Doors open 6.20pm – Summerlee Museum – Monday 27 October 7-8.30pm – “Between the Notes” is a gentle invitation to pause, listen, experience and reflect. This special event marks the launch of a new artist-designed public piano for North Lanarkshire. Inspired by the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival’s 2025 theme of “Comfort and Disturb”, this live performance explores how sound and silence, harmony and discord, can echo our own inner states of balance and imbalance. Expect an evocative encounter where music becomes a space for connection, reflection and wellbeing with classical dance, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship the two art forms share.
Internationally acclaimed musician, Karen MacIver, will bring the piano to life for its first outing. Karen has spent a major part of her professional career encouraging excellence in music for dance. She has worked with most of the UK’s major ballet companies, whether as a staff member, freelance musician or contract player. Her work with Scottish Ballet has spanned over 20 years, and she now coaches young musicians through a unique postgraduate Master of Music programme run in partnership with Scottish Ballet and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Alongside her work with Scottish Ballet, Karen was also a contract musician for Birmingham Royal Ballet and continues to play as a freelance musician for Houston Ballet. Her innovative work in the dance studio is recognised worldwide through her acclaimed work, “The Art of Class”.
This event is part of the “Music in the Museum” programme, produced by North Lanarkshire Council Arts Development.