Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Welcome to the SCO. We have been inspiring audiences and connecting with communities since 1974, delivering diverse programmes that are open to all. Embrace the classics, discover exciting new music, and create beautiful musical memories with us!
Coming up
![Anthony Marwood headshot. He looks to the right with a violin in hand. He wears a blue shirt and black blazer.]()
Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto
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Matinee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Anthony Marwood takes the reins in Coleridge-Taylor’s sublime Concerto.![Lawrence Power smiles with a viola. He wears a black blazer.]()
Borealis
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New Dimensions
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Discover new sounds from Nordic nations and from closer to home, as Europe’s exciting celebration of contemporary music comes to Scotland.![monochrome images. Eric Lu side profile, he wears a white shirt and black blazer. Ryan Bancorft wears a jumper and is writing notes and facing the camera.]()
Grieg Piano Concerto
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Edinburgh
Glasgow
Aberdeen
Eric Lu brings power to the luscious Nordic melodies of Grieg’s Piano Concerto.![Andrew Manze, conducting with the baton raised high, against a vibrant background with bright and dark green tones.]()
Mozart Flute Concerto
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Edinburgh
Glasgow
St Andrews
Mozart’s elegant Concerto forms the centrepiece to this rich concert.![A dark background with bright green and red shapes, featuring two cartoon-like drawings of horns.]()
From Scotland to Persia
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Matinee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
SCO Wind Soloists are joined by exceptional players from RCS.![Against a dark, starry night sky with a large bright star on the left, two silhouettes of faces with mouths opened are tilted up as if singing to the star.]()
Bach's Christmas Oratorio
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Choral
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Celebrate the coming festivities with one of music’s most uplifting seasonal creations.![Violinist Aylen Pritchin stands holding his instrument, looking to the left with a smile on his face, against a dark background with bright red and green shapes.]()
Prokofiev & Brahms
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Edinburgh
Glasgow
Aberdeen
Prokofiev’s darkly lyrical Violin Concerto No 2 is the ideal musical match for the exceptional violinist Aylen Pritchin and conductor Maxim.![SCO clarinettists William Stafford, holding his clarinet and smiling, and Maximiliano Martín, playing the clarinet, are set against a dark background surrounded by bright red shapes.]()
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
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Edinburgh
Glasgow
St Andrews
Maxim Emelyanychev surrounds one of Mozart’s most-loved pieces with rarities created around the same time by Haydn, Krommer and Wranitzky.![A bright green background with light white stars, featuring a cartoon drawing of a church with an illuminated window and a bright star.]()
Silent Night
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Choral
Edinburgh
Join the luminous voices of the SCO Chorus in the intimate setting of Greyfriars Kirk for a much-loved Edinburgh musical tradition.![A cartoon drawing of a champagne bottle with the cork popping out alongside confetti, with a chandelier hanging above, set against a dark green and bright red background.]()
New Year Gala
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1 Matinee
Edinburgh
Ayr
Dumfries
Celebrate the New Year in style with musical glitz and glamour – from both sides of the Atlantic.
5 Latest videos
24/25 Season Outline
8:32
Supporting the SCO
2:37
Principal Guest Conductor
3:09
The Great Grumpy Gaboon 2024
0:47
Making of The Gaboon
2:08
Latest news
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Why is there so little classical Christmas music?
28 October 2024
Where are all the Christmas classics from the great composers?![Three men, dressed formally: one Victorian, with a short grey beard, one young and clean-shaven, in sepia, the last (in a painting) with a long grey beard and glasses]()
The lure of the exotic: northern Africa in classical music
21 October 2024
How does the west's fascination with the wider Arab world come across in music? We look at a few examples ...![A historic photograph of Samuel Taylor-Coleridge sitting in a chair, wearing a suit.]()
Digital Season: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Novelletten
17 October 2024
Read the programme note for our online performance of Coleridge-Taylor's Novelletten Nos 1 & 3.![André Cebrián and Marta Gómez play the flute sitting in the SCO desks]()
The flute concerto
14 October 2024
In the third installment of our series looking at the concerto, it's the turn of the SCO flautists to recommend their favourites.![Three Swedish composers: Bellman (in the middle, in 18th century dress) is playing the cittern, with formal photographs of Berwald to his left and Atterberg to his right]()
Not just Eurovision: an introduction to Swedish music
7 October 2024
Wherein we challenge you to think past 'Waterloo' and 'Mamma mia' ...![]()
Ryan Bancroft: "a conversation with the leader of a Finnish orchestra changed how I heard Sibelius"
30 September 2024
We speak to conductor Ryan Bancroft about music from (his not quite native) Scotland and Scandinavia.![Max Mandel plays the viola, concentrating hard on the sheet music. He wears a black suit and tie.]()
The viola concerto
23 September 2024
Our examination of the concerto continues with the viola, whose potential as a solo instrument was long unrecognised.![Three pictures: a man leans forward, his elbows on some sheet music; a man with a large belly, wearing a black carnival mask; a caricature sketch of a man in a wig]()
Pulcinella and the dangers of (mis)attribution
16 September 2024
Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella is based on music by Pergolesi. Or is it?![Two Black men (the first an 18th century gentleman, the second in a formal Edwardian suit) and a black woman in profile]()
The first Black composers
9 September 2024
To celebrate Black History Month, we look at the early history of Black composers, from Joseph Boulogne to Samuel Taylor-Coleridge.![Three women: one in a high wig and flowers in her hair, another sitting in profile, and (in a drawing) standing in a group as part of a stage production]()
Mozart and the Weber sisters
2 September 2024
We look at Mozart's close relationship with the children of the Weber family.
