A violinist who grew up in Crieff is to star in two local shows ahead of a move to Switzerland.
Comrie-born and Crieff-raised Briona Mannion, 22, will play solo sets of Beethoven’s music with the newly-formed Caledonian Chamber Orchestra later this month.
Days later Briona will head off to Switzerland to study violin at Masters level at the Conservatoire in Lausanne.
Her brother Finn Mannion, 20, has already completed the first year of a cello degree in the Swiss city of Basel, where he will return after playing in the orchestra for the shows in Comrie and Innerpeffray.
This feature goes through Briona’s background in music, how she coped with leaving home at 11 and her thoughts on moving to Switzerland.
It is split into the following sections:
- Fiddle group and folk pub
- Boarding school pains and gains
- Switzerland and Royal Albert Hall
- Local shows and mother’s pride
Fiddle group and folk pub
It may be a surprise to discover that neither of Briona and Finn’s parents are connoisseurs of classical music.
But Greg and Sarah did get their children involved in the Blackford Fiddle Group when they were around five years old. Here they saw musicians mastering traditional Scottish and Irish tunes by ear.
It was here that Briona picked up a violin for the first time, when she was around six years old.
“Mum took me along and handed me a tiny violin and taught me how to play Twinkle Twinkle,” she recalls.
Greg, who works as a senior lecturer in environmental sciences at Stirling university, is a self-taught guitarist who also took them to traditional folk sessions at The Taybank in Dunkeld.
Boarding school pains and gains
Bríona’s interest in music burgeoned once she attended Crieff‘s Ardvreck School, where Sarah is a primary school teacher.
She fondly remembers music lessons from Audrey Mattner, who spotted her gift with the violin and suggested she auditioned for a music school.
Briona duly auditioned for a place at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. She was successful.
“I don’t think my parents were expecting me to get in,” she said. “When I was offered the place they left the decision up to me. I said I wanted to try.”
This meant boarding 60 miles away at the age of 11, which some parents may have found objectionable.
But Sarah said: “I work at a boarding school so I have experience of how the children settle and I see how happy they are, even though they are away from parents.
“So allowing my children to board was never a problem.”
‘I was really homesick’
It was still difficult initially.
“I was really homesick for the first year,” Briona said. “I was the youngest boarder by quite a long way.
“After the first year I settled and got used to it a lot more. I had amazing friends there.
“There were only 35 boarders in the school so it felt like a big family and eveyrone looked after each other.”
An important influence in her years at Edinburgh was Professor Andrea Gajic,
“At St Mary’s I was surrounded by all these people who loved classical music and were all so much better than I was,” Briona added.
“That was really inspiring to see and it made me think that maybe classical music was something I could do for my whole life.”
‘I try to create a sense of community’
She left St Mary’s with three advanced highers and four highers, all at A-grade apart from one C, but the top priority was music
Briona was given a full scholarship to pursue her violin studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and graduated this summer with first-class honours.
She said: “I studied with Jack Liebeck who was amazing and completely transformed the way I thought about music.
“He was always reminding me why we play music and the meaning of it – especially during the pandemic when we weren’t playing in front of people at all.
“That was extremely helpful to inspire me to keep going.”
So what is the meaning?
“It is just to share beautiful music with as many people as possible, and always try to say something and tell a story with music,” Briona said.
“It brings people together and I try to create that sense of community.”
Switzerland and Royal Albert Hall
Next month Briona will move to the French-speaking western part of Switzerland and enrol on a two-year Masters degree course at the Conservatoire in Lausanne, where she will be taught by acclaimed Ukrainian violinist Professor Svetlana Makarova.
“Because I have lived away from home I am used to that part of it but I am still nervous about living abroad.
“My French still needs work but I am very excited. Lausanne is very beautiful and is next to Lake Geneva. All of Switzerland is beautiful.”
She will additionally live in the same country as Finn, whose route to the Alpine country similarly took him to Ardvreck and St Mary’s, but also via the Scandinavian Cello School in Denmark.
‘I would like to perform in Perthshire a bit more’
If moving abroad seems daunting, Briona has already shown she can conquer nerves on the biggest of stages.
She has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including in a Mozart concerto at I Musici Di Parma and as a 15 year old in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for the BBC Proms at a packed Royal Albert Hall.
But Briona’s fondest memories are in the more intimate venues.
“Often the most memorable concerts for me are the ones when I get to play with my friends and when people I love are in the audience. It is often not about how many people are there,” she said.
“St John’s Kirk in Perth is a really beautiful place to play. I have played a trio concert with my brother and a pianist who is a very good friend.
“We did a recital there a few years ago and it was a great placer to play. I would like to perform in Perthshire a bit more – that would be really nice.”
Local shows and mother’s pride
Her wish is coming true later this month, when she will have a key role in two concerts of Beethoven music.
They take place in Comrie Parish Church on Friday, August 26th (7.30pm) and the following day in Innerpeffray Library (3pm).
The Caledonian Chamber Orchestra’s programme will include Coriolan Overture, Symphony no 7 and the Violin Concerto, for which Briona will perform a solo stint
The orchestra is formed of around 20 young musicians, most of whom are graduates of, or still studying, at conservatoires in the UK and Europe.
It will be conducted by Edward Longstaff, academic music teacher at Purcell Music School. He will be joined by tutors: Patrick Curlett and Rebecca Roberts.
The events are being organised by Peter Banks, head of science and director studies at Ardvreck.
“The Beethoven Violin Concerto is a big piece and one of my favourites,” Briona said. “The orchestra is pretty much brand new. Peter Banks has managed to pull in some amazing musicians, which is very exciting.
“One of his goals was to bring more classical music to places that don’t have that much or are too small to have it that often. It is an interesting programme and something I think people will love.
“It will be really amazing. My brother is playing as well and I have lots of friends and family coming. The church in Comrie is literally right opposite where I was born and used to live. I am really excited.”
‘The house suddenly became quiet’
Sarah will be one of the proudest people in the room when she sees her children in action next weekend.
“It is not that we think they are gifted or talented, or brilliant or amazing, or any of those things,” she explained.
“Our pride comes from watching their work, their progress, their determination, their effort and their ability to make connections through their music.
“The thing we miss most with them living away is the sound of the music practising. I used to love walking around the house and hearing them practice at all hours of the day.
“The house suddenly became quiet. There used to be a cello in one room, a piano in one room and a violin in the other.
“Some of our old school teachers have bought tickets for the shows. There is really lovely support for music in Crieff and Comrie.”
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