Royal Scottish National Orchestra

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• Visit the RSNO website

The RSNO, Classic FM’s Orchestra in Scotland, is one of Europe’s leading symphony orchestras. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1991.

A host of renowned conductors has contributed to its success, including Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Bryden Thomson, Neeme Jarvi, Walter Weller, and  Alexander Lazarev.  Stéphane Denève became Music Director in September 2005, and this partnership has enjoyed overwhelming acclaim.  In July 2007 Stéphane Denève was joined by Austrian David Danzmayr as RSNO Assistant Conductor.

RSNO on Tour

The RSNO performs across Scotland, including seasons in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness.  It recently toured Europe including its most recent visit that involved six concerts in seven days, playing Baden-Baden, Luxembourg, Paris, Munich, Vienna and Belgrade.  The Orchestra performed at some of Europe’s most important concert venues, including a concert at the world famous Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in front of over 2000 people, including Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, MP, MSP.  Preceding the tour, the RSNO together with the RSNO Chorus and Junior Chorus - made their début at the historic Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the first time the Orchestra and both choruses had performed abroad together.

The Orchestra played at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in October 2004, and appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC London Proms.

RSNO Recordings

The RSNO has a world-wide reputation for the quality of its recordings. Over 200 releases are available, including: the complete symphonies of Sibelius (Sir Alexander Gibson), Dvorák and Prokofiev (Neeme Jarvi), Nielsen and Martinu (Bryden Thomson) and Bax (David Lloyd-Jones); a complete cycle of Barber's orchestral works (Marin Alsop); and film soundtracks such as Vertigo, Star Wars, Titanic, The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape.

More recently, the RSNO has worked with Scottish folk/pop singer Eddi Reader on an album of Robert Burns' songs, and has recorded four Glazunov symphonies, the complete score of Shostakovich's ballet The Golden Age (Serebrier) and also his Symphony No11 (Alexander Lazarev). The RSNO's 2002 recording of Holst's The Planets (Lloyd-Jones) has rapidly become one of the biggest-selling classical repertoire recordings of the last decade.

In 2007 the RSNO made its first recording under Stéphane Denève - the initial instalment of a complete cycle of Roussel's major orchestral works - receiving the coveted award, the Diapason d'Or of the year for Symphonic Music. Subsequent recordings in the series have enjoyed widespread acclaim.

February 2010 saw the release of contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson’s Cosmic Trilogy and Piano Concerto on the Chandos label, recently chosen as Disc of the Month by the French magazine Classica/Le Monde de la Musique. Read more about the recording in the RSNO Blog

Latest News

May 2010 - 28 year-old Danish conductor Christian Kluxen has been appointed Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s (RSNO) Assistant Conductor. As RSNO Assistant Conductor, Christian Kluxen will conduct a variety of the Orchestra’s concerts, and will also play an active role in engaging audiences and communities throughout Scotland.

Listen to conductor Jeff Tyzick in conversation with Bob Jones on Arts Daily. He talks about the RSNO's forthcoming Summer Pops series.

Hear Dame Evelyn Glennie talk about her forthcoming performance with the RSNO as part of the Summer Pops series.