Halloween Piano Classics by Candlelight: Moonlight Sonata

Prepare for a terrifying Halloween night as our paranormal investigator shares spine-tingling ghost stories - accompanied by spooky piano!  

Professional storyteller and paranormal investigator Alastair Sim (of Edinburgh's infamous 'City of the Dead Tours') shares his stories of Edinburgh's most notorious hauntings as award-winning concert pianist Matthew Shiel performs gothic and funereal masterpieces of classical music. 

This special Halloween concert experience takes place at St Vincent's Chapel, one of Edinburgh's most haunted locations and a hive of supernatural activity - by candle and torchlight. Sit down and listen if you dare!  

PROGRAMME: 

Piano Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 in C# minor - 'Moonlight Sonata' - Beethoven 

INTERVAL 

Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem - Mozart/Thalberg 

Flight of the Bumblebee - Rimsky-Korsakov/Rachmaninoff 

Funeral March (Op. 35) - Chopin 

Funeral March of a Marionette - Theme from 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' - Gounod 

Tonight's Storyteller: Alastair Sim 

Alastair Sim is an author, performer and history/ ghost tour guide. Along with short stories and play scripts he has had two novels published. Rosslyn Blood is a comedy thriller set around the mysteries of Rosslyn Chapel. The Unbelievers is a Victorian detective novel-of-ideas set in Edinburgh and the Highlands. Alastair also leads tours of Edinburgh’s underground vaults and Greyfriars Kirkyard, during which guests frequently report paranormal experiences. 

Tonight's Pianist: Matthew Shiel 

Matthew Shiel is a concert pianist and conductor based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the recipient of a scholarship to study piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he graduated with first class honours and several academic and performance prizes. 

He has performed piano solo and duet recitals at venues such as St Giles' Cathedral (Edinburgh), Sage Gateshead (Newcastle) and Unitarernes Hus (Copenhagen, DK) and has been invited to be a guest speaker to the Wagner Society of Scotland and the University of Middlesex. He has performed several concertos with the Abbotsford String Orchestra, Little Biggar Orchestra and the Àirigh Orchestra. He was also entrusted to give the world première of Dr Alfredo Caponnetto's Baroque Concerto (PhD, University of Edinburgh), which the composer kindly dedicated to him. 

He is conductor of the Àirigh Orchestra and the Scottish Meditation Orchestra and teaches piano at the University of Edinburgh.  

Presented by Àirigh Productions