Events
Please find below a selection of concerts around the country, and sometimes beyond, featuring woodwind instruments. If you have a concert that you think might be relevant for listing on our page, please ‘Get in Touch’ with the details and a link to the booking page.
Emma Johnson clarinet, conductor; Orchestra for the Environment
July 16th 2025 at 13:00 – 14:00
Emma Johnson and the virtuoso players of her Orchestra for the Environment close this vibrant celebration of the natural world with the clarinettist and composer’s Tree of Life. Inspired by her lifelong love of nature, the piece sends a message of hope ‘that by acting together, we can mitigate the effects of climate change’.
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Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley
06/08/2025 11:00 am
The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9JG
Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley
August 6th 2025 at 11:00 – 12:30
Programme
Sir James Macmillan – After The Tryst
Mark-Anthony Turnage – Cradle Song
Jay Capperauld – So My Tears Flow
Mark Simpson – Echoes and Embers
Brahms – Clarinet Sonata in F minor, Op.120 No.1
Zoë Martlew – Pyrrhos
Mark Simpson – Lov(escape)
Gavin Higgins – Three Broken Love Songs
Brahms – Clarinet Sonata in E flat, Op.120 No. 2
Mark Simpson – clarinet
Richard Uttley – piano
Mark Simpson brings dual talents as composer and clarinettist to an intimate programme featuring Johannes Brahms and his own works.
A virtuoso clarinettist with a ‘glittering composing career’ (The Arts Desk), Mark Simpson is joined on stage by Richard Uttley, Piano Professor at the Royal College of Music. Together, they perform a selection of Simpson’s own compositions alongside works by Brahms.
Since becoming the first-ever winner of both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year competitions in 2006, Simpson has forged a dual career, championing new music while delivering insightful, nuanced interpretations of the clarinet repertoire. Uttley is celebrated for the integrity and breadth of his musicianship as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist.
Simpson’s performances of Brahms have been praised for their ‘real sense of shape and flow’ and ‘cathartic’ emotion (The Guardian), qualities that will bring out the warmth and richness of Brahms’s contemplative music.
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SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
11/12/2025 7:30 pm
The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk St, Newington, Edinburgh EH8 9JG
SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
December 11th 2025 at 19:30 – 21:30
Programme
Adams – Shaker Loops
Adams – Gnarly Buttons
Adams – Fearful Symmetries
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Andrew Manze – conductor
Maximiliano Martín – clarinet
Once a self-identifying minimalist, radical American composer John Adams quickly jumped from cool, hypnotic pulsations to red-hot emotion and vast cinematic soundscapes in his colourful, witty music. Experience that thrilling journey in three iconic pieces by this pioneering musician.
Minimalist classic Shaker Loops is a rippling soundscape of quivering energy – sometimes frenetic, sometimes meditative, but never less than mesmerisingly beautiful.
Mooing cows and ancient American hymns are among the inspirations behind Adams’ zany clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons – played by charismatic SCO Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín – which blends humour and heart in music that spans jazz, pop, folk and the surging repetitions of minimalism. Fearful Symmetries is one of Adams’ boldest and brightest pieces, a high-energy workout of driving rhythms and larger-than-life orchestral sound.
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SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
12/12/2025 7:30 pm
City Halls & Old Fruitmarket, 100 Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1NQ
SCO – John Adams’ Gnarly Buttons – Maximiliano Martín
December 12th 2025 at 19:30 – 21:30
Programme
Adams – Shaker Loops
Adams – Gnarly Buttons
Adams – Fearful Symmetries
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Andrew Manze – conductor
Maximiliano Martín – clarinet
Once a self-identifying minimalist, radical American composer John Adams quickly jumped from cool, hypnotic pulsations to red-hot emotion and vast cinematic soundscapes in his colourful, witty music. Experience that thrilling journey in three iconic pieces by this pioneering musician.
Minimalist classic Shaker Loops is a rippling soundscape of quivering energy – sometimes frenetic, sometimes meditative, but never less than mesmerisingly beautiful.
Mooing cows and ancient American hymns are among the inspirations behind Adams’ zany clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons – played by charismatic SCO Principal Clarinet Maximiliano Martín – which blends humour and heart in music that spans jazz, pop, folk and the surging repetitions of minimalism. Fearful Symmetries is one of Adams’ boldest and brightest pieces, a high-energy workout of driving rhythms and larger-than-life orchestral sound.
Click on the button below to purchase ticket.
