Royal Scottish National Orchestra

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The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra . The Glasgow- based orchestra has 89 musicians who also perform regularly in Edinburgh , Aberdeen , Dundee and abroad.

history

The ensemble, founded in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra , has performed continuously since 1950 and was placed under royal patronage in 1991. For a short time it was called the Royal Scottish Orchestra before changing its name to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra .

Under its first Scottish-born and long-serving conductor, Sir Alexander Gibson , the orchestra began to develop an international profile. In keeping with Gibson's own specialty, the orchestra became known for its interpretations of Scandinavian composers, particularly Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen . This direction solidified under the direction of Neeme Järvi , who also led the orchestra through its first complete Gustav Mahler cycle. Bryden Thomson , the second Scotsman to conduct the orchestra, maintained a bond with Nordic music, including a cycle of performances of Nielsen's symphonies and the recording of Nielsen's fourth and sixth symphonies, which are considered to be among the best in the world.

The RSNO usually plays in the Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow, where the recordings are made. However, the orchestra sees it as a special obligation to perform throughout Scotland, with particular visits to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall , Usher Hall, Edinburgh (temporarily Edinburgh Festival Theater ), Dundee Caird Hall , Aberdeen Music Hall , Perth Concert Hall and Eden Court Inverness regularly.

The orchestra had a long-term exploitation contract with Chandos Records in the 1980s and 1990s , which was recently renewed. Today it mostly records for Naxos Records , including a symphony cycle by Anton Bruckner under the direction of Georg Tintner , symphony cycles by Arnold Bax with David Lloyd-Jones and some recordings of American compositions (including the complete orchestral works of Samuel Barber ) under the direction of Marin Alsop . In May 2007 the first recording was released under Stéphane Denève. This first part of a complete cycle of all works by Albert Roussel for orchestra was eagerly awaited in advance and won the Diapason d'Or de l'année for symphonic music in November . The second CD in the cycle was released in 2008 to great critical acclaim.

The orchestra is supported by the RSNO Choir, which was founded in 1843 to sing the first complete performance of Handel's Messiah in Scotland in April 1844. The choir not only performs together with the orchestra, but also goes on tour abroad independently. Timothy Dean has been the choirmaster since 2006.

The artistic direction of the RSNO was led by music director Stéphane Denève and assistant conductor David Danzmayr with Simon Woods as managing director. Denève took office in 2005 and continued to do so until 2012. He was followed by Peter Oundjian.

In April 2007 the orchestra was designated as one of five Scottish ensembles directly supported by the Scottish Government (previously the orchestra was supported by the Scottish Arts Council ).

Conductors

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Phil Miller: RSNO to retain music director and receive £ 750,000 from executive . In: The Herald . April 19, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved on May 21, 2007.
  2. ^ National performing companies get official status . Scottish Government. April 29, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2008.

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