We are delighted to announce our 2024/25 Season, bringing a a diverse programme of concert experiences, varied collaborations, iconic classical works and premieres by some of today’s most exciting composers to audiences across Scotland.

Led by our extraordinary Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and newly-appointed Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Manze, the new Season covers an exceptionally wide range of music from the 17th century to the present day, taking in everything from the French Baroque to the contemporary Swedish scene, with plenty of little-known byways alongside well-loved classics.

Concerts with Maxim Emelyanychev and Andrew Manze

Maxim's performances in the new Season include concertos with a starry line-up of guest artists book-ended by Steven Isserlis and Nicola Benedetti, including his friend Aylen Pritchin, Yeol Eum Son and, making his SCO debut, oboist Ivan Podyomov (Principal Oboe of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra). He also returns with a new instalment of the ever-popular Baroque Inspirations and the warm wit of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

Andrew Manze will be conducting three concerts, starting with the launch of New Dimensions (our new contemporary music strand) before going on a programme combining Schoenberg and Mozart with the little-known Baroque composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, and finally Vaughan Williams and Fauré, with baritone Roderick Williams.

Guest artists

Among the other conductors joining the Orchestra in 2024/25, we have returning artists Mark Wigglesworth, Joana Carneiro, François Leleux and Ryan Bancroft, and, directing the SCO from the violin, Lorenza Borrani, Baroque specialist Rachel Podger and a residency with Pekka Kuusisto. There are also solo spots for many SCO Principals, from clarinettists Maximiliano Martín and William Stafford to bassist Nikita Naumov. We look forward also to welcoming a host of visiting artists: violist Lawrence Power and pianist Eric Lu among the instrumentalists and Lucy Crowe, Helen Charlston and Neal Davies among the vocal soloists.

SCO Chorus

The SCO Chorus also have a fine Season ahead, performing music by Mozart, Bach, Haydn and Fauré as well as their annual Christmas concerts at Greyfriars, without which no SCO Season would be complete; this includes the world premiere of a new arrangement of Gruber's Silent Night, by Lucy Walker. The Chorus return to Greyfriars in the spring for a special performance of MacMillan's Seven Last Words.

New music

There are a further six premieres in the 2024/25 Season, including two by SCO Associate Composer Jay Capperauld: Bruckner's Skull (examining this composer's fascination with Mozart and Schubert) and Carmina Gadelica for wind dectet. His musical adventure The Great Grumpy Gaboon, premiered to great acclaim in the 2023/24 Season, also returns for performances outside the central belt.

The late Péter Eötvös' Aurora, for double bass and strings with accordion, receives its UK premiere with SCO Principal Double Bass Nikita Naumov, and Lawrence Power joins the Orchestra for the Scottish premiere of Anders Hillborg's Viola Concerto. The same concert will also see the Scottish premiere of another Swedish work, Madeleine Isaksson's Flows, while later in the Season, we have another Scottish first in Symphony No 1 by Tsontne Zédginidze, the SCO's youngest-ever commissioned composer.

Creative Learning

Our dementia-friendly Tea Dance Concerts, offering a relaxed concert-going experience to people living with dementia, along with their friends, families and carers, return for four performances in the new Season, in Glasgow, Edinburgh and (for the first time) Dumfries and Stirling.

Soundbox, our artist development programme, gives the opportunity for three young music creators to work with SCO musicians, mentored by Jay Capperauld. Works by Emily Scott-Moncrief, Daniel Abrahams and naafi will be premiered at our Un:titled performances in Edinburgh and Glasgow.