Scottish Ensemble and Social Bite serve up slice of summer with collaboration

Scottish Ensemble (SE) and Edinburgh-based homelessness charity Social Bite are teaming up this summer to spread the joy of shared food and live music with new collaboration Sound Bites.

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Based on the notion that these simple pleasures are at the heart of peoples’ lives as social beings, Sound Bites connects the worlds of food and music with a themed picnic box available for audience members to enjoy during upcoming performances as part of month-long outdoor festival Live at No.40.

Scottish Ensemble will bring to life Vivaldi’s iconic masterpiece, The Four Seasons, as audiences enjoy a bespoke picnic of handmade goodies sprinkled with a touch of the Four Seasons by Scottish charity and social enterprise Social Bite.

Scottish Ensemble (SE) and Social Bite are teaming up this summer to spread the joy of shared food and live music with new collaboration Sound Bites.

Each picnic basket will contain a duo of tasty baguettes with two different fillings, and depending on dietary preference, a selection of pies, frittatas, sausage rolls, salads and even some of Social Bite’s famous brownie bites.

In solidarity with the Social Bite cause to end homelessness and in keeping with its reputation for thinking outside the box, 10 per cent of ticket sales for Scottish Ensemble performances are being donated to Social Bite and its work helping and supporting some of the most vulnerable individuals and communities across Scotland and the UK.

Taking place from July 3 to August 1 2021, Live at No.40. will unfold at Scottish Opera’s Production Studio car park at 40 Edington Street, Glasgow.

Joined by Scottish Opera and Citizens Theatre in a specially created outdoor theatre, Scottish Ensemble will perform four concerts over two days, accompanied by Scottish charity and social enterprise Social Bite.

At a time when the country is cautiously celebrating new beginnings, Vivaldi’s works of art speaks poignantly to disruption and the inevitability of change with piercing precision. By bringing audiences together, not only for possible the first live performance in over a year, but to ‘break bread’ with fellow music lovers, friends and family, SE and Social Bite mark an important milestone during a turbulent time.

William Norris, interim chief executive at Scottish Ensemble, said: “One of the things we've all missed in the last year has been sharing. Our Sound Bites performances of Vivaldi promise to provide a sharing experience, but also share a portion of everyone's ticket purchase with our partners in this project, Social Bite, who do incredibly important work in tackling homelessness. We're really excited to be partnering with them on this project which marks our return to live performance in a characteristically different way.”

Co-founder and CEO of Social Bite, Josh LittleJohn MBE said: “This collaboration will not only be a brilliant celebration of enjoying food, drink and music together, something we’ve all missed over the past year, it’s also an opportunity to bring about real positive change. This fantastic event will deliver funding to our innovative programmes that support people out of homelessness and help them to build independent lives.

“We hope everyone who joins us enjoys the performance, along with our delicious picnics - specifically crafted for this event by our talented kitchen staff of which 1/3 have come from a background of homelessness.”

Tickets are priced from £12 and can be booked from the website.

Picnics should be booked with tickets and are priced at £7.99. They are available to reserve until July 13.

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