Scottish Ensemble celebrate the music of Anna Meredith this autumn, premiering new arrangements of her electronic tracks for strings on tour in Scotland in October, alongside a return to Anno, Meredith’s reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons premiered by the group in 2016.
Across four dates in Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Perth, the Ensemble premiered seven new string orchestra arrangements of Meredith’s best-loved electronic tracks from hit albums Fibs and Varmints. The selection included iconic fanfare Nautilus, the hypnotic warmth of Honeyed Words, and the shimmering, luminous Haze, Chorale, Shill, Blackfriars, and Tuggemo. Projections by Ewan Jones Morris, originally commissioned for the Ligeti Quartet’s arrangements of Meredith’s tracks (released on their 2023 album Nuc), will provide a thrilling visual backdrop.
Anno, which appeared at the Barbican on 29 September, is a 50-minute work for violin, strings, harpsichord, and electronics that draws on movements omitted from Vivaldi’s original, whilst also editing and re-naming performance directions in his score. Meredith overlays and surrounds this music with her own electronic compositions and soundscapes. Listen to the Scottish Ensemble recording of Anno here.
It was presented with video and designs by Eleanor Meredith: a series of sixteen films that explore the concept of experiencing a year within an hour. Scottish Ensemble’s creation of the piece for the Spitalfields Festival was captured in a short documentary available to watch online here; they have since presented the piece at Glasgow’s Tramway, the Edinburgh International Festival, and Cheltenham Festival, where a foliage installation by Leaf Creative heightened the visual drama.
Anno receives several outings across the 2025/26 season. Meredith joins B’Rock Orchestra for performances of the piece at De Doelen and De Bijloke in April 2026, including the work’s Belgian premiere. In March it makes its Australian debut with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, and in May is taken up by Roberto Ruisi and the Hallé in Manchester for three immersive performances at Aviva Studios, featuring Eleanor Meredith’s designs. Elisabeth Schilling’s 2024 choreography of music from Anno for Florescence in Decay will be revived at the Centre des Arts Pluriels Ettelbruck in Luxembourg on 30 April.