Spring/Summer 2021

Welcome to the RSNO’s Digital Season Spring/Summer 2021

I’m delighted to welcome you to our second Digital Season.

There’s nothing quite like the sound of a full-sized symphony orchestra and a move back to the Main Auditorium of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall will see us return to the large-scale orchestral masterpieces we’ve been unable to play for over a year. Thomas Søndergård and Elim Chan both return and we have debut performances from Marta Gardolińska, Angus Webster and Kevin John Edusei. We continue to celebrate Scottish talent with our Scotch Snaps series, supported by the John Ellerman Foundation, and explore the special relationship between Scotland and Poland in our Polska Scotland themed concerts.

The Polska Scotland series starts with Panufnik’s powerful Sinfonia Sacra – one of his most played and accessible works. Although a huge international success following its premiere in 1963, it wasn’t until Sir Alexander Gibson and the SNO braved communist censorship that it got its Polish premiere at the Warsaw Festival in 1978.

It’s always special when Nicola Benedetti joins the RSNO and we’re particularly fortunate to have her with us for two concerts, performing both concertos by Szymanowski. Since her teenage years she has had a special relationship with this music, and it will be a fascinating experience to hear her revisit the music that first propelled her to international stardom.

Elim Chan’s first ever orchestral recording was a disc of Chopin Piano Concertos with Benjamin Grosvenor and the RSNO. It won a Gramophone Award in October 2020. One of the highlights of the Season will surely be Ben and Elim rejoining the RSNO for a performance of the first of Chopin’s concertos.

It’s not just our guest artists that will be scaling the virtuosic heights of their instruments. We’re going to be celebrating the flamboyant skills of our player group with two concertos for orchestra and a set of chamber music performances. Bartók and Lutosławski both created famously difficult orchestral showpieces, and I’m particularly looking forward to the

edge of your seat excitement that comes from hearing the RSNO players getting put through their paces.

We all miss the live audiences, but I am optimistic that we will be able to welcome people back to our concert halls by the start of our 2021:22 Season. Until then, we feel fortunate to be able to share our music-making with you through this Digital Season. On behalf of the whole RSNO organisation, I would like to thank you for the incredible support you’ve given us over this last year. The RSNO has been at the heart of Scottish cultural life for over a century and thanks to your enduring support I’m confident that we will emerge from this pandemic in a strong position, ready to bring world-class music-making back to the concert halls of Scotland.

Alistair Mackie Chief Executive

Scotland’s links with Poland date back to the late 15th century and trade agreements established between Aberdeen and Gdańsk (formerly Danzig). In 1848, Chopin made his historic concert tour. More recently, tens of thousands of Polish soldiers came to Scotland at the onset of the Second World War, contributing to the local war effort. It’s their story and the legacy sustained by their Scottish descendants that is celebrated in Polska Scotland, an illuminating series of Polish-themed concerts within this RSNO Digital Season.

It began on 1 September 1939, when four Polish destroyers sailed into Leith, near Edinburgh. Others followed, docking at Rosyth, Port Glasgow, Greenock and Dundee. Scotland soon became the majority destination for UK-bound Polish soldiers.

When it came to support in combat, none was more swift-acting than the impromptu response of the Polish destroyer ORP Piorun in defending Clydebank against the Luftwaffe’s catastrophic 1941 blitz.

Piorun, built the previous year at Clydebank, was back undergoing repairs.

When the attack began, its crew, under Commander Eugeniusz Pławski, manned the ship’s guns in defence of the unsuspecting town.

This Polish series underlines the RSNO’s long association with Polish music and musicians, dating from Emil Młynarski (the orchestra’s Polish Principal Conductor from 1910 to 1916 and early champion of Karol Szymanowski’s music) to composers who conducted their own works – Andrzej Panufnik in 1956 and Witold Lutosławski in 1979 and 1981.

Lady Camilla Panufnik, widow of the dissident Polish composer, welcomes the initiative. ‘Not only was my late husband indebted to the support his music received from the Scottish orchestras

after escaping Poland and settling in the UK, but my own father was captain of HMS Legion which, at the time of the Clydebank bombing, was stationed at Greenock,’ she recalls. ‘He worked closely with the Piorun’s captain.’

She also remembers Sir Alexander Gibson and the RSNO performing the Polish premiere of Panufnik’s Sinfonia Sacra at the 1978 Warsaw Autumn Festival, a work of startling passion written to celebrate 1,000 years of Christianity in Poland. This piece features in Music Director Thomas Søndergård’s opening concert, alongside Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No1 with soloist Nicola Benedetti. Other programmes include music by Lutosławski (with Polish conductor Marta Gardolińska), Weinberg, Chopin and Kilar (better-known for such film scores as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992

Bram Stoker’s Dracula). Benedetti and Principal Guest Conductor Elim Chan conclude the series with the second Szymanowski concerto.

The 80th anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz falls in March 2021. Polska Scotland’s musical reflection honours an enduring comradeship born out of fractured times.

Ken Walton is classical music critic of the Scotsman and cofounder of the classical music website VoxCarnyx.

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The Polska Scotland series 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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WeinbergRhapsody 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

SØNDERGÅRD & BENEDETTI Fri 16 Apr 2021: 7.30pm

Thomas Søndergård Music Director

Nicola Benedetti Violin

Season Opener

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Iwabuchi Plays BARBER Fri 30 Apr 2021: 7.30pm

Craig ArmstrongStac Lee from The Lost Songs of St Kilda BarberViolin ConcertoBrahms 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

Gardolińska Conducts DVOŘÁK Fri 14 May 2021: 7.30pm

Lutosławski Mala suitaDvořákSymphony 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.

Chamber: Lewis Plays MOZART Fri 23 Apr 2021: 7.30pm

MozartClarinet Trio K498 Kegelstatt-Trio Michael Murray Psycho-ScherzoWeber Clarinet QuintetMozart Piano Concerto No12 K414 for piano and string quintet

Paul Lewis Piano 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.

Chamber: CELLO JEWELS Fri 7 May 2021: 7.30pm

Beethoven Variations in F major on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ for Cello and PianoBeethoven 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.

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This performance was recorded by BBC Radio 3

Chamber:POLISH REFLECTIONSFri 28 May 2021: 7.30pm

Britten Phantasy Quartet for Oboe & String TrioSzymanowski Violin Sonata in D Minor Lutosławski Epitaph for Oboe and PianoBacewicz String Quartet No4

Adrian Wilson Oboe Lena Zeliszewska ViolinRSNO 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 Grażyna 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.

Edusei Conducts SCHUMANN Fri 21 May 2021: 7.30pm

MahlerBlumine Schubert (arr Brahms) Six Songs for Voice and Orchestra Schumann Symphony No2

Kevin John Edusei ConductorSusanna Hurrell SopranoMarcus 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.

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Season Finale CHAN &BENEDETTI Fri 11 Jun 2021: 7.30pm

Christopher Duncan Stac Dona from The Lost Songs of St Kilda Szymanowski Violin Concerto No2Bartók 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

Grosvenor Plays CHOPINFri 4 Jun 2021: 7.30pm

Kilar Orawa Chopin Piano Concerto No1LutosławskiConcerto for Orchestra

Elim Chan Conductor Benjamin Grosvenor Piano

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

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Elim Chan Principal Guest Conductor

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Buy today at rsno.org.uk/digital-season

Full details on how to buy and watch can be found at rsno.org.uk/digital-season

All concerts will be available to watch from the date of broadcast until Fri 30 July 2021. All ticket purchases include a complimentary concert programme which will be emailed direct to your inbox before each concert.

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Prices printed include VAT. All orchestral concerts will feature a socially distanced orchestra of around 50 musicians. Please note, due to the ongoing uncertainty of the current Coronavirus pandemic, the RSNO may have to change programmes and/or artists at short notice or delay a broadcast date. If a concert has to be cancelled in its entirety and an alternative concert is not possible, all ticket money will be refunded.

19 Killermont Street, Glasgow G2 3NX+44 (0)141 226 3868info@rsno.org.ukScottish Company No 27809 Scottish Charity No SC010702

The RSNO is supported by the Scottish Government

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Our FundersScottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow City of Music,

John Ellerman Foundation, The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh,

RSNO Foundation.

Our Corporate SupportersPrincipal Transport Provider: ScotRailPrincipal Media Partner: Classic FM

Broadcast Partner: BBC Radio 3

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Chair SponsorsCadenhead’s, Mitchell’s Glengyle, Springbank Distillers Ltd,

J&A Mitchell and Co. Ltd.

As a charity, we also rely upon a wide range of generous support from Trusts and Foundations.

The RSNO is deeply grateful for the generosity of its individual supporters. Our Conductors’ Circle, Patrons and Circle members are a vital part of our annual

fundraising. We would like to thank all those who have made donations to the RSNO Covid Appeal. The generosity of all our supporters at this time is

deeply appreciated.

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