The October 2026 meeting of SLEGS took place on at our regular Brandon Street venue and it was a very pleasant and relaxed gathering. Having had a wee catch up and agreeing that it was great to be meeting again, we started off with our regular players meeting. Chris Miller and Alastair Merrill began the session with a lovely duet by Dalza – Calata Ala Spagnuola. The lute certainly suits the vast solo repertoire which exists for it; therefore, duets are twice as nice. Well done Alastair and Chris for working together to bring us something so special! Eric Thomas continued with two pieces from the Dolmetch MS – a Pavan and then a galliard by the Polish composer Diomedes Cato – followed by the Frog Galliard by Dowland. A wonderful collection of pieces, allowing Eric to show off his new-to-him 9 course lute. Nine being a particularly useful number of courses to have for the Dowland repertoire. Glen Robertson...

The Scottish Lute & Early Guitar Society will be hosting our players meeting on Sunday 11th of October at 13:00. Please join us for our regular players meeting, followed by a talk or ensemble playing. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to attend but are not on the Spond / mailing list. Our venue will be; 11/3 Brandon StEdinburghEH3 5DX

The first SLEGS meeting of 2025 will take place on Sat 18th January. It will follow the format of our regular players meetings and we will have Eric Thomas delivering a guest talk at the end of the session. Please get in touch via the SLEGS Facebook page if you would like to register attendance but are not already on the Spond/mailing list. Timings as follows:1pm arrival1.30pm members perform up to 3 pieces to each other3pm approx. coffee and chat. 4pm Eric’s talkVenue is 11/3 Brandon Street, Edinburgh, EH3 5DX

The November meeting of the Scottish Lute & Early Guitar society had a slightly different format as we were joined by renowned lutenist Jacob Heringman for a masterclass session. The players meeting portion of the day was broadly the same as usual, but each person was given time with Jacob to receive feedback and advice on our performances. First to spend time with our expert guest was newcomer to the meetings Andy MacGregor. Andy has been playing classical guitar and baroque lute for some time, but for the last year or so has been playing an 8-course renaissance lute by Luke Emmet. He had prepared to play a “Fantasia” by Alonso Mudarra. Jacob highlighted that the tune was written to emulate a harp, and specifically to emulate a harpist named Ludovico. The piece features some unusual dissonances and although it was described as “harmonically interesting”, it is indeed a lovely piece. We applaud Andy for bringing such a tune...

The August meeting of the Scottish Lute and Early Guitar Society was opened by Luisa McMinn. Luisa has multiple instruments to pick form and this time opted to play her 14 course James Marriage theorbo. Having tuned the instrument to 415 she played two pieces which both required reaching up to the high frets on the instrument and down to the lowest bass strings. Luisa played the very well known “Chaconne” by Robert de Visée. The tune is beautifully melancholic, and Luisa managed to fill the room with the sound of her instrument. And as one of our members remarked; it isn’t a SLEGS meeting until Luisa plays her theorbo. Alastair Merrill performed second. He played his new Tony Johnson 7 course renaissance lute strung with nylgut. Alastair had spent some time on Tony Johnsons waiting list, as is to be expected, so has been very pleased to spend some time on the instrument now that it is in...

The August meeting of the Scottish Lute & Early Guitar Society will take place on Sunday 25th of August We are lucky to have Jamie Akers speaking in the second part of the meeting about 19th century Eastern European guitar music for 9,10 and even 12-string Romantic guitars – he has recently made a recording of this repertoire. His talk is entitled: Lost Treasures: forgotten masterpieces for forgotten guitars. A unique chance to hear neglected music written for extended range historical guitars, on original instruments. This should be of interest to lutenist and guitarists alike!  Please bring £3 to give to our speaker as usual.Before that we will have our normal session playing to one another – up to 3 pieces per person is ideal (1 is fine if you don’t want to play 3!) All abilities very welcome and please do send this information on to anyone you think might be interested. Timings as follows:1pm arrival1.30pm members perform up...