FluteFling Edinburgh Weekend 12-14 May 2023

The 2023 FluteFling Edinburgh Weekend will place 12-14 May in Newhaven. The Heart of Newhaven will host the opening concert and session on Friday and the workshops and session on Saturday. Come and be part of the traditional flute and whistle revival in Scotland, with sessions, workshops, talks, performances and more.

This year’s tutors are Davy Maguire (Belfast), Tom Oakes (Edinburgh) and Sharon Creasey (Dumbarton).

Tickets are now available, with strictly limited spaces for the workshops. More details of the weekend will be added here as they are confirmed.

Tickets

Concert | Friday 12 May | Buy tickets for Tom Oakes and Ali Hutton (includes entry to Friday session)

Workshops | Saturday 13 May: Standard: £60/ Concessions: £40 (£70/ £45 on the door) | Buy tickets for FluteFling Edinburgh 2023 All-day Workshops (includes entry to Saturday session)

Session | Friday 12 May: Free; a sign-in list to be kept on the door.

Session | Saturday 13 May: Free; a sign-in list to be kept on the door.

Weekend programme

Friday

The weekend opens in style with a Friday night concert at the Heart of Newhaven, featuring Tom Oakes and Ali Hutton in an exciting new partnership, joined by some special guests. A post-concert session continues the evening, making for a memorable start to the weekend.

Friday Concert & session

1900 Doors open, Victoria Hall, BYOB
1930-2015 First Half
2015-2030 approx Interval
2030-2115 approx Second Half
2130-2330 Session (free, non concert attendees sign in on door)

Saturday

A day of workshops on the Saturday sees FluteFling return to our format of three tutors and three groups, with the groups rotating between between all of the tutors. Returning tutors are Tom Oakes and Sharon Creasey, and we are delighted to welcome Davy Maguire from Belfast, who previously taught at the first Aberdeen FluteFling weekend.

Kenny Hadden presenting a talk on the flute revival in Scottish traditional music at Stonehaven 2022 (c) Gordon Turnbull

The weekend marks the Edinburgh launch of The FluteFling Collection and the workshops are followed by Kenny Hadden presenting the story of the revival of the flute in Scottish traditional music. Copies of the book will be available at a special weekend rate.

A Saturday evening session will take place in the same venue. Please note that the Friday and Saturday sessions will be ticketed but free. A workshop ticket allows automatic entry to the session for that day.

Saturday Schedule

Workshops

0930-1000: Registration, Anchor Hub
1000-1115: Workshop 1
1115-1145 Break (30 mins)
1145-1300 Workshop 2
1300-1400 Lunch (60 mins)
1400-1515 Workshop 3
1515-1545 Break (30 mins)
1545-1700 Talk/ presentation from Kenny Hadden
1700-1730 End
1800-1930: Meal (Rishi’s, Newhaven) Optional. Please note, this will need to be booked directly with the restaurant if you choose to attend.

Evening:

Victoria Hall, BYOB (free, non workshop attendees sign in on door)
2000-2100 approx Dougie Pincock talk c.1h
2100-2330 Session
2330 End

The weekend traditionally winds up with a brunch and farewell session. These are always open to all. The venues and timings will be confirmed nearer the time.

Friday Opening Concert

A concert that brings two Scots Trad Musician of the Year nominees together to launch a new project. Tom Oakes (flutes, guitar) and Ali Hutton (bagpipes, whistles, guitar) join forces for a dynamic and entertaining evening, with some special guests. Tickets allow entry to the post concert session at the venue. BYOB Please note that the venue has no bar

Tom Oakes is regarded as one of the UK’s top flautists and multi instrumentalists and many will know him from previous FluteFling events. Edinburgh based, he has spent the last two decades ploughing many different furrows as a traditional musician and composer, producer and sound designer. Known widely for his work with Shetland fiddler Ross Couper (‘Exquisite’ The Guardian **** ), genre bending pan Finnish act ‘The Auvo Quartet’ and new Scottish powerhouse OBT.

Tom’s solo flute album Water Street was released during Lockdown to critical acclaim. (“Can shape-shift into the avant-garde and back into a rip-roarer without losing its fluidity or breaking its stride.” – The Irish News). Find out more from his website.

Multi-instrumentalist Ali Hutton has performed and worked alongside some of the most respected musicians and bands on the scene such as Capercaillie, Dougie Maclean, Carlos Nunez, Deaf Shepherd, Salsa Celtica, and Shooglenifty to name but a few.

Ali currently performs around the world with Old Blind Dogs, Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton’s ‘Symbiosis’, Treacherous Orchestra, Malin Lewis, Jocelyn Petit and Ellen Gira, and Tryst. Ross and Ali were named best duo in the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017 and were nominated again in 2018.

The concert begins FluteFling Edinburgh 2023, a weekend of flute and whistle workshops and sessions.

Saturday workshops

The Workshops for flutes and whistles taking place on Saturday 13th May, and sessions all weekend. Workshop tickets allow access to the private Saturday session.

This year’s tutors are Davy Maguire (Belfast), Tom Oakes (Edinburgh) and Sharon Creasey (Dumbarton).

This is a great opportunity for students to experience different styles and approaches to learning and performing traditional music on flutes and whistles in this much-anticipated event.

Attendees will have an opportunity to learn from all three tutors. Whistlers should be playing whistles or low whistles in D and be beyond the complete beginner stage. There will also be space for Beginner flute players with 1-3 years experience as well as those with more than 3 years experience. These are rough guides only, please get in touch if you are not sure. More information can be found here.

The workshops are open to Boehm system (metal, classical) musicians and those playing simple system wooden flutes (keyed or unkeyed) alike. Please note that teaching is primarily by ear, although sheet music will be provided in advance. This is an opportunity to explore and develop your playing in the context of Scottish traditional music, whichever instrument you play.

Topics covered will include:

different playing styles
tune types
technique
breathing, phrasing and tone improvement
history
playing by ear

Tickets on the door will be £70/ £45

Suitability: The workshops are intended for simple system wooden flutes in D, Boehm system flutes and whistles and low whistles in D. While not suitable for complete beginners we do welcome those returning to the instruments after a break. More information can be found here.

Tutors

This year’s tutors will be Davy Maguire (Belfast), Tom Oakes (Edinburgh) and Sharon Creasey (Dumbarton).

Tom Oakes is regarded as one of the UK’s top flautists and multi instrumentalists and many will know him from previous FluteFling events. Edinburgh based, he has spent the last two decades ploughing many different furrows as a traditional musician and composer, producer and sound designer. His solo flute album Water Street was released during Lockdown to great acclaim.

Davy Maguire teaches at BelfastTrad and is one of the most significant flute players of his generation, known not only in Belfast, but on the European continent for his dynamic and powerful style.

He has travelled regularly to Britanny and formed a strong playing partnership with the Breton flute player Jean Michelle Veillon. Davy is equally well-known for his humour and teaching ability, and is respected as one of Belfast’s finest musical sons.

Due to teach at the 2020 weekend that was cancelled due to the pandemic, Davy Maguire previously taught at the first Aberdeen Weekend and we are delighted that he is able to join us in Edinburgh this year.

Sharon Creasey
Core tutor and co-founder Sharon Creasey returns to Edinburgh with her experience of playing traditional music on Boehm system flute, piccolo and whistle. Sharon’s teaching is essential for anyone, but particularly for those crossing over into traditional music on the Boehm system flute.

Her extensive knowledge of the music of Fermanagh and interest in digging into old music collections and manuscripts always produces rare and unusual material to the workshops. Sharon has recently been working on a recording, has typeset and edited The FluteFling Collection and may have copies of The Hidden Fermanagh book for sale, for which she was a co-editor.

Workshop resources

Some resources have been supplied in advance by the tutors. Please note that the resources page is password protected and all ticket holders will have been sent the password by email.

Event health and safety

We take everyone’s safety seriously and so would like to draw your attention to our guidelines relating to Covid and other Health and safety matters.

Please also refer to the page prior to attending as it may be updated to reflect any changes in circumstances.

Venue

All Saturday and Sunday events, including sessions, take place at Heart of Newhaven, which is situated close to Newhaven harbour, to the North of the city on the Firth of Forth.

Bus, tram and rail: There are plenty of good connections around Edinburgh. Waverley station is closest to Newhaven. Lothian Regional Transport have a good bus and tram app and their website has a journey planner. Buses have contactless payment, which is capped at a daily rate

Bike: There are lots of quiet cycle routes around Edinburgh. Use the Edinburgh Cycle Streets web site and app to plan your journey. See the Spokes website for other information on Edinburgh Cycling.

Car: For people travelling by car, Newhaven is well connected. There is mostly free on-street parking, but do check on restrictions.