My highlights are marked in bold, with a comment.
Press release begins...
The 2014:15 orchestral year will be one of momentous change for Scotland’s national orchestra, as the RSNO prepares to move into its new home – currently under construction adjacent to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - and will take this opportunity to reinforce its objective as being Scotland’s greatest resource for discovering, learning, engaging and enjoying orchestral music.
RSNO Music Director Peter Oundjian: “It is an honour for me to be a part of an organisation which, through the delivery of our new rehearsal and recording facility, will have so many opportunities to fulfil its aspirations of connecting with a growing audience.
"For us and our supporters this year will be remembered as the starting point of a new, successful chapter in the history of Scotland’s national orchestra, and I can think of no better way of marking this watershed moment than by performing some of most powerful music in the orchestral repertoire.”
RSNO Chief Executive Michael Elliott: “The move into our new home will herald the point where Scotland’s national orchestra is poised to build upon its remarkable achievements in recent years, to make another step-change in its contribution to Scotland and its cultural life. The forthcoming Season holds musical delights for all our different audiences and, combined with our learning and engagement programmes across Scotland; it builds upon our commitment to excellence and extending reach.”
A statement of intent can be drawn from the programming of the opening two concerts of the Season. Employing the talents of the RSNO’s pool of musicians, Peter Oundjian is joined at the front of the stage in the opening week by the Orchestra’s own Principal Flute Katherine Bryan for the Scottish première of Christopher Rouse’s Flute Concerto, a programme also featuring Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The following week Principal Cello Aleksei Kiseliov steps to the fore, to perform Elgar’s Cello Concerto, sharing the evening with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro Overture and Bruckner’s Symphony No7.
Nicola Benedetti MBE returns for her first performances of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No1 with the RSNO. Peter Oundjian and the Orchestra open with Respighi’s orchestration of Rachmaninov’s March from Cinq Études-tableaux, concluding with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No4.
Peter and the Orchestra’s final performances in November include Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (1919), Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro for Strings and, joined by recent Gramophone Award-winning artist, Scottish pianist Steven Osborne, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.
Peter promised further investigation into the works of 20th century American composers, following the success of his previous performances of the repertoire. For the Sir Alexander Gibson Memorial Concert, a state-side selection, including John Adam’s Tromba Lontana, Bernstein’s violin concerto Serenade after Plato’s Symposium with Grammy-nominated soloist Robert McDuffie, Barber’s Symphony No 1 and Gershwin’s An American in Paris.
I like a bit of the minimal and a bit of the jazz inflected.
The Music Director returns in May for the final two programmes of the 2014:15 Season. In the penultimate concert, Berlioz’s Le carnaval romain precedes Lalo’s most famous work, for solo violin and orchestra, Symphonie espagnole, with Ray Chen, and Brahms’ Symphony No2. To conclude the Season, Elgar’s proudest achievement, The Dream of Gerontius, with mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, tenor Toby Spence, bass Alan Opie and the RSNO Chorus.
RSNO Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Søndergård continues to convey his love of rich, complex works, his first concerts of the new Season featuring Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. However, for his second set of concerts audiences will have a hitherto unvisited opportunity to hear his interpretation of more familiar concert repertoire; Sibelius’ Symphony No6 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No6 Pathétique. The twist is Magnus Lindberg’s 2002 Clarinet Concerto, performed by the soloist for this work, Kari Kriikku.
For his final appearance of the 2014:15 Season, Thomas is joined by Canadian violinist James Ehnes for Nielsen’s Violin Concerto, a programme accompanied by Sibelius’ Karelia Suite and Beethoven’s Symphony No3 Eroica.
The Orchestra’s Conductor Laureate Neeme Järvi is fondly known for his world-renowned RSNO recordings of Russian repertoire. This Season he returns to Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnole, and, joined by International Classical Award’s 2012 Artist of the Year Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - who wowed RSNO audiences and critics in 2013 - Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No3.
RSNO Assistant Conductor Jean-Claude Picard made his European début last year with an operatic Valentine’s offering, and this coming February he returns to the podium to conduct a Latin flavoured romantic music selection, with works from De Falla, Chabrier, Rodrigo, Bizet, Morricone and John Barry.
Scottish Conductor Rory Macdonald makes his RSNO début in November for Remembrance Sunday weekend. Beethoven’sCoriolan Overture and Elgar’s Enigma Variations frame works by two Scottish composers. Cecil Coles’ Behind the Lines is a portrait painted by a young composer who died on the Western Front during the First World War, complemented in the programme by a substantial new work for Orchestra and Chorus by Sally Beamish, Equal Voices, a joint commission with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Paul Daniel leads the RSNO for the first concerts of December, in an all-Russian menu of Prokofiev (Russian Overture), Shostakovich (Piano Concerto No 2 with RSNO debutante Kirill Gerstein) and Rachmaninov (Symphony No 2).
It's Russian: rich and romantic.
Christoph Altstaedt made his début with the Orchestra in 2012, and caused such a sensation he was immediately invited back. Here he presents an evening of Schumann (Overture, Scherzo and Finale; Symphony No1 Spring) and Lizst (Piano Concerto No2) with Khatia Buniatishvili as soloist.
Haydn’s Symphony No49 La passione and Beethoven’s Symphony No6 Pastoral in the hands of Sir Roger Norrington promises to be a thought-provoking occasion. Lars Vogt features as soloist for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No27.
Finnish maestro John Storgårds makes his first appearances with the RSNO in May, with a triptych of Scandinavian treasures, Sibelius’ Nightride and Sunrise, Nielsen’s Symphony No4 The Inextinguishable, and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with soloistChristian Ihle Hadland.
The Orchestra’s relationship with Sir Andrew Davis is further cemented through his arrival, in May, to lead the musicians, performing works from three of the conductor’s most beloved composers; Delius’ A Song Before Sunrise and Berg’s Seven Early Songs, featuring soprano Erin Wall, precede Mahler’s Symphony No4.
Over the last year the RSNO has devoted more stage-time to popular programmes. Recently, its The Music of John Williamsconcert in Glasgow, which sold out months in advance, welcomed nearly 2000 new attenders to the Orchestra. This coming year the RSNO will continue to meet the clear appetite for experiencing live, well-known orchestral music.
Folk duo Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain return in November for St Andrew’s Party, which has become a firm favourite with traditional music-loving audiences. Expect guest appearances from big names, a night of jigs and reels, and, as Phil himself describes, “An intimate club night for 2,500 people…”
Hollywood Christmas, featuring the return of Hollywood conductor Richard Kaufman, the RSNO Chorus and Junior Chorus, explores the festive music of the silver screen.
The RSNO Christmas Concerts are now embedded as a traditional marking of the Scottish festive season. Christopher Bell conducts the Orchestra for the occasion, with seasonal fayre and the screening of Raymond Briggs’ classic animation, The Snowman, with Scottish actor Julie Wilson Nimmo as this year’s narrator.
Exponent of historical performance, British conductor Laurence Cummings returns to conduct Handel’s Messiah for the second year in a row, having led a performance which was, for one music critic, the best Messiah they had ever heard.
Classic FM presenter and Beethovian John Suchet joins Peter Oundjian and the RSNO for an evening dedicated to his favourite composer. Egmont Overture and Symphony No 5 as well as his Third Piano Concerto, performed by the as yet to be determined winner of the 2014 Scottish International Piano Competition.
The 2013:14 Season’s presentations of film music were very well received and for 2014:15 the Orchestra will extend its offering.The Music of John Williams returns in March with an additional concert in Edinburgh. Richard Kaufman will also return in April to conduct The Golden Age of Film Music, including music from Spartacus, North by Northwest, The Magnificent Seven and Gone With The Wind.
As the official orchestra for Children’s Classic Concerts in the Central Belt, the RSNO performs two programmes in the coming year; Halloween themed The Monsters’ Ball in November and Seasonal family fayre Deck The Halls With Owen and Olly.
(Go to 1:34 to hear Oundjian swearing...)
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