Some music just captures a certain mood. Debussy basks in silvery moonlight and conjures a melody to haunt your dreams. Rachmaninov loses himself in a painting and takes a surprisingly passionate journey into darkness. Guest conductor Nodoka Okisawa savours both tonight in a concert which just brims with atmosphere, whether it’s the delicacy of Tōru Takemitsu’s How Slow the Wind or Helen Grime’s musical skyscape for Håkan Hardenberger. The world’s greatest classical trumpeter? We think so – but hearing is believing…
LISA ROBERTSON Change is Coming [5’] Side-by-Side with Big Noise Torry (Aberdeen only)
TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture [21’] (Edinburgh and Glasgow only)
HELEN GRIME Trumpet Concerto: night-sky-blue [20’]
SCOTTISH PREMIERE
INTERVAL
DEBUSSY orch. STOKOWSKI Clair de lune from Suite bergamasque [6’] (after Change is Coming in Aberdeen)
TAKEMITSU How Slow the Wind [11’]
RACHMANINOV Isle of the Dead Op29 [20’]
Nodoka Okisawa Conductor
Håkan Hardenberger Trumpet Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Supported by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
The Glasgow performance will be recorded for the RSNO Archive. Supported by the Iain and Pamela Sinclair Legacy.
If viewing these notes at the concert, please do so considerately and not during performances. Please silence all mobile telephones and alerts, and refrain from taking photographs, without flash, until the end of each piece.
Wagner’s
Symphony Ring
EDINBURGH Fri 16 May 7.30pm GLASGOW Sat 17 May 7.30pm
Handel Water Music Suite No3
Neil Tòmas Smith Hidden Polyphony World Premiere
Wagner arr de Vlieger The Ring, An Orchestral Adventure
Thomas Søndergård Conductor
Anna Dennis Soprano
Dunedin Consort
Thomas
Maya
Jacqueline
Robin
Emily Nenniger
Kirstin Drew
VIOLA
Tom Dunn PRINCIPAL
McWhirter
Lisa Robertson (Born 1993)
Change is Coming
FIRST PERFORMANCE
RSNO, conducted by Thomas Søndergård, Edinburgh, 1 November 2024
DURATION 6 minutes
I wanted to use this piece to give voice to how deeply the young people at Big Noise Govanhill (the first performers of the piece) felt the impact of climate change on their lives and wanted to speak up and make change happen. I was also drawn to the Nordic countries’ and Scotland’s shared environmentalism and the strong youth activist voices in these countries, the title alluding to a quotation from Greta Thunberg.
The piece’s opening celebrates the magical beauty of northern landscapes, with icy winds, glittering snow and dancing northern lights. Some material is derived from the calls of various bird species common in these countries. As climate change’s threat increases throughout the piece, so does the determination to stand up and have our voices heard. The music responds with the ‘Viking-like’ courage of climate warriors. Embedded in the piece is an old Norse song, thought to have been around at the time of the Vikings, called ‘Drømde mik en drøm i nat’ (I dreamed a dream). The dream of a peaceful future reflects the hopes of climate activists. Melodies combine as individuals unite with hope and determination, looking towards the future with the resolution to act and bring about the change that is coming.
Lisa Robertson’s commission is supported by the Fidelio Charitable Trust, Hope Scott Trust and Marchus Trust.
The Sistema Scotland Side-by-Side performance is kindly supported by the CMS Charitable Trust, Hobart Charitable Trust and Souter Charitable Trust.
Change is Coming is performed in Aberdeen only.
Lisa Robertson Composer
Lisa Robertson is a composer from the West Highlands of Scotland, particularly interested in combining sounds from nature and traditional Gaelic music; examining relationships between people and the land; and highlighting environmental concerns. Her music has been performed by The Sixteen, RSNO, EXAUDI, Red Note Ensemble, defunensemble, Psappha, Hebrides Ensemble, Lucy Schaufer and Heather Roche. Her music has appeared at festivals including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Cheltenham Music Festival, Musica Nova Helsinki, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Sound Festival and on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service and BBC Radio Scotland. She was featured in BBC Music Magazine’s Rising Stars column and has been shortlisted four times for the Scottish Awards for New Music.
Lisa completed a PhD at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She attended masterclasses with Brian Ferneyhough in Darmstadt and the late Sir Harrison Birtwistle at Dartington International Summer School.
She took part in the RSNO Composers’ Hub and NYCGB’s Young Composers Scheme, which led to pieces being released by Stainer & Bell, Choir & Organ magazine and NMC Recordings. Lisa is a Music Patron composer and her music is published by Composers Edition.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
FIRST PERFORMANCE
16 March 1870, Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. Final (third) revision: 1 May 1886, Tblisi, conducted by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov DURATION 21 minutes
With its rapturous and instantly recognisable love theme, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture is one of the composer’s bestknown works Beginning in quasi-ecclesiastical quiet (the theme associated with Friar Laurence) and tussling between the warring motifs of the Montagues and Capulets and the overwhelming passion of the young lovers themselves, the work had a long-drawn gestation, and was twice revised after its premiere in 1870. ‘Nothing is more suitable to my musical character,’ wrote Tchaikovsky some years later, returning to Shakespeare’s play for an unrelated opera. ‘No kings, no marches, no boring old grand opera. Just love, love, love!’
The Overture had been suggested to Tchaikovsky by Mily Balakirev, then one of Russia’s pre-eminent composers and a member of ‘The Five’ (including also Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Cui and Mussorgsky), after the 28-year-old composer, yet to make his mark, had dedicated his symphonic poem, Fatum, to him. Once the prevaricating Tchaikovsky had succumbed to Balakirev’s piqued badgering –while generous, he was not a man who liked his ideas ignored – the older composer outlined an in-depth scheme, including some bars of music outlining how he himself would open the work. ‘Begin straight away – allegro – with fierce sword clashes!’ he wrote enthusiastically.
Tchaikovsky, who was to find Shakespeare a huge source of inspiration throughout his composing life, ignored such prescriptive
suggestions, but Balakirev’s energetic and frequently sharp criticism encouraged him in an increasingly imaginative interpretation and, crucially, helped him develop his ideas on structure. When he sent the composer his first draft in 1870, Balakirev went into rhapsodies over the love theme. ‘I want to hug you for it!’ he wrote (before proceeding to suggest revisions).
And yet luck was not with Tchaikovsky, still to find public success and privately rattled –albeit probably briefly, given his preference for men – by the surprise marriage of star Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt, to whom he was all but engaged. When the Overture’s premiere came, it was overshadowed by a scandal involving the conductor, Nikolai Rubinstein. ‘No one said a single word to me about the Overture the whole evening,’ wrote a deflated Tchaikovsky.
That summer, abroad, he reworked the opening section, evidence of his developing ability to write evocatively and expansively rather than contain his ‘characters’ in a musical straitjacket. The second premiere in 1871 was even less successful, and yet Tchaikovsky, dogged by the continuing poor reception of his works, could not let it go. In 1880, with three symphonies, Swan Lake, Eugene Onegin and another Shakespearean overture, The Tempest, under his belt, he rewrote the ending to Romeo and Juliet, composing the work’s exquisite, shattering coda and refining, definitively, what is now his first acknowledged masterpiece.
Håkan Hardenberger with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by FrançoisXavier Roth, Barbican, London, 3 April 2022
SCOTTISH PREMIERE
DURATION 20 minutes
The starting point for Helen Grime’s Trumpet Concerto was the theme of night, in particular nocturnal gardens. Her inspiration came from a book of photographs depicting scenes from the natural world taken after darkness had fallen. Images of organic growth and the nocturnal life filled the composer’s mind and are reflected in music that is in a constant state of transformation.
The Concerto is in a single movement, the music evolving over a series of interlinked sections. It begins in a mood of hushed stillness, over which the trumpet introduces an expansive melody. Gradually the solo line becomes more elaborate and virtuosic. As the music moves into its second section, a rhythmic, percussive motif is fired back and forth between soloist and orchestra. The music continues to spin and gain momentum, while alternating with freer, dreamlike passages in which vibraphone and harp hover in the background. Increasing in speed and intensity, the Concerto finally reaches its climax with an explosion of orchestral colour. In its wake comes a return to the stasis of the opening music.
The work’s subtitle, night-sky-blue, is taken from a poem by Fiona Benson.
‘I had the impression of a milk-white light shining pale in the midst of darkness; the appearance of nature’s gentle change, or the delicate look of the poet at the infinite.’ When Tōru Takemitsu wrote those words in 1991, he was thinking in particular of his new work for chamber orchestra, How Slow the Wind; but those two telling phrases about ‘nature’s gentle change’ and ‘the delicate look of the poet at the infinite’ could apply to so much of this prolific composer’s output. For Takemitsu, nature was wise friend, elemental parent, and revealer of eternal truths, essential life principles.
It’s an attitude that seems very close to that of the great Japanese writers, especially to those schooled in Shintoism, or – across the water – to the ancient wisdom of the Chinese oracle I Ching. So, is this a distinctly ‘Far Eastern’ attitude? Western Christianity has tended to view the natural world with distrust, at least until the romantic theologians came along, and when European and American artists began to turn increasingly to nature as a substitute for traditional religion, it was often under the influence of Eastern poets and thinkers. But Takemitsu was unusual in his monk-like absorption in natural sounds, forms and processes. Music came to him as a result of direct personal engagement: ‘If I get a commission for a 20-minute piece, I take a 20-minute walk. When I see a tree, I write tree music; when I see a rock, I write rock music; when I see a tree in front of a rock, I combine the two.’
How Slow the Wind, however, isn’t simply a depiction of wind sounds, more a reliving in music of the slow but inexorable way the movement of air sculpts and eventually weathers away everything. Listeners may be reminded of the exquisite so-called ‘impressionist’ tone pictures of Debussy (a composer Takemitsu loved), and the sound palette is clearly influenced by some of the more experimental European composers of the 1960s and ’70s. But Takemitsu totally avoids their radical, combative edginess. This is a composer with no intention of changing the world, but of celebrating it as it is. Western ‘goal-directed’ thinking is a universe away – how can this be music ‘directed to an end’ when there’s barely any sense of an ending or a beginning, more of gratitude for being able to enjoy an evanescent fragment of an eternally fluid tapestry.
How Still the Wind had its first performance in Glasgow on 6 November 1991, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. It was an auspicious premiere: the piece has remained in the repertoire ever since.
In 1880, one Marie Berna apparently visited the Florence studio of Swiss Symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin, caught sight of an unfinished canvas – a depiction of a dreamlike islet of high rocks flanking a mighty clump of darkly majestic cypress trees tall enough to graze the black, low-slung clouds drawing in – and as a memorial to her late husband commissioned a version of it in which a rowing boat bearing a shrouded figure and a draped coffin glides across the millpond-calm water towards a central watergate. The resultant image, originally titled ‘The Grave Island’ by Böcklin but later renamed Isle of the Dead by his dealer, cast such a spell that between 1883 and 1886 he painted several further versions, each slightly different, the prints of which then became so ubiquitous over the following decades as to appear everywhere from domestic homes to the offices of Sigmund Freud and Vladimir Lenin.
Rachmaninov was so affected by the image that when he saw a monochrome print of it in 1907, it stayed so powerfully with him that when in 1909 he composed his own tone poem in response, it almost wrote itself, despite the timelapse. ‘When it came, how it began – how can I say?’ he recounted. ‘It came up within me, was entertained, written down.’ Interestingly, the fact that his introduction to the image was in black and white proved key, because when later he saw the colour original, he commented that had he seen this first he probably wouldn’t have put pen to paper.
Lucky for us that he did. His Isle of the Dead, with its rich, sophisticated textures and constantly, kaleidoscopically changing colouring and shading, opens with gently tolling timpani and a gliding idea in low, subdued strings, the fivebeats-to-a-bar time signature lending a softly laboured feel. Add the Dies irae plainchant and it’s rather like a heavier, more melancholic and faintly foreboding answer to the lilting Venetian boat song, the barcarolle – and that macabre aspect is heightened first by the entrance of brass, and then by chromatically snaking lines and uneasy dissonances.
The ensuing music features a number of climaxes along its way, with emotional ambiguity aplenty, the writing ranging from sudden harmonic warmings and lyrical soarings to unsettled metre and nervous woodwind jabs. A central three-time section sounds initially freer and builds to something approaching ecstasy – albeit wistfully and ambiguously so, rather than joyously – before an angrily swirling climax which then descends into even more doleful darkness. Following a brass chorale straight from the underworld, a single luminous violin appears as we are rocked gently, inexorably towards final stillness.
Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950 and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. Many renowned conductors have contributed to its success, including Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Neeme Järvi, Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev and Stéphane Denève.
The Orchestra’s artistic team is led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård, who was appointed Music Director in 2018. In March 2024, Austrian-born conductor, composer and musician Patrick Hahn became the Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor.
The RSNO is supported by the Scottish Government and is one of the Scottish National Performing Companies. The Orchestra performs across Scotland, including concerts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness, and appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and BBC Proms. The RSNO has made recent tours to the USA, China and Europe.
The RSNO has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its recordings, receiving a 2020 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Chopin’s
Piano Concertos (soloist: Benjamin Grosvenor), conducted by Elim Chan, two Diapason d’Or awards (Denève/Roussel 2007; Denève/Debussy 2012) and eight GRAMMY Award nominations. In recent years, the RSNO has increasingly recorded soundtracks for film, television and video games, with notable titles including Horizon: An American Saga (Warner Bros), Life on Our Planet (Netflix), Star Wars Outlaws (Ubisoft), Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Meta Quest VR) and The Woman King (Sony Pictures). The Orchestra records at its bespoke in-house facility, Scotland’s Studio, in Glasgow.
The RSNO believes that music can enrich lives, and aims to inspire, educate and entertain people throughout Scotland and beyond with its performances, recordings and engagement programmes. Supporting schools, families, young professionals and wider communities, the RSNO delivers high-quality initiatives for all ages and abilities, reaching over 68,000 people in 2023.
FIRST VIOLIN
Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay
GUEST LEADER
Lena Zeliszewska
ASSOCIATE LEADER
Tamás Fejes
ASSISTANT LEADER
Cheryl Crocket
Liam Lynch
Alan Manson
Lorna Rough
Caroline Parry
Susannah Lowdon
Elizabeth Bamping
Fiona Stephen
Helena Rose
Carole Howat
Heloísa Riberio
SECOND VIOLIN
Jacqueline Speirs
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL
Marion Wilson
Harriet Hunter
Robin Wilson
Sophie Lang
Colin McKee
Anne Bünemann
Kirstin Drew
Seona Glen
Joe Hodson
Colm Ó Braoin
VIOLA
Tom Dunn
PRINCIPAL
Felix Tanner
Susan Buchan
Claire Dunn
Maria Trittinger
Francesca Hunt
Beth Woodford
Elaine Koene
Aoife Magee
Marsailidh Groat
On Stage
CELLO
Pei-Jee Ng PRINCIPAL
Betsy Taylor
Yuuki Bouterey-Ishido
Rachael Lee
Gunda Baranauskaitė
Sarah Digger
Laura Sergeant
Miranda Phythian-Adams
DOUBLE BASS
Stacey Watton
GUEST PRINCIPAL
Michael Rae
Alexandre Cruz dos Santos
Moray Jones
Maitiú Gaffney
Christopher Sergeant
FLUTE
Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL
Oliver Robert ALTO FLUTE
Frederico Paixão PICCOLO
OBOE
Adrian Wilson
PRINCIPAL
Peter Dykes
Tom Davey COR ANGLAIS
CLARINET
Timothy Orpen PRINCIPAL
William Knight
Duncan Swindells
PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET
BASSOON
David Hubbard
PRINCIPAL
Hugo Mak
Paolo Dutto
PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON
HORN
Andrew McLean
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL
Christine McGinley
Martin Murphy
David McClenaghan
Diana Sheach
Ian Smith
Andrew Saunders
TRUMPET
Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL
Katie Smith
Robert Baxter
TROMBONE
Dávur Juul Magnussen
PRINCIPAL
Emma Close
Alastair Sinclair
PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE
TUBA
John Whitener PRINCIPAL
TIMPANI
Paul Philbert PRINCIPAL
PERCUSSION
Simon Lowdon
PRINCIPAL
Simon Archer
Lauren O’Malley
Gareth Geredig
HARP
Pippa Tunnell
PIANO/CELESTE
Lynda Cochrane
Sistema Scotland
Sistema Scotland is the charity that delivers the Big Noise social change and music education programmes, working with almost 4,000 children and families to improve lives and strengthen communities across Scotland. Its immersive and long-term Big Noise programmes use music and nurturing relationships to help children and young people fulfil their potential.
At Big Noise the symphony orchestra becomes a community which supports young people to gain an invaluable range of life skills. Independent evaluation shows that Big Noise supports children to improve their learning, wellbeing and confidence, bringing communities together and paving the way for positive futures. The programmes are delivered by inspirational staff musicians who act as role models and mentors, and foster supportive, long-term relationships.
Big Noise Torry was first established in the community in 2015, and the programme now works with around 750 children and young people and their families each week.
Big Noise is delivered by Sistema Scotland with support from a range of public partners, trusts, foundations and individuals. Sistema Scotland runs Big Noise programmes in the targeted communities of Big Noise Raploch & Fallin (Stirling), Govanhill (Glasgow), Torry (Aberdeen), Douglas (Dundee) and Wester Hailes (Edinburgh).
Please support Big Noise by visiting www.makeabignoise.org.uk or by scanning the QR code.
I am honoured and extremely proud to be Music Director of the RSNO. It is through the continued generosity of you, our friends, donors and supporters, that we can continue to achieve and realise the most ambitious goals of the Orchestra.
One of the wonders of the RSNO is how it brings high-quality music not only to concert halls, but to the wider community. From hospital settings to care homes, from our Astar app for families with newborns to our National Schools Concert Programme, our music touches so many lives in Scotland and beyond. Your support is the
RSNO Benefactors Supporting the RSNO
RSNO Benefactors are beacons of philanthropic inspiration, providing truly transformative financial support to the Orchestra that enables us to build and deliver long-term strategic plans. Benefactors share the RSNO’s vision for orchestral music and work with us to drive
cornerstone of all that we do, as it allows us to continually build and develop.
Thank you for being part of this wonderful Orchestra’s journey, as we adapt and grow towards a bright future.
Thomas Søndergård MUSIC DIRECTOR, RSNO
the organisation forward, helping us to realise our future plans and ambitions.
Sir Ewan and Lady Brown
Gavin and Kate Gemmell
Kat Heathcote and Iain Macneil
Ms Chris Grace Hartness
RSNO Conductors’ Circle
The RSNO Conductors’ Circle is an inspirational group of individual supporters at the heart of the RSNO’s Individual Giving programme. Our members’ annual gifts enable us to realise the Orchestra’s most ambitious goals. Conductors’ Circle members support inspirational concert performances for our audiences alongside innovative education programmes in communities across Scotland, via our ground breaking initiative Music for Life.
The RSNO is very grateful for the continued support of its Conductors’ Circle:
Ardgowan Charitable Trust
Stina Bruce Jones
Ian and Evelyn Crombie
Kenneth and Julia Greig
Carol Grigor and the Trustees of Dunard Fund
Shirley Murray
David and Alix Stevenson
Rolf and Celia Thornqvist
Eric and Karen Young
We would also like to thank those generous donors who wish to remain anonymous.
Musical Memories
Leave a gift to the RSNO and ensure future generations can create their own Musical Memories of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
We all have special Musical Memories. It could be learning to play an instrument when you were a child, or a special piece of music that just left you breathless the first time you heard the Orchestra play it. Maybe it was seeing a soloist you had always wanted to hear, or just a great concert shared with friends. Memories such as these make music such an important part of our lives.
As a charity, our work relies on donations from our supporters and friends – whether performing world-class music on stage or engaging with children across Scotland in our National Schools Concert Programme – and we need your continued support.
By remembering the RSNO in your Will, you can help us share the joy of music with future generations and allow your passion for the Orchestra to live on.
It is easy to leave a gift. After you have made provisions for family and friends, please think of the Orchestra.
Your gift is important to us and to everyone in Scotland who enjoys music. Contact your solicitor to draft a will or add a codicil to your current will.
If your estate is subject to inheritance tax, a gift to a charity, such as the RSNO, is tax-free and will reduce the amount of tax payable to the Government. Please ask your solicitor for details.
For more information please visit rsno.org.uk/memories
If you would like to discuss this further, please contact Polly Lightbody, Individual Giving and Partnerships Officer, in the strictest confidence, at polly.lightbody@rsno.org.uk
To the many among you who have pledged to leave a gift already – thank you.
Charitable Trusts and Foundations
Charitable trusts and foundations have a distinguished history of supporting the RSNO, both on and off stage. From one-off donations for specific projects to multi-year funding for our flagship outreach initiatives, including the National Schools Concert Programme and Young Creatives, every grant in support of our work is truly appreciated. We are grateful to the following trusts and foundations for their generosity:
Aberdeen Endowments Trust
ABO Sirens Fund
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Alexander Moncur Charitable Trust
Alma & Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust
Balgay Children’s Society
The Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation
Boshier-Hinton Foundation
Brownlie Charitable Trust
The Castansa Trust
CMS Charitable Trust
The Common Humanity Arts Trust
Cookie Matheson Charitable Trust
Cruden Foundation
The David and June Gordon Memorial Trust
Dr Guthrie’s Association
The Dunclay Charitable Trust
The Educational Institute of Scotland
The Ettrick Charitable Trust
Fidelio Charitable Trust
Forteviot Charitable Trust
The Gaelic Language Promotion Trust
The Gannochy Trust
Garrick Charitable Trust
The Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust
Harbinson Charitable Trust
Hobart Charitable Trust
Hope Scott Trust
The Hugh Fraser Foundation
Idlewild Trust
James Wood Bequest Fund
Jean & Roger Miller’s Charitable Trust
Jennie S Gordon Memorial Foundation
Mrs J Y Nelson Charitable Trust
Miss Jean R Stirrat’s Charitable Trust
The Music Reprieval Trust
N Smith Charitable Settlement
Nancie Massey Charitable Trust
New Park Educational Trust
The Noël Coward Foundation
Northwood Charitable Trust
The Nugee Foundation
P F Charitable Trust
Pear Tree Fund for Music
The PRS Foundation
Pump House Trust
Q Charitable Trust
The R J Larg Family Trust
The Ronald Miller Foundation
The Rowena Alison Goffin Charitable Trust
The Scops Arts Trust
Scott-Davidson Charitable Trust
Scottish Enterprise
The Solti Foundation
Souter Charitable Trust
Stanley Morrison Trust
The Steel Charitable Trust
Stevenston Charitable Trust
Sylvia Aitken’s Charitable Trust
Tay Charitable Trust
Thomson Charitable Trust
Tillyloss Trust
Vaughan Williams Foundation
Verden Sykes Trust
W A Cargill Fund
W M Sword Charitable Trust
Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust
John Mather Charitable Trust
John Scott Trust Fund
JTH Charitable Trust
Leach Family Charitable Trust
Leng Charitable Trust
Lethendy Charitable Trust
Marchus Trust
Mary Janet King Fund (FS Small Grants)
McGlashan Charitable Trust
MEB Charitable Trust
The Meikle Foundation
Mickel Fund
Miss E C Hendry Charitable Trust
Walter Scott Giving Group
The Wavendon Foundation
The W M Mann Foundation
W M Sword Charitable Trust
The Zich Trust
We are also grateful to a number of trusts that wish to stay anonymous.
If you would like more information about our work and how you can make a difference, please contact Kirsten Reid, Head of Development (Trusts and Projects), at kirsten.reid@rsno.org.uk
A big Thank You to our supporters
FUNDERS
CORPORATE SUPPORTERS
PRINCIPAL MEDIA PARTNER
PRINCIPAL TRANSPORT PARTNER
CHARITY PARTNER
BROADCAST PARTNER
PARTNERS
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce • Institute of Directors • Scots Magazine The Scottish Council for Development & Industry • Smart Graphics
PROJECT PARTNERS
Alzheimer Scotland • Black Lives in Music • Children’s Hospice Association • Children’s Classic Concerts • Classic FM • Douglas Academy Dunedin Consort • Education Scotland • Gig Buddies • Goethe-Institut Glasgow • Hebrides Ensemble • Luminate Music Education Partner Group • ParentZone • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland • Scottish Book Trust • Scottish Refugee Council
Sistema Scotland • St Mary’s Music School • Starcatchers • Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust • The Scottish Wildlife Trust University of Edinburgh • V&A Dundee • Visible Fictions
CHAIR SPONSORS
If you would like more information about sponsorships, corporate partnerships or fundraising events with the RSNO, please contact Constance Fraser, Head of Development (Individuals and Partnerships), at constance.fraser@rsno.org.uk
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
PATRON
His Majesty The King
RSNO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Elected Directors
Gregor Stewart CHAIR
Gail Blain
HONORARY TREASURER
Ruth Binks
Kayla-Megan Burns
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Alistair Mackie
Charlotte Jennings
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT (MATERNITY LEAVE COVER)
Nicola Kelman
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT (MATERNITY LEAVE)
CONCERTS
Graham Bell
PLANNING OFFICER
Megan Bousfield
LIBRARY ASSISTANT
Dylan Findlay
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Ashley Holland
STAGE MANAGER
Emma Hunter
DEPUTY ORCHESTRA MANAGER
Ewen McKay
HEAD OF ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
Richard Payne
LIBRARIAN
Tammo Schuelke
HEAD OF PLANNING
Craig Swindells
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
Matthias Van Der Swaagh
ASSISTANT ORCHESTRA MANAGER
Xander van Vliet
PLANNING MANAGER
Christine Walker
CHORUS MANAGER
LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT
Andrew Stevenson
DIRECTOR OF ENGAGEMENT
Anna Crawford
ENGAGEMENT DELIVERY MANAGER
Ken Hay
Kat Heathcote
Don Macleod
David Robinson
John Stewart
David Strachan
Cllr Edward Thornley
NOMINATED DIRECTOR
Julia Miller
COMPANY SECRETARY
Player Directors
Katherine Bryan
Christopher Hart
David Hubbard
Sophie Lang
David McClenaghan
Lorna Rough
RSNO COUNCIL
Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale CHAIR
Ms Ruth Wishart
Rosie Kenneally
CREATIVE PRODUCER FOR LEARNING (MATERNITY LEAVE)
Maisie Leddy
ENGAGEMENT PRODUCER
Lois McColl
ENGAGEMENT PROJECT ASSISTANT
Rachel Naismith
ENGAGEMENT PRODUCER
Chiko Parkinson
COMMUNITY SINGING ASSISTANT SUPPORTED BY SCOTRAIL
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Dr Jane Donald
DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Lisa Ballantyne
PARTNERSHIPS OFFICER
Ian Brooke
PROGRAMMES EDITOR
Fred Bruce
TRUSTS AND PROJECTS ADMINISTRATOR
Clara Cowen
MARKETING MANAGER
Seonaid Eadie
EXTERNAL RELATIONS OFFICER
Carol Fleming
HEAD OF MARKETING
Constance Fraser
HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT (INDIVIDUALS AND PARTNERSHIPS)
Katie Kean
COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING OFFICER
Niamh Kelly
TRUSTS AND PROJECTS COORDINATOR
Polly Lightbody
INDIVIDUAL GIVING AND PARTNERSHIPS OFFICER
Graham Ramage
GRAPHICS DESIGNER
Kirsten Reid
HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT (TRUSTS AND PROJECTS)
YOUTH ASSEMBLY
George Hillier
Amy McColl
Hazel Sharp
Ailsa Smith
Jessica Smith
Penny Snell
Rachel Sunter
Ailsa Thompson
Danny Urquhart
Sam Stone
INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER
Ross Williamson
VIDEO PRODUCER (MARKETING)
FINANCE AND CORPORATE SERVICES
Angela Moreland
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Keilidh Bradley
GRADUATE ANIMATOR
Phoebe Connolly
FINANCE ASSISTANT
Abby Dennison
FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR
Ted Howie
FACILITIES COORDINATOR
Lorimer Macandrew
VIDEO PRODUCER
Sam McErlean
ASSISTANT SOUND ENGINEER
Calum Mitchell
ASSISTANT VIDEO PRODUCER
Hedd Morfett-Jones
DIGITAL MANAGER
Susan Rennie
HEAD OF FINANCE
Gabriel Smith
SOUND ENGINEERING PLACEMENT
Jade Wilson
FINANCE ASSISTANT
Royal Scottish National Orchestra 19 Killermont Street
