Repertoire

The group was formed in 1999 and has performed at a very wide range of events since then. Our membership has not changed in this time and so our repertoire covers a vast array of the unusual and unexpected.

Given that we have three ‘classical’ instruments, we can always play strictly classical as well as our more common mixture of cross-cultural pieces. For sure, whatever the event, The Reivers can find appropriate music to suit.

Our favourite ten pieces at the moment are:

The Reivers Reel  - specially composed to celebrate the group

Red Moon from The Jetty – an evocation of an evening in Venice where the moon glowed a gentle red…

The Werewolf of Tulsa – a description of a werewolf running riot.

Boys of Malin – a set of Irish reels, distinctly up tempo and great fun to play

Piano di Sorrento – a sunset in Sorrento, Italy..

Anna – an excerpt from Lindsay’s first opera ‘Tulsa’, in which Pawel takes the vocal line and gives it his own personal touch

Invitation to Dance – this was our first ever tune.

Highland Cradle Song – smallpipes in C are not very common, and we like to vary our tonality in the course of an evening

Eightsome Reels – we have a shortened set, but it lets Ryszard enjoy himself. A traditional Scots dance

Athol Highlanders – another special for Ryszard because he can take his snare drum and dance with Lindsay on Bagpipes. If you’ve never seen a piper and drummer hopping around the room, you have to see this..

Where can we play?

Almost anywhere……..

Ceilidhs

We started life as a ceilidh band. A ceilidh is like a folk disco – an evening of scots country dances. As we started doing this in Poland, we had to ‘call’(teach) the dances ourselves and are quite happy doing so.

Concerts

Almost immediately after our first ceilidh, we were called upon to play a sit down and listen concert. This demanded a whole new repertoire and is where we started to think about how to develop our music further. That was in 2000…

Educational programmes

With three teachers in the group working with all ages we are all experienced in presenting not only our instruments, but also the instrumental traditions we represent. Given our personal backgrounds, we can present a very wide use of each of the instruments and really enthuse a young audience.

Festivals

Our instruments can be mixed and matched in style and in pairing and so our group alone can give several very, very varied concerts in one festival– from a traditional bagpipe recital, to violin sonatas with harp, to highly challenging contemporary music. Likewise, we can perform at a surprisingly wide range of festivals- from folk to traditional to classical.

Conferences

Every conference has to have an evening relaxation, and we can design our evening to suit the exact needs of your meeting.