WILL MCNICOL WITH INNOTET
ALBUMS & EPs
2024
2019
“Such a beautiful sound”
Innotet are Seonaid Aitken, Innes Watson, Patsy Reid and Alice Allen.
Acoustic guitar with string quartet is an instrumentation multi award-winning guitarist and composer, Will McNicol, has dreamed of exploring for years. Through this collaboration with Glasgow-based fiddle player and arranger Innes Watson, those dreams have become a reality. Innotet is the quartet formed specially for this project, and is comprised of some of the finest Scottish musicians in their respective fields: Violin I: Seonaid Aitken Violin II: Innes Watson Viola: Patsy Reid Cello: Alice Allen
The project begun with Will and Innes collaborating on the arrangement of one of Will’s solo guitar compositions, Emma (for which he won UK Acoustic Guitarist of the Year in 2011), and this received its debut performance by Will and Innotet at the prestigious Ullapool Guitar Festival in 2017.
“Words are insufficient”
Seonaid Aitken is a versatile, award-winning violinist, vocalist and composer/orchestrator from Fife, Scotland. Classically trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London), Seonaid has played regularly for 17 years with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera.
She was awarded 'Best Vocalist' at the 2017 & 2018 Scottish Jazz Awards and, specialising in Gypsy Jazz, she performs extensively with her Scottish Jazz Award-winning ‘Best Band’ 2018 Rose Room, and as a guest with the Tim Kliphuis Sextet, Tokyo Django Collective, Swing 2018 and top jazz fingerstyle virtuoso, and former guitarist of Stephane Grappelli, Martin Taylor MBE.
As an accomplished arranger and orchestrator, Seonaid’s work is featured in the BBC/Richard Curtis film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘Esio Trot’ (starring Dustin Hoffman and Dame Judi Dench), the National Theatre of Scotland’s production ‘Dragon’, and has been commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Capella String Quartet, Scottish Session Orchestra, Blue Rose Code, John Goldie and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
Born in Glasgow, brought up in the Borders, Innes has carved himself a deep groove in the face of contemporary and traditional folk music of Scotland.
Alumni of the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton and a graduate of the Bachelor of Arts in Scottish Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Innes is now a leading tutor in instrumental performance at the RCS and the University of the Highlands and Islands.
He is also renowned as one of Scotland’s best instrumentalists being awarded “Instrumentalist of the Year” at the 2009 Scots Trad Music Awards at the age of 24 and has since appeared on countless cutting edge recordings.
After leaving the brilliant and loud Breabach, Patsy Reid has become the most in-demand traditional fiddle player in the UK. She hasn’t stopped working.
She performed alongside Dougie Maclean and Kylie Minogue at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, with Zakir Hussain at the London 2012 Olympic Festival followed by an extensive tour of North America, and since 2013 she has visited India five times, collaborating with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and fellow British musicians.
In the studio Patsy is a one woman string quartet, contributing violin, viola and cello to albums by Donald Shaw, Duncan Chisholm, Bella Hardy, Treacherous Orchestra, Tim Edey and many more.
Alice Allen is from Aberdeenshire and formerly young artist in residence with the Scottish Ensemble.
Now one of Scotland’s top freelance cellists, Alice works with many of the country’s leading performing groups including the BBC Scottish symphony Orchestra and the Brodick Quartet. Alongside this she has studied traditional cello with leading instrumentalist Natalie Haas, and has recorded with many leading folk artists including former BBC young traditional musician of the year Robyn Stapleton and MG ALBA Scots Singer of the year Iona Fyfe.
Alice was the Scottish Ensembles RCS Young Associate Artist for the 2015-16 season and the 2014 winner of the Dunbar-Gerber prize for chamber music playing with duo partner Julija Sadaunykaite.