Welcome to the RSNO's Digital Season Spring/Summer 2021! Over the coming months you can enjoy nine spectacular orchestral and chamber concerts, filmed live for you in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and the RSNO's Studio, with COVID-19 secure measures in place.
Broadcast throughout April - June 2021, our Digital Season is available on subscription or a pay-per-concert basis.
Søndergård & Benedetti
Available from Fri 16 April 2021: 7.30pm
Weinberg Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes
Szymanowski Violin Concerto No1
Panufnik Sinfonia Sacra (Symphony No3)
Thomas Søndergård Conductor
Nicola Benedetti Violin
Thomas Søndergård, Nicola Benedetti and the RSNO – the perfect partnership to begin our spring Digital Season! Polish master Karol Szymanowski’s dazzling First Violin Concerto is a piece close to Nicola’s heart and is the spectacular centrepiece in this celebration of the music of Poland – from the flamboyant dance tunes of Mieczyslaw Weinberg to the heartfelt Sinfonia Sacra by Andrzej Panufnik, the great Polish composer whose music is as passionate as it is powerful.
Nicola Benedetti appears by courtesy of Decca Classics.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Polska Scotland series. Polska Scotland is supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual NIEPODLEGŁA programme 2017-2022.
Chamber: Lewis Plays Mozart
Available from Fri 23 April 2021: 7.30pm
Mozart Clarinet Trio K498 Kegelstatt-Trio
Michael J Murray Psycho-Scherzo
Weber Clarinet Quintet
Mozart Piano Concerto No12 K414 for piano and string quintet
Paul Lewis Piano
Timothy Orpen Clarinet
Adrian Wilson Oboe
RSNO Chamber Ensemble
If any composer could scribble down a masterpiece while playing a game of skittles, it’s Mozart! Well, that’s the legend, anyway. His ‘skittle alley’ Trio is a delight and one of three spirited showcases for our Principal Clarinet Timothy Orpen and his RSNO colleagues. Plus, if we can’t hear Mozart himself play his Piano Concerto No12, then the superb British pianist Paul Lewis has got to be the next best thing.
Recommended by Classic FM.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Scotch Snaps series, celebrating established and emerging composers born or living in Scotland. Scotch Snaps is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation.
Barber Violin Concerto
Available from Fri 30 April 2021: 7.30pm
Craig Armstrong Stac Lee from The Lost Songs of St Kilda
Barber Violin Concerto
Brahms Symphony No4
Angus Webster Conductor
Maya Iwabuchi Violin
Brahms’ Fourth Symphony starts with a sight and ends with a tempest. Today it’s the stirring climax to a whole concert of classics that don’t stint on either poetry or emotion. Rising British maestro Angus Webster opens amidst the vast horizons of St Kilda from Scottish film composer Craig Armstrong. Then the RSNO’s Leader Maya Iwabuchi plays Barber’s Violin Concerto – music that’s exactly as gorgeous as you’d expect from the composer of the famous Adagio.
Supported by Jennie S. Gordon Memorial Foundation.
Recommended by Classic FM.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Scotch Snaps series, celebrating established and emerging composers born or living in Scotland. Scotch Snaps is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation.
Chamber: Cello Jewels
Available from 7 May 2021: 7.30pm
Beethoven Variations in F major on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ for Cello and Piano
Beethoven Cello Sonata No5
R Strauss Cello Sonata
Dvořák Silent Woods for Cello and Piano
Aleksei Kiseliov Cello
Alasdair Beatson Piano
Each player in the RSNO is a star in their own right – and when you get them on their own, they’ve got some great stories to tell! For the RSNO’s Principal Cello Aleksei Kiseliov, that means teaming up with pianist Alasdair Beatson in the ebullient Cello Sonata by the youthful Richard Strauss. Add Beethoven at his most exuberant, plus a moment of sheer magic from the Czech forests, and you’ve got a concert that’s small in scale but huge in personality.
This performance was recorded by BBC Radio 3.
Dvořák Symphony No7
Available from Fri 14 May 2021: 7.30pm
Lutosławski Mala suita
Dvořák Symphony No7
Marta Gardolińska Conductor
‘Polish music is a little bit of a mission for me!’ says the Polish conductor Marta Gardolińska, and today she kicks off with a real firecracker: Witold Lutosławski’s sparky Little Suite. Then, as the dust settles, Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony emerges from the shadows. Dark, stormy and heroic, some say it’s the greatest symphony he ever wrote: one of those pieces that grabs you with the very first note, and never lets go.
Recommended by Classic FM.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Polska Scotland series. Polska Scotland is supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual NIEPODLEGŁA programme 2017-2022.
Schumann Symphony No2
Available from Fri 21 May 2021: 7.30pm
Mahler Blumine
Schubert (arr Brahms) Six Songs for Voice and Orchestra
Schumann Symphony No2
Kevin John Edusei Conductor
Susanna Hurrell Soprano
Marcus Farnsworth Baritone
Robert Schumann was in love when he wrote his Second Symphony, and you can tell. His devotion to his new wife Clara just kept spilling over – in tender moments, passionate outbursts and moments of pure, uninhibited joy. Music from the heart, then: the perfect complement to Mahler’s ravishing Blumine and Schubert’s haunting songs, sung by Susanna Hurrell and Marcus Farnsworth, and conducted by the inspirational Kevin John Edusei.
Chamber: Polish Reflections
Available from Fri 28 May 2021: 7.30pm
Britten Phantasy Quartet for Oboe & String Trio
Szymanowski Violin Sonata in D Minor
Lutosławski Epitaph for Oboe and Piano
Bacewicz String Quartet No4
Adrian Wilson Oboe
Lena Zeliszewska Violin
RSNO Chamber Ensemble
In the 20th century, Polish music burst out of its homeland and set Europe on fire. The three Polish pieces in this concert are intimate in scale, but epic in emotion, whether they’re Szymanowski’s sensuous, soaring Violin Sonata, Lutosławski’s haunting Epitaph or the brilliantly imaginative Fourth Quartet by Bacewicz – possibly one of the 20th century’s wittiest composers. Britten’s bracing Phantasy Quartet offers a very British perspective on a concert that’s as surprising as it is entertaining.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Polska Scotland series. Polska Scotland is supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual NIEPODLEGŁA programme 2017-2022.
Grosvenor Plays Chopin
Available from Fri 4 June 2021: 7.30pm
Kilar Orawa
Chopin Piano Concerto No1
Lutosławski Concerto for Orchestra
Elim Chan Conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor Piano
‘Cannons hidden in flowers’ was how one writer described the music of Chopin, and throughout the long and stormy history of Polish music, dazzling colours and heartfelt romance have gone hand in hand with fiery national pride. Expect poetry and panache as Benjamin Grosvenor reunites with Elim Chan and the RSNO following their recent Gramophone Award-winning recording of Chopin’s beautiful Piano Concerto No1, while Chan also lights up the sky with luminous Polish classics from Lutosławski and the Oscar-winning modern master Wojciech Kilar.
Benjamin Grosvenor appears by courtesy of Decca Classics.
Recommended by Classic FM.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Polska Scotland series. Polska Scotland is supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual NIEPODLEGŁA programme 2017-2022.
Chan & Benedetti
Available from Fri 11 June 2021: 7.30pm
Christopher Duncan Stac Dona from The Lost Songs of St Kilda
Szymanowski Violin Concerto No2
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Elim Chan Conductor
Nicola Benedetti Violin
No-one makes music come alive quite like Nicola Benedetti, and few living violinists bring quite so much beauty to Szymanowski’s shimmering, sensuous Second Violin Concerto. First, though, we take a musical trip to St Kilda with a Mercury-nominated Scottish composer, and unleash Bartók’s showstopping Concerto for Orchestra. It’s the ultimate work-out for a full symphony orchestra – 40 minutes of spicy tunes and untamed emotion, all crowned with a mighty shout of joy.
Nicola Benedetti appears by courtesy of Decca Classics.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Scotch Snaps series, celebrating established and emerging composers born or living in Scotland. Scotch Snaps is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation.
This concert is part of the RSNO’s Polska Scotland series. Polska Scotland is supported by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual NIEPODLEGŁA programme 2017-2022.
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