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King’s new clothes
Gallery reopens after 18-month long renovation
Accessories by Edinburgh firm George
Hunter & CoLORNA BROOKS has a new album out
now. Since Life Stood Still is very much
about living during the pandemic and
afterwards, and every track has a story
attached.
She has in the past shared a stage with
musicians such as Eric Bibb, Eleanor
McEvoy, Shawn Colvin, Iris de Ment and
Janis Ian and in the last ten years has
worked as a session musician, composer
and voice coach - at one time at The City
of Edinburgh Music School.
Lorna said: “I’m back and sanguine at
last. This album has culminated into, I
believe, my best work - let the music
speak for itself.“lornabrooks.comEDINBURGH AUTHOR Susan Tomes has written a new book Women
and the Piano. She asserts that even the modern piano is designed
with men’s hands in mind without considering women’s typically
smaller hands. She traces fifty women through the history of the piano
with famous names such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn
as well as some less well-known in this timely testament to women
and music.yalebooks.co.ukSince Life Stood Still
By PHYLLIS STEPHENTHE KING’S GALLERY has opened with a new
exhibition exploring life in 18th century Britain through
the fashions of the day.
The gallery has been closed since October 2022 for
maintenance works and is now renamed after the
coronation of King Charles.
Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians brings together
around 100 works from the Royal Collection a small
manageable exhibition up on the first floor. The basis of
the exhibition is to show what people wore in real life, by
displaying some clothing and accessories and how they
were portrayed in paintings.In the small exhibition the Sir David Wilkie portrait of
George IV looms large over the staircase. The King is
dressed in Highland dress of Royal Stewart tartan,
making a statement of the unity between Scotland and
England. He was heir to both the Hanoverians and the
Jacobites following a century of fighting. His outfit is
completed with accessories provided by Edinburgh firm
George Hunter & Co. who then sent them to David
Wilkie’s studio to allow the artist to make an accurate
depiction of them.Style & Society: Dressing the Georgians at The King’s
Gallery, The Palace of Holyroodhouse until 22 September
http://www.rct.uk or Tel 0303 123 7306Pete’s Best of Scotland
Tome tinkles ivories
By PHYLLIS STEPHENTHE PUBLICATION OF THE 14TH
EDITION of Scotland the Best will help
those looking for ideas on how to spend
days in Edinburgh or further afield.
Author Pete Irvine admits that he cannot
go back to every single place for each
edition of the book which he has
compiled for three decades now, but he
certainly makes every effort to check that
all the entries remain current.
This led to the discovery that “hardly
anywhere answers the phone these days”
mainly, he imagines, because they just
don’t have the staff. And often places
have a mobile number which is not
answered either, which meant in some
cases he had to use Booking.com to
secure an overnight stay when planning
his trips. The logistics of the journeys
alone is enormous, making sure he fits in
as many places as possible en route.
Peter was scathing of Instragrammers
and influencers during an interview withStephen Jardine to launch the book. His
really is a book of personal
recommendations. He said: “Scotland the
Best has sought out the artisan, innovative
and unique, where individuals have
taken the plunge and risk and set
up their stall in a still uncertain
marketplace. It has been a
challenge to keep track of the
cornucopia of new bakers,
coffee shops, tea rooms,
diners and restaurants that
have sprung up. Scotland
the Best is not a
comprehensive,
list-of-options guide; it
is highly selective. I
firmly believe that
some places are
just better than
others and
deserve to be
recognised
and
encouraged.” Pete IrvineAlbum launch at
Leith ArchesPhoto Martin P McAdam