Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Soloists: 
Christian Schmitt, organ
Matthias Höfs, trumpet

Programme: 
James MacMillan, Britannia
Fazil Say, Concerto for trumpet, organ and string orchestra with percussion

*
Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39

An ensemble of time-honoured tradition (1891), winner of the 2020 Gramophone Classical Music Award, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is (also) renowned for its pioneering learning and engagement programme, Music for Life, aimed at engaging the people of Scotland with music across key stages of life. Since 2017, the orchestra has enjoyed a series of successes under the insightful leadership of their Music Director, Thomas Sondergard, one of the few active conductors who are also first-class percussionists. Recently, the Maestro has been decorated with a Royal Order of Chivalry by the Queen of Denmark.

The evening’s programme is a reflection of the conductor's creative breadth and proves that music knows no bounds: Britannia is a colourful tapestry of patriotic Scottish melodies and resonant allusions; Sibelius’s first symphony draws on Tchaikovsky’s symphonism. The core of the evening’s repertoire is a new work by the cosmopolitan ‘composer pianist’ of Turkish descent, who builds bridges between the East and West. It will be premiered by two experienced German virtuosos, Christian Schmitt, a charismatic exponent of contemporary organ music, and Matthias Höfs, a longstanding member of the world-renowned German Brass ensemble.

Thomas Sondergard’s approach conjures a pulsing energy of the kind which seems to well up from within the music itself, rather than being driven from without; he also has a canny awareness of how a tiny, unobtrusive shift of pace now and again can make a whole Sibelian musical structure seem to come alive.
Classical Music