Ben Twist

I would very much support the proposal for St Mary’s Music School to move to the Royal High School. As Chair of Hebrides Ensemble, Scotland’s world class contemporary classical music ensemble, I know the value of St Mary’s work to Scotland’s musical world.

As Director of Creative Carbon Scotland I have also been involved at one remove with the Collective Gallery’s development of the old Observatory on Calton Hill, and I can see great potential in the combination of the two centres of excellence in the same, very important, historical and prominent area of the city. Calton Hill is highly symbolic of Edinburgh’s role as a centre of both culture and learning. It is also highly visible – it is always where footage of Edinburgh is shot when the news media want to broadcast from the city.

The Royal High School forms an important part of that visibility and that history of culture. It seems absolutely fitting that one of Edinburgh’s – indeed Scotland’s – important cultural institutions be housed in another.

Ben Twist, Director, Creative Carbon Scotland and Chair, Hebrides Ensemble