Add to the mix the fact that the Royal Ballet unveiled its own take on the surreal story at Covent Garden just one month ago and it gets curiouser and curiouser.

But nothing is getting in the way of the final push by Scottish Ballet towards the unveiling of its own Alice - a mix of Lewis Carroll's Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Rehearsals are underway in three separate studios. Designer Antony MacDonald is overseeing the bustling wardrobe department. The props, well most of them are gone already, off to the Theatre Royal, the first stop in a UK wide tour.

Pressure on

The tension is palpable in the already well heated rehearsal space of the company's headquarters in Glasgow's Tramway.

This is artistic director Ashley Page's first full length original ballet for the company - so the pressure is on.

"It wasn't a sudden idea," he says.

"It grew gradually. When we did other full length ballets, we used Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev and I knew I wanted something different.

"It takes a while to commission a piece of new music so it's taken time but the story seemed to lend itself well to the theatre."

The biggest challenge he says, was moving away from the words and numbers of the books (Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll was a professor of mathematics) so Alice uses another of his interests - photography - to introduce the story.

'Falls down lens'

"He was a renowned photographer and we wanted to use that," says Page.

"So Alice in our production doesn't fall into a rabbit hole, she falls down the lens and into his camera."

For his long time design collaborator Antony McDonald, the challenge was finding a new look for the show.

Those iconic images, first pencilled by Sir John Tenniel in the mid 19th Century, continue to have a hold on those who reinvent the story - from Walt Disney in 1951 to Tim Burton just last year. From Alice and her blue dress and blonde hair to the hookah smoking caterpillar.

"They are very famous images and they have enormous impact," says McDonald.

"So we went back to the books but tried not to look at the illustrations.We relied on our own fantasties."

'Own twist'

In this case, it's a Dali-esque caterpillar, whose ruffled green trousers hint at the tango he'll dance, or two feuding schoolgirls for Tweedledum and Tweedledee, or a trumpet-playing mock turtle.

Tama Barry looks to the late performance artist Sebastian Horsley for the inspiration for his Mad Hatter.

"The role was played so recently by Johnny Depp that it would be a mistake to do down that line so we don't.

"Antony and Ashley always have a very fresh take on everything they do. All the characters are there - the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare - but each has their own twist."

Steady hand

But while this is a first for Ashley Page, it could also be his last major work for Scottish Ballet. Late last year, it was announced that Page was to depart in 2012, after a decade with the company.

The original reason was that he didn't want to accept the year-long fixed term contract the board had offered but he quickly released a statement saying he didn't want to leave, and that if the board had offered a three to five-year contract, he'd have happily stayed.

No such offer has been forthcoming and the company is guarded about who will take Page's place when he departs next year.

Having overseen the company's move to new purpose-built headquarters, returned it to the Edinburgh Festival and the international stage, and given it a real sense of direction, some will feel Ashley Page's work is over.

But in the face of further funding cuts, the company will require a steady hand to avoid a return to the bad old days when the company lurched from one crisis to another.

Let's hope the board of Scottish Ballet has someone in mind.

Not for a state occasion but for the thousands of visitors who'll pour through these doors from April onwards for a glimpse of one of the most spectacular castles in Scotland.

When the castle was first handed over to the National Trust for Scotland, Ayrshire carpet companies took it in turns to replace the much-walked-upon carpets.

Today, there's only one local manufacturer and the trust has to pay like anyone else.

It's long been an ambition of the trust to return the castle to its late 19th Century grandeur, when the third Marquess of Ailsa revived much of the Adam-designed interior.

President Eisenhower

When they initially took over the castle in 1946, they didn't have the money for a refurbishment.

The oil crisis of the 70s and the recession in the 80s caused more delay. But now they have the cash for the refurb thanks to president Eisenhower and the american schoolboy he inspired.

Eisenhower was a huge fan of Culzean, first visiting in the 1940s as general Eisenhower.

It was a condition of the handover of the castle to the National Trust for Scotland in 1946 that Eisenhower have the use of the top floor of the building - with it's breathtaking views of Arran - as a thank you for his part in the allied efforts during World War II.

Eisenhower visited four times in all - twice as general Eisenhower, once as president, and more significantly as former president.

"He brought his grandchildren that time,"says property manager Paul Pomfret. "And they spent 10 days at the castle and visiting the wider area - playing golf at turnberry, visiting maybole - he was clearly very fond of the place."

Fireplace unearthed

That fondness was picked up by a young William Lindsay who recalled the president visiting his school and talking about his love of Scotland.

Despite the fact he apparently never visited, he left $4m to the National Trust for Scotland when he died last year, with the stipulation that some of the money go to Culzean.

It's meant that curators can bring back many of the items the house would have held - an ornate mirror bought in auction and that aforementioned carpet among them.

But other artefacts have been much less costly - and right under their noses.

Like the gorgeous original Robert Adam fireplace unearthed in a guest bedroom and the paintings lent back by the Kennedy family who once lived here.

Then there's the 1920s wardrobe - commissioned rather extravagantly for a visit from the Prince of Wales, who in the end only stayed for breakfast.

It was discovered in a holiday house on the estate,and quickly returned to the castle.

Like any large castle by the sea, maintenance is a constant issue and there's further work to be done, not least in upgrading the apartments which bear Eisenhower's name - and now welcome ordinary overnight guests as well as presidents and their entourage.

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It's fair to say that an era is coming to an end at the Scottish Screen archive, when curator Janet McBain steps down.

To many people, Janet McBain is the Scottish Screen archive: the face on television when a new piece of film is found, the person providing the introductions at special screenings in cinemas.

Originally appointed as part of a job creation scheme, her first task was to sift through the films in the collection - rather modestly housed in a garden shed behind the Scottish Film Council headquarters in Glasgow.

Her second task - every bit as important - was to begin a public appeal for more films.

"There had been a film archive in London since the 1930s and we knew there was a lot of film out there, but I think many of them were loathe to hand anything over if it ended up hundreds of miles away in London," she recalls.

"People were coming forward saying I've had this for years and didn't know who to give it to.

"We just tapped a nerve and loads of stuff came from shelves and attics and factories and cinemas."

Within six months, the archive had 4,000 cans of film and had to move it from the shed into a basement.

Much of the footage was amateur - giving a real sense of Scottish life through the 20th century.

From the Lochgelly pensioners off on an outing in the 1930s to the colour footage from Musselburgh as the whole community sends off the fishermen for the herring season, the strength of the collection remains the real people it features.

That, says Janet McBain, remains the thrill.

"When you go out to give talks and the lights go down and you see people enjoying these films after all this time," she says.

"And to think I had a hand in preserving that film so another generation could enjoy it."

Some films continue to elude her.

Hunting Tower, the 1920s film which starred Sir Harry Lauder has been on her radar since 1976.

The discovery of a short piece of archive showing crowds waiting in Glasgow for Lauder at the film's premiere gives them hope that one day the film itself will be recovered.

A lot has changed in the past decade. Scottish Screen is no more so the Scottish Screen Archive now comes under the auspices of the National Library of Scotland.

The archive headquarters are no longer in the west end of Glasgow, but on an industrial estate in Hillington.

Technology has changed dramatically too.

"In the old days, if someone wanted to see a piece of film, you brought them in, sat them down in front of a Steenbeck player and played them the original film - if it was available.

"Nowadays, you can see almost any film in any part of the world at the click of a mouse.

"Technology has really revolutionised the access we can provide to the collection."

But it's also brought new problems. Video - which makes up a chunk of the collection - is difficult to preserve.

Maintaining a digital film collection will be expensive and time consuming. But Janet can leave that to her successor Ruth Washbrook and the rest of the team.

She and her colleague Annie Docherty - who started on the same day in 1976 - once claimed they'd seen every film in the archive.

Thirty five years later, with more than 32,000 films in the collection, that's less likely but as both leave this week, they can be proud of their role in preserving Scotland's film heritage.

Good luck to them both in whatever they choose to do.

Education minister Michael Russell galloped in this morning with a cheque for £200,000 for 2012/2013 and 2014/2015 when the facility had expected to close.

The deal is based on a partnership with the West Highland College UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands) and on a number of cost-cutting measures which would save the centre up to £50,000 a year.

If the college agrees, and accepts the grant, it would then run a national certificate in traditional music.

And what about Highland Council, whose withdrawal of their £300,000 annual funding, caused all the hoohah in the first place?

They must still approve the new agreement, and may still have their share of responsibility for the centre.

Highland Council leader Michael Foxley says the whole situation has been positive - showing the extent of the support for the centre, including an internet petition, and a noisy campaign by musicians and music lovers across the world.

Many of those supporters will now be asked to put their money where their mouths are, to support the continuing upkeep of the centre.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland today, Mr Foxley said the campaign had thrown up lots of previously overlooked options for funding, including weekend staffing and travel costs. A silver lining amongst a lot of black clouds.

And while a cause for celebration in the traditional music world, you can't help wondering whether the wider and more aggressive cuts to music and arts education across the country will be as much of a cause celebre.

Or indeed as simple to resolve.

As a young apprentice, he applied for membership and was turned down.

Then his carefully crafted wall frieze - of purple swirling thistles on a sage green background - was plastered over by club members at the turn of the 20th century. Why?

Theories abound but perhaps the frieze overshadowed the work hanging on the gallery walls?

Artist's impression of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh frieze

James MacAulay, who recently published a biography of Mackintosh, wonders if the artists who ran the club simply didn't look after it well enough.

"Artists aren't known for their level of care and once it was damaged by water, they may have thought it easier just to paint over," he says.

Wouldn't anyone have protested?

"Mackintosh wasn't widely liked in Glasgow art circles, so I don't think they would have cared too much."

Add to the mix the fact that his colleague John Keppie, who was a member of the Glasgow Art Club, may have had a strained relationship with Mackintosh - professionally and personally (Mackintosh broke off an engagement to his sister Jessie) and you begin to see why no one stepped up to save the frieze from a layer of plaster.

Design rescued

More than a century later, it's a different story. According to recent research, the frieze is still carefully preserved beneath the plasterwork.

It can't be removed without further damage but the details of the design have been rescued and it's hoped the club can recreate the simple A/B pattern on top of the existing plasterwork.

"It would put us on the Mackintosh trail," says the club's Vice President Connie Simmer. "People would come from all over the world to see that."

It may also help the club's attempts to modernise for the 21st Century with a £1m makeover. They still have £200,000 to raise - and are hopeful that the frieze and plans to throw their doors open to the public will help with that.

Meanwhile, the original frieze will remain dormant beneath the plasterwork - at least until techology develops.

"The reason for stopping where we are is we could cause damage, says Ranald MacInnes, Principal Inspector for Historic Scotland.

"It's possible we will develop the technology which will allow us to bring back this frieze without damaging it. Not now, but perhaps in the future."

It was there in 1971 that a 26-year-old Alasdair Gray turned a blank wall into a canvas, famously accepting food and drink, rather than cash, as payment.

So when the restaurant wanted to mark its 40th birthday with a new artwork, he seemed the obvious person to ask.

Except that, instead of a static mural, painted onto the walls, the restaurant now had more ambitious plans.

"I imagined deer galloping through the restaurant," says Carol Wright, who runs the restaurant with her partner, Colin Clydesdale.

"Animals interacting with the diners as they ate their food. It was one of those conversations you have after a glass of wine and everyone thought it was a bit mad and then we realised there were people who could help us actually do it."

The people, in this case, were event producer Neil Butler of UZ and digital artist Deborah Norton.

Deer proved impossible, but alongside the real pond is a digital rock pool. Dip your fingers in and the fish circle.

During courses, diners put on 3D glasses and salmon leap through the restaurant. Morag the Highland cow heralds the arrival of the beef course (no room for sentiment here!).

There's no dramatic unveiling. The Alasdair Gray mural - a digital work which takes up a whole wall of the restaurant - is revealed slowly through the course of the evening.

Last night's opening night was a low-key event, with the creators in the midst. There's no formality, no-one announces when to put on the 3D glasses - but every so often, someone spots activity and the whole restaurant follows suits.

This is of course a neighbourhood well used to eating, and indulging in artistic pursuits at the same time.

Oran Mor has successfully offered theatre at lunch and dinner and every meal in between.

And art in restaurants is not unusual, except in this case when it's interacting with the customers.

It's also Gray's first foray into digital art, and, if he seems unconvinced by the process, he thinks the final result "should be entertaining".

Deborah Norton says she tried to develop a process which allowed Gray to work in ways in which he was familiar, controlling colour and shape before adding it to the projection.

For Gray, it's not that new. "To me, it's just lanterns, transformed into slides and projected onto the wall," he says.

"I wish we had more time to concentrate on that, without other projects, but we did what we could and I think it's quite good. People will be entertained by it, I think."

Up to 70 diners a night are expected to sample the work with their dinner between now and the end of March.

Carol is aware it won't appeal to everyone, but she says they're keen to try something new, which continues their long-running interest in art.

And the benefit of a digital mural is that it's not fixed to the wall. So there's every chance that the new artwork could be on display elsewhere in the near future.

Wayward in as much as he's skipping football practice to gatecrash the neighbouring ballet class, where he discovers he's good at it.

Much has changed since that film, but perhaps not as much as you might think.

Matthew Bourne, whose all male Swan Lake ruffled feathers in the world of ballet some five years before, has done much to counteract the notion that ballet and dance is a largely female pursuit.

Through his own work, and that of his company New Adventures, he's provided plenty of inspiration in shows over the years, most recently a raunchy new adaptation of Dorian Gray for the Edinburgh International Festival.

But for the last year, he's been working quietly away in West Dunbartonshire with 500 boys aged between 12 and 21.

The project - a collaboration between Creative Scotland, Glasgow Theatres' Creative Learning Team, New Adventures, Re:Bourne and West Dunbartonshire Council, using £265,905 of lottery money - took as its starting point the William Golding novel, Lord of the Flies.

Workshops in media and dance examined the themes of the novel, and challenged the boys' perception that dance in general, and ballet in particular was for girls.

From those 500, 15 were selected to perform in a stage version of the book, which will receive its world premiere in Glasgow tomorrow.

This time it's set not on a desert island, but a deserted theatre, where the initial youthful organisation descends into darkness and chaos.

Some of the boys have danced before but others have never even been in a theatre, a tall order for the team preparing them for opening night.

Chibembo Bande says he enjoyed hiphop when he first encountered the project at a local youth centre.

He says the experience has shown him how disciplined dance can be. Duty calls though, and he has to catch up on his university degree before anything else.

Some of the younger participants have even bigger ambitions.

Twelve year old Paul Kenny says his friends told him to steer clear of ballet in case he "turned into a girl" but he's first to admit the rehearsals are tough, and the dancers from Bourne's company, even tougher. He's now considering dance as a career.

So is 13 year old Fraser Johnston, who was already breaking new ground in an all male dance group at his school.

He's still not convinced by traditional ballet but he's desperate to join Matthew Bourne's company. Only thing is, he can't do that till he's 16. Until then, he'll have to settle for appearing in one of the most eagerly anticipated dance productions of the year.

Lord of the Flies is at the Theatre Royal Glasgow, from March 2-5

The Illusionist, made and set in Scotland, may not have won an Oscar but its mere nomination did throw a very large spotlight on the film, and the hundreds of animators in Edinburgh, Dundee, London and Paris, who toiled away on it.

The animation industry is easy to overlook - no giant studios, no location work with thousands of extras.

Many animators work from home, often on projects on the other side of the world.

Case in point is Tom Bryant, lead digital artist on The Lost Thing, which won the Oscar for Best Short Animation.

Although the bulk of the film - based on the book by Shaun Tan - was made in Australia, Tom completed most of his work in his studio in Edinburgh, e-mailing it to lead animator Leo Baker in Melbourne, and only needing to be there in person for the final compositing checks.

He was there in person at the Oscars, though, where the whole international team behind the animation are no doubt celebrating their win.

Torrential rain

Meanwhile, more pats on the back for the Glasgow Film Festival, which came to a close last night with the European premiere of The Eagle, the latest offering from another Oscar winning Scot, Kevin MacDonald.

Based on the book, Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff, it tells the tale of a Roman Centurion's search for his father's lost legion in Northern Britain.

The scenery is terrific - even if the pace lags at times, and the tone veers from darkly violent to upbeat without warning.

Producer Duncan Kenworthy, who introduced last night's screening admitted torrential rain during their shoot in the Highlands in 2009 made for difficult conditions but it certainly adds to the atmosphere of peril in lawless Scotland, where terrifying tribes roam.

While RP (received pronunciation) has been the standard voice of the film Roman till now, in this version, they speak with American accents, while the Northern Britons speak a mixture of Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic - and cause much confusion in the process.

And while the only heather being set alight was on the big screen, it was still a well-received end to a very successful festival.

Worth watching

On track to sell over 33,000 tickets - with guests over the last 10 days including Mark Millar, Alan McGee, Richard Ayoade, Ken Loach and Anthony Lapaglia (who hung around for the closing premiere after attending his own film Balibo on Friday) - it's definitely established itself as a film festival worth watching.

Much has been made of comparisons with the Edinburgh International Film Festival - which seems to be going through something of an unsettling transition period - but the Scottish film industry is small, and doesn't divide that easily.

Most people have a foot firmly in both camps - and rightly so.

Scotland is surely a big enough country to host at least two major film festivals.

GFF's growing success shouldn't be seen as competition for Edinburgh, but inspiration - a reminder that the key to any good film festival is the films and the fans, not the number of stars on the red carpet.

Home: Glasgow, one of 10 productions around the country, set out the National Theatre of Scotland's stall.

This was an organisation who intended to take work around the country and perform it in any space, regardless of whether it was a theatre.

The 10 shows were rich and varied, involved a wide range of people from the existing theatre community and had mixed reviews from audiences - a fair summary in fact of the five years which followed.

Their building-less model clearly works and has inspired others to follow suit (Last spring, Wales launched its own national theatre company based on Scotland's roaming model).

But what of the work? 137 shows over the past five years - everything from children's theatre (Wolves in the Walls) to dark cabaret (Something Wicked This Way Comes), reworked classics (Peer Gynt) to Greek tragedy, with a musical twist (The Bacchae).

It isn't a science and this isn't an extension of the arts council so there were inevitably less successful works.

Tutti Frutti, for example, while a crowdpleaser on paper, didn't set the heather alight.

Neither did David Greig's adaptation of Peter Pan.

And then there was Caledonia - the ill-fated festival show about the ill fated Darien project.

Then again, a show seen by 100,000 people, which made 60% more at the box office than anticipated and was the most talked about show at the Edinburgh Festival can't really be deemed a failure.

Big name celebrities - with the notable exception of Alan Cumming, who performed a star turn in The Bacchae - have been thin on the ground but that's been no bad thing in the company's early years, when inviting Hollywood worthies to return to the Scottish stage might seem like something of a snub for those toiling here all year round.

But NTS insist negotiations continue - and given the complicated schedules of Hollywood - may come good in the next few years.

But the real long shadow is cast by the company's biggest hit - Black Watch - which continues to dominate discussion.

But the flipside is that it also raises the profile of the company, here and abroad, opening doors for other shows to tour. (quite literally for Beautiful Burnout, which will be staged in New York shortly - its inspiration directly traceable to a city gym during a previous Black watch tour).

The big challenge for the company in the next five years will be to continue producing work in reduced circumstances.

All the national companies face a 4% budget cut and although NTS has increased sponsorship which will plug the gap this year, it'll have to find new funds or scale back in future years.

And five years on, they'll have to re-evaluate what Scottish theatre is.

Their track record on contemporary work has been exemplary but historic work has been a bit patchier.

The National Theatre in London beat them to a version of Ena Lamont Stewart's tenement drama Men Should Weep (although they'll stage their own take later this season) and others lobby for other forgotten treasures.

NTS plan to address the issue head-on with a series of sessions where writers pick their favourite Scottish plays and a series of public events where theatre goers can discuss them.

But it's a distinction of the Scottish theatre tradition that most published plays are post-18th century, and the bulk post-1945 so the emphasis is always going to be on modern work.

The biggest issue, though, remains wooing audiences.

According to a recent survey, 17% of Scots consider themselves theatre-goers.

The challenge for the National Theatre of Scotland is to persuade the other 83%.

Despite a 21% drop in visitor numbers at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery (largely due to severe weather and industrial action) it remains the leading free visitor attraction in Scotland with 1,070,521 visits last year.

Even with the closure of the Transport Museum last Easter, its combined museum attendance still tops that of the combined forces of the national galleries in Edinburgh.

It's a sore point for Glasgow's galleries, which have long argued their collections deserve equal status to the national collections.

Pulling power

Does it matter? Well yes, the wider picture does matter in reminding authorities in these cash-strapped times of the pulling power and importance of our cultural institutions.

Across the UK, ALVA members said they anticipated an increase in tourism around the royal wedding.

The Scottish institutions are just part of a much wider cultural picture drawing tourists here, and keeping them here.

It's about acknowledging the support of local communities too - and making sure visitor attractions are used all year round by all sorts of people.

And as we prepare to welcome the return of some old treasures - closed for long-overdue refurbishment (the National Museum of Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery and Stirling Castle) it's also a reminder of the wealth of culture we have at our disposal.

And there may be new entries too. Glasgow is confident that next year's numbers will be up - not just because of better weather - but because they'll have a brand new space - the Riverside Museum.

Clumsy title for an extraordinary facility which over the past 10 years has produced a steady flow of musicians who've gone on to perform, teach or simply promote traditional music around the world.

Director Dougie Pincock said on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that like any arts organisation, he expected budget cuts, but the notion of closing the whole centre has taken him, and the traditional music community, by surprise.

Of course Highland Council, like all councils, faces some tough decisions this year.

And arts projects remain the soft option.

The task for the wider community is to flag up how vital such resources are and that's where a community of noisy outspoken musicians comes in handy.

The first of several protests is pencilled for Glasgow's George Square on Saturday.

Others will follow.

There's also an online petition. Don't expect them to go quietly.

With his big bubbly personality, and ever bigger, bubblier hair, he has been an important figurehead for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since his appointment over five years ago.

His enthusiasm for music is genuinely infectious, whether on the podium at concerts, or offstage with members of the public.

And there's little he won't do to promote music in his adopted homeland - from interactive events, social occasions and even that Scottish rite of passage, a cameo in a comic strip of the Broons.

So filling his shoes on his departure after the 2011/2012 season was always going to be a challenge.

But it sounds like the RSNO may have found a worthy successor. Peter Oundjian is currently the Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra - a post he's held since 2004 and will continue to hold, since he'll remain in post there, in parallel with his new job with the RSNO, which he'll take up next season..

Born in Toronto, he was raised in London, studied in New York and first came to prominence as a musician, playing first violin in the Tokyo String Quartet, who as well as playing a string of high profile dates, were equally celebrated on the children's show Sesame Street.

Dystonia forced him out of playing music but opened up a successful new career as a conductor, taking him to a string of orchestras in North America and Europe.

Since he arrived in Toronto in 2004, he's been credited with turning the orchestra around, increasing subscriptions as well as younger audiences and playing a prominent and very visible role in the Toronto cultural scene.

Not unlike Maestro Denève, indeed.

And for those who believe Monsieur Denève still has the upper hand on all things quirky, here's one more little detail.

His first cousin is Eric Idle - leading to his collaboration on Not The Messiah (he's a Very naughty boy) - a comedic oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Could there be more in the pipeline in his new post? We'll just have to see.

Some audiences will already be familiar with Mr Oundjian, who has previously conducted the RSNO on several occasions.

He re-joins the orchestra in April 2011 for three concerts and a programme comprising Christopher Rouse's Rapture, Grieg's Piano Concerto with Stephen Hough, and Brahms' Symphony No3.

He's also be back in the 2011-12 season - due to be announced in a few weeks time - conducting performances of Martinů's Fantasies Symphoniques and Mozart's Requiem

To be fair, it was stationary and in the confines of the National Museum of Flight but still an unusual setting for a musical premiere as part of the Lammermuir Festival, which he co-directs.

This week he was presiding over another unusual premiere. The venue - Perth Concert Hall - is ordinary enough but the piece, a concerto by Vivaldi, hasn't been heard for the best part of 250 years, if at all.

Among those listening in to rehearsals of Il Gran Mogol, is musicologist Andrew Woolley, from the University of Southampton, who stumbled across the score while researching another matter in the National Archives of Scotland.

Il Gran Mogol - one of a quartet of short, national concertos, all believed to be missing - was filed away among the papers of the Marquesses of Bute.

Softly spoken Mr Woolley is modest about his find.

Grand tour

"I'm a huge fan of Vivaldi and I knew it was something very special - but it was really a case of asking the right question - was it known?" he asked.

The answer was that the piece wasn't known, at least in recent years.

It's believed to have been brought to Scotland by the son of the third Marquis of Lothian, who, as noblemen did in those days, went on a grand tour of Europe and brought home the concerto as a souvenir.

As a keen flautist, there's every chance he played it, but no mention of any public performance before Lord Robert Kerr died on the battlefield at Culloden and the concerto disappeared into piles of family papers.

There was of course huge excitement about the discovery. Adrian Chandler, who leads the early music ensemble La Serenissima, says it's comparable with the discovery of Vivaldi's sacred work Dixit Dominus in a German archive in 2005. But how would it sound?

New album

Concert goers in Perth got the chance to find out when La Serenissima performed its 21st century premiere last night.

It's short - just seven or eight minutes long - and quite recognisably Vivaldi.

Given its theme - there are further geographical tributes to France, Spain and England - it could have been something of a novelty piece but it's not. It's unsurprising but lyrical - and from a historical point of view, fascinating to hear.

La Serenissima plan to record it after their short tour, and release it on their next album so if you didn't make it to Perth, there's still a chance to hear it.

It's up against the might of Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon, the former beating the film to a Golden Globe. But fingers crossed for a little bit of Scottish nostalgia in Hollywood on February 27th.

Founder's passing

And sad news from the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, whose founder John Mason died earlier this week.

An Ayrshire lawyer, with Orcadian roots, and a passion for traditional Scottish music, he not only created a world renowned orchestra but helped raise the profile of Scottish fiddle music.

Easy to see its popularity in the thick of Celtic Connections, but more of a challenge 30 years ago, when he and like minded musicians across the country first started out.

Condolences to his family, and his extended family of the fiddle orchestra.

I'm sure there will be a tribute concert at some stage - and no shortage of material, given the hundreds of tunes he composed or arranged over the years.

Scots musician Roddy Hart was the driving force behind the concert and he and his band - the Lonesome Fire - provided the backing band for this epic three-hour concert featuring everyone from Roseanne Cash to Laura Cantrell, Tim O'Brien, James Grant, Rab Noakes, Thea Gilmore, Nell Bryden and many many more.

Hart admits when he first touted the idea to Celtic Connections director Donald Shaw last summer, he envisaged a much smaller event - "maybe King Tuts or Nice and Sleazy" .

Instead he got the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - and a sell-out gig, with scores of fans prepared to stand in the circle just for a taste of the concert.

If the sound suffered because of the rapid coming and going of performers, it was overlooked by the enthusiastic audience, keen to hear old favourites given a new twist or more obscure numbers given another outing.

Stripped-down version

Eddi Reader is a surprise guest - not least on the eve of Burns Night with another gig in Ayrshire - guesting first on Tim O'Brien's blue grass version of Lay Down Your Weary Tune from the days of The Byrds.

Then a solo stripped-down version of Buckets of Rain from Blood on the Tracks.

English folk singer Thea Gilmore introduces a darker strand with the first overtly Scottish Connection - her version of Poor Immigrants (believed to be based on the Scottish folk song Tramps and Hawkers) not to mention a blistering version of Masters of War - its bleak lyrics still as relevant today as they were in 1963.

Then it's Jemma Hayes - one of the youngest contributors - with a lively version of The Times They Are a Changin.

Obscure numbers

Hart admits that getting artists to choose the more popular numbers was harder than it looked - most wanted to sing more obscure numbers or songs found on B sides.

Chris Drever restores A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall to a folk setting; Nell Bryden belts out a big band version of Just Like A Woman, complete with breezy Hammond organ, and Thea Gilmore and James Grant lead a blistering guitar heavy version of All Along the Watchtower.

It's hard to keep up with the pace now as Laura Cantrell launches into a country tinged version of I Threw it all away and Tommy Reilly tackles a song written before he was born - It Aint me Babe.

Rab Noakes takes to the stage alone for a bewitching rendition of The Mississippi and before we know it, it's 10pm and we haven't even seen the headline star - Roseanne Cash.

Series of encores

She doesn't disappoint - avoiding her father's classic 1969 duet with Dylan on Girl From the North Country, in favour of a return to the original ballad.

With a cold, she jokes she might sound a bit like either gentlemen.

Then it's a series of encores for all the musicians as they run through the hits - My Back Pages, Forever Young, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, I Shall Be Released and finally Like A Rolling Stone.

Everyone not already on their feet is now, and singing along.

The birthday boy may not have showed up himself but he missed one hell of a party!