Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.heraldscotland.com
Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Max Richter
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, October 22; City Halls, Glasgow, October 23
Max Richter (Image: PR)
The first of the SCO’s New Dimensions series stands out as an autumn highlight. Former Edinburgh resident Max Richter remains a standard-bearer of contemporary classical music, and this programme offers an ideal showcase, featuring his Opus 2020 alongside his sparkling recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Violinist Mari Samuelsen leads the performance in a programme conducted by David Brophy, which also features works by Philip Glass and John Adams.
Hannah Peel & Beibei Wang: The Endless Dance
St Luke’s, Glasgow, October 21
Northern Irish producer and composer Hannah Peel has joined forces with Chinese percussionist Beibei Wang to create their collaborative album The Endless Dance. The project explores the Chinese calendar through synthesizers, piano, and Wang’s inventive percussion. The duo bring the piece to Glasgow’s St Luke’s for a live performance that promises to test conventional classical boundaries.
Scottish Opera: Turandot
Theatre Royal, Glasgow: October 22, 25 (matinee), 28, 31; November 4, 7; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh: November 11, 14, 17, 19, 22 (matinee)
A major new co-production for Scottish Opera with Irish National Opera, this staging of Puccini’s final masterpiece marks its centenary. Sir David McVicar directs and Stuart Stratford conducts a distinguished cast including Trine Møller, Victor Starsky, Insung Sim, and Hye-Youn Lee. Together they tackle some of Italian opera’s most celebrated vocal writing, culminating in Nessun dorma. The production features set designs by Charles Edwards and costumes by Doey Lüthi.
Sinfonia of London
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, October 31
Conductor John Wilson revived the historic Sinfonia of London name late last decade, assembling principal players, freelance virtuosos, and string quartet members for bespoke recording projects. Nearly ten years on, the ensemble is flourishing on the concert stage. Their Edinburgh visit features Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2 with soloist Benjamin Grosvenor, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Psycho
City Halls, Glasgow, November 1
Janet Leigh in shower scene from film Psycho screaming (Image: Paramount Pictures)
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller Psycho, starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, returns to the big screen at City Halls. The BBC SSO will perform Bernard Herrmann’s seminal, knife-sharp score live and in synchronisation with the film, giving audiences a rare chance to experience those famous screeching shower-scene strings in full acoustic force.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra: Verdi’s Requiem
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, November 6; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, November 7
The RSNO’s expansive autumn calendar takes in works by Brahms, Shostakovich, and Schumann, but this staging of Verdi’s Requiem stands as the centrepiece. The orchestra joins forces with the RSNO Chorus and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus to marshal the sheer choral and orchestral weight required for Verdi’s dramatic vision.
Martinů Quartet: Czech Music
Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, November 9
The acclaimed Czech quartet marks 50 years of performing with a rare Edinburgh appearance during its anniversary UK tour. The programme celebrates the ensemble’s compatriots with Bohuslav Martinů’s String Quartet No 2 and AntonÃn Dvořák’s String Quartet in A-flat Major, Op 105. Proceedings open with Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Haydn
Usher Hall, Edinburgh, November 12; City Halls, Glasgow, November 13
Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Image: Christopher Bowen)
When I interviewed Sheku Kanneh-Mason when he was 19, he was not one of life’s natural conversationalists. Yet by then he was already a double Classical Brit winner, had topped the classical charts, won BBC Young Musician of the Year, and performed before a global audience at a royal wedding. His musicianship did all the talking.
His international stature has only deepened since. These dates mark his SCO debut, performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No 1. The programme also features the world premiere of Jay Capperauld’s Sinfonietta: Pathways, written for the SCO Academy, alongside Beethoven’s Symphony No 3, “Eroica”.
Dame Evelyn Glennie & Catrin Finch: ReConnection
Perth Concert Hall, November 19
A new composition by Jill Jarman inspired by the post-pandemic landscape pairs two remarkable instrumentalists: percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and Welsh harp virtuoso Catrin Finch. Having received its world premiere in Gloucestershire, this collaborative performance arrives in Perth fresh from the rehearsal room.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Erland Cooper’s Dawn Chorus
City Halls, Glasgow, November 26
Erland Cooper (Image: Colin Hattersley)
The BBC SSO presents the world concert premiere of Orcadian composer Erland Cooper’s concerto Dawn Chorus, inspired by Sir David Attenborough and featuring violinist Freya Goldmark. The concert also includes Cooper’s orchestral work Sula Bassana, following its cinematic presentation at Fringe By the Sea, alongside Ralph Vaughan Williams’s enduring favourite, The Lark Ascending.
Teddy Jamieson writes on Arts and culture for The Herald
