• The World’s finest international orchestras visit Scotland’s premier concert hall as part of the Sunday Classics season including the Russian State Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra.
• Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra continue Scotland’s rich heritage of classical music talent in their new seasons.
• Leading soloists will also join the orchestras, including the dazzling talents of Angela Hewitt, Catriona Morison, Barry Douglas, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Vilde Frang.
• Tickets available at usherhall.co.uk
The home of classical music in Scotland, the Usher Hall welcomes standout orchestras from around the globe this Autumn as well as the country’s own world-renowned classical ensembles.
The venue’s own much-loved Sunday Classics season sees some of the world’s finest international orchestras and soloists come to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall to take part in the concert series. The season kicks off in October, with a visit from the Russian State Symphony Orchestra and pianist Barry Douglas, whose interpretations of Russian music are renowned, to perform Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.2, while the Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra also pay Usher Hall a visit with the dazzling Angela Hewitt later in the month for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5.
The final Sunday Classics concert in 2018 is set to be a very special afternoon of music with the War Horse: The Story in Concert – Centenary Concert. Narrated by War Horse author Michael Morpurgo and performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), the concert will commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War.
The Usher Hall will welcome several of Scotland’s own leading orchestras to the stage for a series of very special concerts this Autumn. The RSNO have a busy Autumnal season at the Hall. They welcome their new Musical Director Thomas Søndergård in his debut season with the orchestra and he conducts Mahler Five and Rachmaninov One in October and Poulenc’s Gloria in November. Scotland’s own star mezzo Catriona Morison joins the orchestra for Ravel’s Shéhérazade. Søndergård will also attract new classical music fans to the hall in his special Guide to the Orchestra performance on 23 November with starry young American twin pianists Christina & Michelle Naughton as part of Scotland’s Year of Young People.
Edinburgh’s own Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) and Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang kick start their season with Beethoven’s noble Violin Concerto in September, while in October, they will also present Haydn’s The Seasons with the SCO Chorus. It will be conducted by the young Russian Maxim Emelyanychev, who will give a taster of things to come when he takes up his position as Principle Conductor of the orchestra next year. They will also welcome the brilliant French pianist Bertrand Chamayou for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 in November.
In September, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBCSSO) will present George Gershwin’s 1924 swinging salute to the city that never sleeps, Rhapsody in Blue. Later in November, the BBCSSO return to perform Debussy’s La Mer, arguably the most poetic seascape ever painted for an orchestra and performed 100 years after the composer’s death.
The Usher Hall is committed to supporting new talent, and in a partnership with Live Music Now gifts its stage to some of the most promising young classical musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in their Emerging Artists series. December welcomes New Antonine Brass – a brass quintet that will bring a seasonal twist to pieces of music from across the genres.
Monday lunchtimes see the popular series Get Organised, in which Edinburgh’s City Organist Dr John Kitchen MBE performs on the Usher Hall’s stunning organ built by Norman Beard of London and which dates back to 1913.
The Usher Hall, opened in 1914, is Scotland’s only 5 Star concert hall and is well loved by performers and audiences all over the world due to its magnificent acoustics. It’s the city’s key venue for visiting national and international orchestras and has been the main venue for the Edinburgh International Festival since 1947, hosting legendary artists such as composers Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich, contralto singer Kathleen Ferrier and cellist Jacqueline Du Pre to name but a few.