Snow Queen has her Star Wars moments!

Dec 5 2008 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Snow Queen has her Star Wars moments!

WHEN Perth Theatre’s keenly anticipated Christmas show, The Snow Queen, opens tonight it will raise the curtain on a new venture for two of the city’s established musicians.

Traditional music sensation Ross Ainslie has played around the world with his pipes, whistles and cittern, with various bands including the Dougie MacLean Band and Salsa Celtica, and he was co-musical director of the Gordon Duncan Memorial concerts – in line for a Scots Trad Music Awards 2008 award in Glasgow this weekend.

Alan Sutherland is well-known on the local music scene as keyboard player with the Dougie MacLean Band and Wang Dang Delta, and on the production side he’s written commissioned music for numerous video productions and produced the Transatlantic Sessions 3 DVD.

Now these two talented men can add writing and producing a live theatre score to their CVs – and 25-year-old Ross will be playing a selection of Scottish instruments live during each performance of The Snow Queen.

“This has been a new departure and it’s been a challenge, but it’s been good,” said Alan (51).

Ross has been bowled over by the quality and ambition of The Snow Queen production, directed by Perth’s Ian Grieve.

“It’s amazing,” enthused Ross. “There’s a great team of actors and crew, and the set is unbelievable. It’s certainly nothing like your regular pantomime.”

Ross explained how a suggestion made in the summer led to tonight’s first night nerves: “Andy Shearer from Horsecross told Ian Grieve about me and Ian asked if I’d like to do The Snow Queen music. I said I definitely was interested, but I’ve been crazy busy this year and couldn’t do it on my own.

“Alan has knowledge of chords which I don’t and he has all the gear to be able to do big orchestral arrangements.”

Alan continued the story: “We’d talked before about doing some collaborative work, and when The Snow Queen was mentioned I jumped at the chance, although didn’t quite realise what was involved.”

And so the musicians knuckled down, with Ross describing the project as “I wrote some wee tunes and Alan did his magic on them. The whole thing has been totally alien but it’s worked out well,” he added.

The result is 77 minutes of music throughout The Snow Queen, described by Alan as “an amalgamation of traditional playing and large orchestral scoring with some ‘Star Wars’ moments thrown in!”

Alan added: “It’s been a very enjoyable project and watching a theatre production being put together has been amazing.”

And both musicians are up for a repeat performance.

Alan said: “I used to do a lot of producing music, and had my own company back in the 1990s. But then with three young children I found I didn’t have enough time, but this has kick-started the process again.

“It was great that I was asked to be involved in this exciting production, and I think we’ve done it justice.”

And Ross has also been inspired by The Snow Queen: “I’m thinking of buying the gear so I can get involved in more of this sort of work.”

The Snow Queen, adapted by Stuart Paterson from Hans Christian Andersen’s classic, opens at Perth Theatre tonight and runs until January 3.

For tickets, call the box office on 01738 621031 or visit www.horsecross.co.uk