Outdoor Orchestra Serenades Staff And Patients At QEUH

Monday, June 21, 2021

Staff and patients at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow were thrilled to receive a visit from a socially distanced Nevis Ensemble orchestra today. 

Twenty of the orchestra’s musicians played on the grounds of the hospital this afternoon as part of a musical roadshow across 10 venues to celebrate Make Music Day 2021. 

Arriving by bike to the front of the hospital, staff and patients enjoyed the Ensemble’s renditions of classical pieces from famous composers Joseph Boulogne, Louise Farrenc, Hildegard von Bingen and Florence Anna Maunders, as well as arrangements of tunes by fiddler Duncan Chisholm, Gaelic Waulking songs, and even some Diana Ross. 

QEUH wasn’t the only hospital to benefit, with the Nevis playing a set at Gartnavel on Sunday as well. 

Artistically led by Holly Mathieson and Jon Hargreaves, Nevis Ensemble aims to remove barriers to accessing orchestral music, bringing it to where people are, and when they are there. 

Make Music Day, or Fête de la Musique, is an international celebration of music, held each year on 21 June in 125 countries.

Jackie Sands, Arts and Health Coordinator for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said:

“After many months of going without any live arts in our hospitals, we are delighted to be welcoming the phenomenal and hugely exciting Nevis Ensemble back to the QEUH grounds.”

Since August 2018 Nevis Ensemble has given 200 concerts to people across Scotland, performing everywhere from a farm in the Borders, and supermarkets in Glasgow to the summit of Ben Nevis itself, and the remote islands of St Kilda, whilst collaborating with organisations to run projects for those experiencing homelessness, women seeking refuge from domestic violence, children in care, young carers, older people living with dementia, and refugees.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Nevis Ensemble has continued to deliver music, including participatory projects with participants from 130 countries, reaching almost one million people. 

Nevis Ensemble Chief Executive, Jamie Munn said: 

“We are so pleased to be able to get our musicians back out on the road and do what they do best – give the communities of Scotland fun and energetic performances of orchestral music. It seems significant that we can do this on Make Music Day as we begin to return to live performance.”