St Mary’s Music School launch new animated film

St Mary’s Music School which has its home in Edinburgh’s West End has launched a new animated film for Giving Tuesday 27 November. This is the day when you are asked to put aside commercialism and support good causes.

It is all part of its campaign to move to the former Old Royal High School on Calton Hill and combines the artistic talents of an emerging Edinburgh painter and a young violinist from Prestwick.

The film highlights the talent of eighteen-year old violinist Emma Baird, a former pupil at St Mary’s Music School, who has now gone on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Emma’s performance of Vivaldi’s Largo from The Four Seasons (Winter) is featured in the innovative short animation, which is set against a backdrop of a specially commissioned painting of Calton Hill by Colin Povey.  The painting incorporates the Old Royal High as part of a set piece that includes the Burns Monument, the National Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the Nelson Monument and the City Observatory.

The animation, set to a performance by young musicians at the Schoolby Scott McHenry, in a rotoscope-style, brings to life the message: Whatever the Season…please support St Mary’s Music School.

Dr Kenneth Taylor, Headteacher at St Mary’s Music School, said: “Whatever the Season” campaign will  raise awareness about a perfect fit, the bringing together of two of Scotland’s national treasures – St Mary’s Music School and the Old Royal High – and will encourage broad-based financial support for our young musicians on Giving Tuesday through online giving.

“We have been overwhelmed by the support which our proposed move to a new home at the Old Royal High has received from the arts, education and cultural communities, as well as Edinburgh residents.  Colin Povey and Scott McHenry are the latest two artists to respond and demonstrate their support. The Anonymous Sculptor and Domenica More Gordon have also lent their considerable creative talents to the cause. We thank everyone for their ongoing and stalwart support.”

The school says that the money raised through Giving Tuesday will go directly into the school’s Bursary Fund.  The great majority of instrumental pupils at St Mary’s Music School benefit from means-tested scholarships funded by The Scottish Government and the School itself, through the philanthropically supported Bursary Fund.  This funding ensures that the school is accessible to all musically talented young musicians, irrespective of financial means. The school currently has around 80 pupils.