner and a big group warm-up later, we were ready to go on and perform our set.
We started our set with Tinderbox classic ‘Bethany Lane’ and instantly felt an energy and warmth from the audience. The set flew by and before we knew it we were finishing in true celtic style with ‘Cas Na Caora’, a piece arranged by our cello player Graham Coe. It was then time for our collaboration with Kathryn- a project started in 2019 with the EP which we were only just able to perform together in front of an audience. The three pieces- orchestrated so wonderfully by Sam Irvine, Luci Holland and Jack Nissan captivated the audience, bringing tears to many (including Kathryn’s eyes). A huge congratulations to all the musicians and team who worked so tirelessly to make the collaboration so beautiful and successful. Celtic Connections with Kathryn Joseph in 2022 will forever be a highlight for Tinderbox Orchestra.
