Scottish Chamber Orchestra
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The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
-based UK
chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears regularly at the Edinburgh, East Neuk, St Magnus and Aldeburgh Festivals and
The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...
. The SCO's international touring receives support from the
Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...
. The SCO rehearses mainly at Edinburgh's
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
.


History

The SCO was formed in 1974, with Roderick Brydon as its first Principal Conductor, from 1974 to 1983. The founding leader of the SCO was John Tunnell, and by 1977 he had been joined by Carolyn Sparey as principal viola, and Haflidi Halgrimsson as principal cello. With Michael Storrs managing the orchestra for much of its first decade, the schedule, which for a while included work as the orchestra for
Scottish Opera Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. History Scottish Op ...
, offered a full diary of concert performances, recordings and touring. In 1978 there was a tour to Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as the first of two summers as orchestra in residence for the festival in Aix-en-Provence. A year later a tour of the Scottish Highlands and islands was the first of its kind ever to take place on the islands of th
West coast of Scotland
and was followed by the official opening by Queen Elizabeth II of the
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
in Edinburgh on July 6. A highlight of the year 1980 was a BBC TV recording with Raymond Leppard o
all six Brandenburg Concertos
and over the next couple of years the relentless schedule continued with concerts in Barcelona, a residency in the Scottish Highlands, performances at the St. Magnus Festival in
Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...
, a recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with violinist Jaimie Laredo, tours of the UK and Europe with mezzo soprano Teresa Berganza, concerts with the Polish conductor, Jerzy Maksymiuk, and an introduction to the up and coming young English conductor, Simon Rattle in a concert involving the American opera singer, Jessye Norman. Other principal conductors have included Jukka-Pekka Saraste (1987–1991) and Ivor Bolton (1994–1996). The American violinist and conductor Joseph Swensen served as Principal Conductor from 1996 to 2005, and is now the SCO's Conductor Emeritus. Sir
Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; (17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an American-born Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associ ...
held the position of Conductor Laureate until his death in 2010. The Estonian conductor Olari Elts served as the SCO's Principal Guest Conductor from October 2007 to September 2010. Robin Ticciati was principal conductor from 2009 through 2018. with an initial contract of 3 years.
Emmanuel Krivine Emmanuel Krivine (born 7 May 1947, Grenoble) is a French conductor. Biography The son of a Polish mother and a Russian father, Krivine studied the violin as a youth. He was a winner of the ''Premier Prix'' at the Paris Conservatoire, at age 16. ...
became the SCO's principal guest conductor in September 2015. In March 2018, Maxim Emelyanychev first guest-conducted the SCO, as an emergency substitute for Ticciati. Based on this appearance, in May 2018, the SCO announced the appointment of Emelyanychev as its sixth principal conductor, effective with the 2019-2020 season. In November 2019, the SCO announced the extension of Emelyanychev's contract as principal conductor through 2025. In April 2023, the SCO announced an additional extension of Emelyanychev's contract as principal conductor through "at least 2028". In 2023 members of the orchestra were selected to play at the
coronation of Charles III and Camilla The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, Camilla, as Monarchy of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth re ...
.


Contemporary music

The SCO's work in contemporary music has included collaborations with Gordon Crosse, John McLeod, and
Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...
, notably the series of Strathclyde Concertos. Einojuhani Rautavaara's ''Autumn Gardens'' received its world premiere with the SCO in 1999. The SCO premiered Sally Beamish's ''Concerto for Orchestra'' (''Sangsters'') in November 2002. The SCO has commissioned over 100 new works, from composers including Peter Maxwell Davies (the SCO's Composer Laureate),
Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 10 June 1960) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Life and career Mark-Anthony Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex on 10 June 1960. Turnage was the eldest of three children. His parents were lov ...
, Judith Weir, Sally Beamish, Karin Rehnqvist, Lyell Cresswell, James MacMillan, Hafliði Hallgrímsson, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stuart MacRae, Edward Harper and Martin Suckling (appointed SCO Associate Composer in 2013). The SCO has recorded for a number of labels, including
Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
and Hyperion. It has a recording partnership with the Glasgow-based record company,
Linn Records Linn Records is a Glasgow-based record label which specialises in classical music, jazz and Scottish music. It is part of Linn Products. History While Linn engineers were testing their flagship product, the Sondek LP12 turntable, they became fr ...
, with whom it has recorded 12 albums, including several recordings of Mozart symphonies conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and an album of Berlioz conducted by Ticciati.


Principal conductors

* Roderick Brydon (1974–1983) * Jukka-Pekka Saraste (1987–1991) * Ivor Bolton (1994–1996) * Joseph Swensen (1996–2005) * Robin Ticciati (2009–2018) * Maxim Emelyanychev (2019–present) Past SCO chief executives have included Roy McEwan-Brown. In April 2016, the SCO announced the appointment of Gavin Reid as its current chief executive, effective 29 August 2016.


References


External links

*
Farlex biography of Roderick Brydon
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1974 Scottish orchestras Musical groups from Edinburgh National performing arts companies of Scotland Chamber orchestras Organisations based in Edinburgh 1974 establishments in Scotland Erato Records artists National orchestras of the United Kingdom