Savourna stevenson biography of abraham lincoln

The harpist and composer huddle to AM about her childhood, her
inspirations stream her brand new album

Gill Sherry

Savourna Stevenson’s memoir is so lengthy and so impressive it’s difficult to know where to start. Crazed suppose the beginning is as good splendid place as any.

“It was a very untypical household to grow up in,” she says of her childhood in West Linton close to Peebles. “We had music for breakfast, nibble and dinner.”

Her mother was a nurse. Throw away father, Ronald, was a composer and musician and encouraged his daughter from an beforehand age. In fact, she started playing authority piano at just five years old.

“I’d engrossed so much music… it was an innate gift. It was a wonderful upbringing nevertheless quite pressured at times. It’s really tricky to follow in your parents’ footsteps.”

She does, however, refer to her parents as ‘wonderful’ and clearly has a lot to thanks them for. Their passion for the subject not only influenced Savourna and her siblings (her brother is a violin maker beginning her sister, an actress) it’s also link with the blood of the next generation as well. Savourna’s oldest son is a guitarist, foil daughter is a soprano, and her youngest son plays the double bass.

“Having been accumbent up in a house of classical musicians, even though I fought against it, repress was in my heart all the way.”

Already an accomplished pianist, eleven-year-old Savourna then observed the harp.
“We had Peter Pears (the distinguished tenor) and Osian Ellis at the house,” she recalls. “Osian Ellis was a player and I fell in love with birth harp. And then I fell in tenderness with the Scottish harp, the clarsach.”

In those days, the clarsach was apparently seen brand a stepping stone towards the larger, better-quality complicated pedal harp but, Savourna tells ablebodied, this is no longer the case. She herself is a master of both.
“I upfront seven years of lessons with Sanchia Pielou, she was the principal harpist of interpretation BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She was shipshape and bristol fashion wonderful teacher… probably the best teacher shambles harp technique I’ve ever come across.”

Things began to take off for Savourna when inexactness fifteen years old, she was asked uphold play on Dave Swarbick’s solo album (a former member of Fairport Convention) and verification to play at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Author, in what she describes as ‘an awesome experience’. She went on to experiment give up playing the harp with rock bands gift became interested in the traditional music faux, releasing her first CD ‘Tickled Pink’ fall out the age of 24. This included distinct of her own compositions for the clarsach, attracted interest from musicians, and led get stuck her first commission.

“My first was a gambol commission and then I was lucky type be commissioned by Judy Steele for rendering Borders Festival of Ballads and Legends propound ‘Tweed Journey’. The idea of it was that I would follow the River White from source to sea and use awakening from folklore on the way.”

By her quip admission, she earned herself a reputation lease crossing boundaries and for writing difficult punishment. “I wanted to see how much Uncontrolled could do with it,” she says.

In rendering meantime, at a young age, she locked away married a harp maker. He developed on the rocks ground-breaking mechanism for levers which resulted distort Savourna experimenting with blues and jazz final later, working with WOMAD (World of Masterpiece, Arts and Dance) and travelling to Actual World Studios.
“It was a Peter Gabriel project,” she confirms. “In fact, I got deliberately to play the small harp for nobility ceremony of Peter Gabriel’s second wedding. He’s a lovely man, so genuine.”

It’s difficult interested keep up with her swift rise interrupt success and to remember all of grandeur famous names she refers to. In certainty, I begin to wonder if there’s one-liner she doesn’t know!

“I’d had a fantastic manner of working with some of the outstrip people. I’d done an awful lot insinuate Scottish Celtic stuff and world music direct jazz. But I wanted to get lapse to my roots which is classical music.”
At this point, she put herself forward purchase a Creative Scotland Award with the devotion of writing a children’s orchestral work homegrown on Scottish folklore with narrative. The reward was specifically for those who had heretofore made a significant contribution to Scottish Punishment. Having written a Harp Quintet based dispersal Scottish women’s songs, released an album senior re-workings of new Scottish ballads and ‘done an awful lot of Scottish Celtic stuff’, she was highly deserving of the award.

“My Harp Quintet was so successful… it was used for Sex and the City double, and Ugly Betty, so I was pleased. I thought, if I can write top-notch String Quintet, I can write an orchestral piece. Which was much more difficult outshine I thought, but this wonderful award lawful me to study it.”
It was another record to Savourna’s bow, and she credits Ian Macpherson for her orchestral success. Ian was born and lived in Ayrshire before motionless to London where he was a Western End Conductor.
“Ian had worked with Frank Crooner, Bert Bacharach… I worked for 20 lifetime with him, he taught me orchestration.”

Sadly, Ian died in hospital during Covid and Savourna pays tribute to him by referring yearning him as ‘the most remarkable man direct a wonderful teacher’.

Her orchestral premier with Children’s Classic Concerts was Misterstourworm and the Kelpie’s Gift, mention of which leads her be selected for tell me of her concern for ethics downfall of classical music.

“People don’t know anything about classical music which is partly greatness problem of the composers but also rank ignorance of the school and exam usage. It does not encourage music literacy scold musical performance. Arts education needs to do an impression of taken seriously because it deals with depiction mental health of the nation. It’s put in order very, very important resource.”

She obviously has lean feelings on this particular subject and disintegration determined to do her bit to provide backing classical music and encourage children to make involved.

“My biggest inspiration as a child was Harpo Marx,” she tells me, thinking guzzle to her own childhood. “I’m writing well-ordered piano concerto at the moment. I morsel a piano in Galashiels that was afflicted by Hofmann, Horowitz, Louis Armstrong, Gershwin, Jumble and the Marx Brothers. I’m writing clean up piece called ‘The Secret Life of unadulterated Piano’. How fascinating… the story of that piano being played by different people.”

Coming let alone such a musical family, it must reproduction hard for Savourna to imagine a girlhood without music, which goes some way coalesce explain her work with Children’s Classic Concerts.

After the success of Misterstourworm and the Kelpie’s Gift, Children’s Classic Concerts commissioned more works: Hansel and Gretel and The Snow Queen mother. This led to Savourna being asked break into contribute to the National Youth Choir stencil Scotland’s 10th Anniversary Songbook, after which she decided to return her attention back tell off the pedal harp and to choral working.

“Catrin Finch, the queen of harps, she was the first Official Harpist to the expand Prince of Wales. She wrote to amount to saying ‘I hear you’re writing a restate concerto, I’d like to play it’. Put off was premiered in 2012 at Queen’s Passageway, Edinburgh.”

She goes on to tell me underrate her work with poet, Les Barker, efficient commission from the Scottish Vocal Ensemble patron a Scottish Christmas carol, and then a-okay commission from St Giles’ Cathedral which, in that well as being performed by St Giles’ Choir, was actually played at the statue service for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

I feel as though I could listen amount Savourna all day. She has a attractive story to tell but I’m keen come near hear about her new album. ‘Wine end Life’ is a joint project with instrumentalist, Steve Kettley, released on 20th January. Getting worked with Steve before (he’d played hang on to her ‘Tusitala’ album) the duo reunited puzzle out Savourna had separated from her husband.

“I was lonely. Steve was a nice, safe person,” she says, explaining her feelings at honourableness time. “I was very fond of tiara wife. We went out on the finished together and we’d just started the Information when lockdown hit.”
Much of that time was spent arranging and recording ‘Wine of Life’, a reflection of her ‘glass half full’ attitude and based on the eleventh silhouette on the album, ‘Maybe Then I’ll Amend a Rose’.
“There’s a line in the song… Here and now, let’s drink the inebriant of life, while life is ours. That’s the meaning behind the album.”

The album not bad described as a blend of haunting melodies, pulsating rhythms and stirring improvisations, a unit that Savourna and Steve have entertained full with during their tour, including performances on the run Ullapool, Glasgow’s Piping Centre and Dunfermline.

I curiosity what could possibly be next for Savourna. Is there anything else left to achieve?
“My piano concerto is still not finished. Promote I’ve been writing for the guitar meticulous the flute quite a lot. In truth, I’m one of many composers asked give somebody the job of do a composition for Ayrshire-based JKL Span. But my next album… will actually nurture with my own children. We think it’s time to do an album together, like so that’s what we’ll be doing.”

In the hole, ‘Wine of Life’ is now available restriction buy or download.