Live Music Now: Sirocco Winds. Wind ensemble Sirocco Winds, featuring Matthew Howells on flute, Charlie Sheppard-Vine on clarinet and Thomas Porter on bassoon, follow in the footsteps of artist David Roberts by travelling musically through countries from all across the world. Programme includes Robert Muczynski’s Fragments for Wind Trio and Tatiana Smirnova’s Little Triptych. 6-6.30pm, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free and unticketed.
Vicki Jarrett: The Way Out. Edinburgh author Vicki Jarrett launches ‘a remarkable debut collection of stories from an acclaimed new voice…the lives of women at the margins are explored; people living on the edge of relationships, the economy and society….Heart-breaking, tender, devastatingly honest and brimming with black comedy’. Vicki Jarrett’s first novel Nothing is Heavy was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s Scottish First Book of the Year 2013. 6.30pm, Looking Glass Books, 36 Simpson’s Loan, Quartermile. Free but please book by emailing info@freightbooks.co.uk.
Rebellious Objects Workshop: work with artist Juliana Capes over 6 weeks to develop your own ideas to transform objects into sculpture and installation art, inspired by the current exhibition Possibilities of the Object. For ages 16-25. 6-8pm, Fruitmarket Gallery, 45 Market Street. To book a place please call 07527 927 916 or 0131 226 8186, or email caitlin@fruitmarket.co,uk.
Petticoats and Plants: Scotland’s Gardening Women. A joint spring lecture with the Friends of RBGE and the Garden History Society of Scotland: Deborah Reid (RBGE) talks on the role and influence of gardening women in Scotland 1800-1930. 7.30-9.30pm, Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith Row. £6 (members £5) on the door.
Britain’s Relations with Russia and the CIS: the way ahead. Charles Hendry MP will focus on the current state of our relations with Russia, asking such questions as ‘Do we really understand Russia? What is the role of trade and culture in times of stress? To what extent do our attitudes towards Russia affect our relations with other countries in the former Soviet Union? and what do we need to be doing to build better relations for the future? 6-7.30pm, Lecture Theatre 183, School of Law, Old College, University of Edinburgh. Free but booking is required via eventbrite here.
Big Scream: screenings exclusively for parents or carers with babies under the age of 12 months. This week: X + Y (12A): when Nathan, a shy schoolboy on the autistic spectrum, gifted at maths but socially awkward, gets the opportunity to travel to Taiwan and compete in a junior maths contest, he must confront two new scenarios; mixing with other kids far from home, and not always being the smartest person in the room. 10.30am, Cameo, Home Street. Membership of the Big Scream Club costs £5 and lasts until your baby’s first birthday: it enables you to buy tickets at Picturehouse members’ rates (babies admitted free).
Heriot-Watt University and Our Dynamic Earth Present Beyond the Naked Eye: presentations, a talk and discussions over wine and nibbles with Professor Rory Duncan and Dr Paul Dalgarno (both Heriot-Watt). The physics of light can be used to delve deep inside the workings of living nerve cells; in this, the UN International Year of Light, come and find out about new and amazing techniques, melding biology, physics, chemistry and engineering. Explore how optical physics, astronomy, neurobiology and art can answer questions about the workings of the brain and the body, and the very basis of ‘self’, that were previously thought unanswerable. For ages 14+. This event will also launch Heriot-Watt’s Schools’ Smartphone Microscope Competition, EnLightenment: build it, see it, show it! Schools can apply for free smartphone microscope kits for pupils to build themselves and then submit images to the nationwide competition. 6.45-9pm, Our Dynamic Earth, Holyrood Road. Tickets cost £4/£2.50; pre-booking is advised as places are limited – reserve your places via eventbrite here.
Staging A Poetic Debut: Nicolini and the Meteoric Rise of Metastasio. A seminar chaired by Dr Anne Desler (Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh). 5.15pm, Lecture Room A, Alison House, 12 Nicolson Square. Free and open to all. Part of the Music Research Seminars Series.
IASH Scottish Enlightenment Lecture: the making of the ‘Hotbed of Genius’. Whom might you meet strolling up Edinburgh’s High Street in the mid-1700s? Possibly one of the critical mass of men and women whose literary works and scientific discoveries propelled humanity into the modern era. The Edinburgh of the Enlightenment – Professor David Daiches’ ‘Hotbed of Genius’ – ranks in impact with Periclean Athens or Renaissance Florence. In this lecture Professor David Purdie charts the political and social conditions underlying the Scottish Enlightenment and highlights some of the ‘Fifty Men of Genius’. 6.30-7.30pm, Institute for the Advanced Study in the Humanities, The University of Edinburgh Business School, 29 Buccleuch Place. Free but booking is required via eventbrite here.
Watching: a new opera for children about sleep. Ada can’t sleep – will the two apothecaries Dewberry and Frostbait have the remedy for her sleeplessness? A promenade performance through the gardens and glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Garden, performed by Music in the Community at Edinburgh College of Art, and children from Leith Walk Primary School. Please note that this is event is partially outdoors: dress warmly. 7pm (entry from 6.45pm), North Gate, Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, Inverleith Place. Tickets cost £10/£5 and must be purchased in advance only from Brown Paper Tickets here (transaction fee applies). Also at same time on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March. Funded by The Wellcome Trust.
History of Art Thursday Research Seminar Series: Visions and Revisions – John Duncan’s Celtic Revival. Chaired by Dr Heather Pulliam (Edinburgh College of Art) and Dr Francis Fowle (Edinburgh College of Art and NGS). The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Minto House Common Room. 5.15pm, Lecture Room 1, Minto House, University of Edinburgh, Chambers Street. Free and open to all.
Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church Thursday Club: this week Mavis Bain will talk about Morocco. Visitors of any age very welcome. 2-4pm, Upper Hall, Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church, 18 West Mayfield. For more information please contact Florence Smith on 0131 663 1234.
The Gondoliers: let Portobello & Joppa Parish Church Drama Group take you away from the Scottish weather to sunny Italy with their production of the Gilbert & Sullivan favourite! 7.30pm, Church Hall, Portobello & Joppa Parish Church, 1 Brunstane Road North. Tickets cost £10/£5 and may be purchased by emailing office@portyjoppachurch.org. Also at same time on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March 2015.
LGBT Learning Disabilities Social Circle: a group for LGBT people who also identify as having a learning difficulty or disability. This month’s theme is getting on with your family. 2-4pm, Lifecare Centre, 2 Cheyne Street. For more information and to join the group, please contact George Burrows on 0131 652 3281 or email george@lgbthealth.org.uk.
Romina Ressia: Hide & Seek – Exploring Modern Identities. A solo show by award-winning (Prix de la Photographie, Paris 2014) Argentinian photographer Romina Ressia, presenting a body of work from four of her most popular series, How would have been, What do you hide, Renaissance Cubism and Not About Death. Preview tonight 6-9pm, then 10am-5pm Monday to Friday, 1-5pm Sundays, Arusha Gallery, 13a Dundas Street. Ends 10th April 2015.
The Bicycling Elk: soulful folk rock from Sweden in this live acoustic set by singer/songwriter Lucas Kristoffersson. 7pm, Boda’s Bar, 229 Leith Walk
