Work Experience with Learning and Engagement

The RSNO are dedicated to introducing young people to music beyond the realms of the concert hall. The Learning and Engagement department welcome work experience students to learn about how music is programmed within schools and local communities, as well as extended as a facility for learning new skills and providing a creative outlet.

Earlier this month, Guy Sutherland age 14 from Shawlands Academy joined the Learning and Engagement office for a four-day work experience placement. He shared his thoughts in the diary, below. Find out more about the Learning and Engagement department, here. 

Day 1: Monday 9 September

Over the past two days I have been at the RSNO for work experience. I have done many different things using many of my skills. I have been on the phone a lot, phoning registrars around the country and asking about the RSNO ASTAR CD, which was given to babies throughout Scotland in 2012. It was very enjoyable and gave me a great taste of what working within an Learning and Education department would be like. Later on, my supervisor and I went to a samba workshop at a different school which was very enjoyable. I met loads of different children doing the workshop and had a chance to learn more about the music and the way it is created.

Day 2: Tuesday 10 September

On my second day, I started out by making a survey on Survey Monkey about a workshop the members of the Orchestra had taken part in. It was successful, and has been sent round everyone in the Orchestra. Then I was given a spreadsheet that was to be checked and corrected for the holidays and in-service days around Scottish schools. After this, I was given the task of phoning different high schools in and around Inverness about a free coaching session on selected instruments at Eden Court. My first two days have been very successful!

Day 3: Wednesday 11 September

On my third day I started by listening to the Orchestra rehearse and then I rearranged all the RSNO’s concert guides since 1882 to 19-something which took quite a long time, but was satisfying when completed. After that I sorted out all the dates for the Scottish school holidays, in-service days and days they are in school which took very long also. But by the end of the third day I am very tired but I am enjoying myself at the RSNO.

Day 4: Thursday 12 September

On my fourth day, I finished phoning all the schools in Inverness to ask about free coaching sessions. It has greatly boosted my people skills and it has also increased my confidence massively. I helped the Library department by listing all the people who are going away at the weekend with the Junior Chorus. Then I stapled all of the music together which was fun. Tomorrow I go to Inverness which I am really looking forward to!  

Monster Music's Teddy Bears' Picnic

On 17 & 18 Apr 2013, Monster Music hosted a Teddy Bears' Picnic at Henry Wood Hall.  Families and children were invited to join presenter and actor Claire Knight, alongside a special 'guest appearance' from a giant bear (well, it was a Teddy Bears' Picnic), to sing and dance along in an informal setting, with live musical accompaniment of the RSNO. 

The concert proved to be a huge success, and received a 5* review in The Herald Scotland, which you can read here.

Henry Wood Hall

The Orchestra in action

Presenter, Claire Knight, and the RSNO's Burra bear, Yunson

See the rest of the photographs from the concerts on the RSNO Pinterest board, here.

Don't forget to keep up to date with everything that's going on in RSNO Engage section of the website, Liking us on Facebook and Following us on Twitter.

RSNO Engage has launched!

These are extremely exciting times for the RSNO, as the organisation continues to move from strength to strength.  We've had a more than successful 2012:13 Season,  with Peter Oundjian joining us for a second Season as Musical Director for 2013:14. 

On Thursday 6th June, the RSNO launched its new Learning and Education programme, RSNO Engage.  

The launch will lead to an overhaul of its schools concerts, a new programme to support young musicians starting their professional music careers, a nationwide RSNO Young Ambassadors initiative, a Highlands residency in 2014, development of a long-term relationship with young musicians in Perth and a pilot interactive music initiative for 0-2 year olds in Aberdeen. Share your thoughts on Twitter @RSNO #RSNOEngage. 

Read the full press release on the RSNO website here. 

View more photos on our dedicated 'RSNO Engage' Pinterest board here. 

The Story of Vadim's Violin

 
Picture the scene... It's 1878 and the 38-year old Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is taking a break in Clarens, Switzerland. He is working on a Violin Concerto with his composition pupil Iosif Kotek. Four years previously in 1874, Tchaikovsky had witnessed a performance in Moscow by violinist Leopold Auer (who had championed Tchaikovsky's symphonic works when he was still a little-known composer) and went on to praise Leopold Auer's "great expressivity, the thoughtful finesse and poetry of the interpretation."
 
Leopold Auer played a 1689 Stradivarius violin; one of the best violins in the world. The sound created by this violin and this violinist must have stuck in Tchaikovsky's mind as he went on to dedicate his Sérénade mélancolique to him a year later.

It is perhaps then little surprise that when it came to dedicating his first (and only) violin concerto that Leopold Auer and his Stradivarius would again spring to Tchaikovsky's mind as his preferred soloist for its premiere, and also its dedication.

The date for the premiere was set for March 1879. However Auer refused and the concert had to be cancelled and a new soloist found.

Initially it was reported that Auer thought the work was "unplayable", but sources now suggest Auer thought that "some of the passages were suited to the character of the instrument, and that, however perfectly rendered, they would not sound as well as the composer had imagined."

Over two and a half years passed and the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto was eventually given by Adolf Brodsky in Vienna on 4 December 1881. A second edition was published and Tchaikovsky changed the dedication to Adolf Brodsky.

Fast forward 131 years, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is widely acknowledged to be among the most technically difficult works for violin. It has also become one of the best known and best loved of all violin concertos. And the "ex-Leopold Auer" Stradivarius has a new owner in Vadim Gluzman.

Over the next three nights Vadim Gluzman will join Music Director Peter Oundjian and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on stage to perform Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto on the instrument that was intended to give its premiere. So when you come along to our concerts in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow this weekend and marvel at the music you're hearing Vadim Gluzman play, just think: you're listening to the very same instrument that Tchaikovsky wrote it for!

Nicola Benedetti & Miloš Karadaglić winners at Classic Brit Awards 2012

The Classic Brit Awards 2012 took place on Tuesday night and we are delighted to tell you that Nicola Benedetti and Miloš Karadaglić, who both feature as soloists in the RSNO's 2012:13 Season, won awards.

 

All of us at the RSNO would like to offer both Nicola and Miloš our congratulations.

Nicola Benedetti picked up Female Artist of the Year, whilst Miloš Karadaglić was named as MasterCard’s Breakthrough Artist Of The Year.

Miloš Karadaglić will join conductor Gilbert Varga and the RSNO for a performance of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez atAberdeen's Music Hall on Thursday 11 April 2012, Edinburgh's Usher Hall on Friday 12 April 2013, and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 13 April 2013.

Nicola Benedetti will join Music Director Peter Oundjian and the RSNO for a performance of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending and Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo capriccioso for our Season Finale in Edinburgh's Usher Hall on Friday 31 May 2013 and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 1 June 2013.

Don't miss your chance to catch these award-winning soloists in concert!

Check out the videos below featuring Classic FM's Jamie Crick interviewing Nicola and Miloš on the red carpet following the Classic Brit Awards 2012 ceremony. 

RSNO surprise Glasgow Airport passengers with live orchestral performance

Scotland’s national orchestra gave a rousing performance at Glasgow Airport as thousands of passengers prepared to take to the skies for the September holiday weekend.

Led by Scottish conductor Douglas Boyd, 70 Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) musicians gave two performances in the departures lounge, featuring Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. 

After the airport performance the musicians travelled to London, where they were the host orchestra for a special Classic FM Live gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall, celebrating the radio station’s 20th birthday.

Last year the Orchestra surprised travellers and airport staff in the check-in area with an impromptu rendition of Ravel’s Boléro, an online video of which has been viewed around the world.
The RSNO performance was the culmination of Glasgow Airport’s six week Best of Scotland campaign which has celebrated the best of Scottish food, drink, culture and entertainment.
Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said:

"We are always looking for ways to entertain our passengers but it doesn’t get more exciting than having Scotland’s national orchestra perform live in the terminal building. Joining forces with the RSNO for this unique event was a fantastic way to round off our Best of Scotland campaign which has proved hugely successful. In addition to celebrating everything that is great about Scottish culture, the various events over the last six weeks have created a real buzz and sense of theatre in the airport. The campaign was also an opportunity to highlight the improvements we have been making to the airport over the course of the past 18 months, during which time we have invested millions of pounds in enhancing our facilities to deliver an improved service to our customers."

RSNO chief executive Michael Elliott said:

"In recent years the RSNO has developed a reputation for taking live orchestral music out of the concert venue and into public spaces. It never fails to surprise me how much of an impact our music can have, especially when performed in unexpected surroundings. It’s extremely gratifying to see people new to live orchestral music enjoy the experience with so much enthusiasm. Our thanks go to Glasgow Airport for allowing us to present these performances." 

More than one million passengers passed through the airport during the Best of Scotland campaign, which has showcased some of the country’s most iconic brands and successful exports including Irn Bru, Tunnocks, Mackie’s ice cream and Harris Tweed. 

The RSNO performance was one of a series of musical, theatrical and comedic events which have helped to create a carnival atmosphere in the terminal during one of the busiest periods of the year.
Watch the video from the RSNO YouTube channel, here:

Katy Returns to Shetland – Part 4

Associate Principal Oboe Katy MacKintosh continues her collaboration with Shetland musicians this weekend, following Orchestra’s successful visit to Shetland last March. She will perform two concerts with acclaimed Shetland musicians Maurice Henderson and Margaret Scollay, as well as her father, pianist Graeme MacKintosh. Katy sent us this blog.
 

Our Friday concert was some 30 miles from Lerwick, in Busta House – a 16th century Scottish mansion with a long, low-ceilinged drawing room. In this rather intimate setting, we felt a direct connection with the audience.
 

Our Saturday concert was in the glorious Boat Hall of Lerwick Museum and Archives, surrounded by Shetland history and culture, and alongside the last surviving sixareen – an open six-oared fishing boat which was once key to Shetland's deep sea fishing industry and is of poignant relevance to items in our programme. Behind us, through an impressive wall of glass, was the small boat harbour of Hay's Dock. In this setting Spondrift – our specially written music interspersed with poetry and prose of the sea – could hardly fail to make its mark, and it was clear from the faces of the audience that they were following us closely. Long and enthusiastic applause confirmed the success of the project, and we retired to The Lounge, where fiddles and guitar (taken down from pegs on the wall) and oboe and piano entertained the Saturday night drinkers with foot stompin' reels until well after midnight. Despite this, I am pleased to report that I was up early on Sunday for a two hour run on the hills (others will confirm), before setting off at 09:45 for our flight back to Edinburgh.
 

We were very sorry to leave. Shetland is a special place, suffused with music, and it is in the nature of the people to keep their music very much alive.