Perth Concert Hall’s newly launched autumn classical season presents an exciting mix of exclusive performances, carefully curated concert series, returning favourites and rarely performed gems.
BBC Proms at Perth
The season opens on Sunday 3 September with BBC Proms at Perth, a UK exclusive concert and the only Scottish date from the world’s greatest classical musical festival in 2023. Returning to play the piano he chose for the Hall, Perth Concert Hall favourite Steven Osborne is joined by the award-winning Heath Quartet in a chamber concert of Classical traditions and reinventions from Haydn, Tippett and Shostakovich.
Classical Stars
Perth Concert Hall’s own curated Classical Stars series of Scottish exclusive performances by stellar musicians returns on Wednesday 11 October with exhilarating young violinist Randall Goosby playing a feast of melodies from composers including Coleridge-Taylor, Dvořák and Richard Strauss. Globally renowned pianist Richard Goode applies his emotional intensity and intellectual rigour to a programme of Bach, Chopin and Fauré in an afternoon concert on Sunday 22 October. Celebrated Japanese-Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe demonstrates the variety of repertoire that makes him such a compelling artist from Scottish Lute Manuscripts to Poulenc, Mompou and Couperin on Wednesday 6 December. The Classical Stars series will continue into 2024 with further Scottish exclusive performances still to be announced.
Perth Concert Series
Perth Concert Hall continues its special relationship with Scotland’s national orchestras with the 2023/24 Perth Concert Series.
This year, the six-concert orchestra series from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra is enhanced by concerts from two outstanding international orchestras – the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.
The series opens with a birthday celebration on Wednesday 27 September as Maxim Emelyanychev opens the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 50th season. Powerful Russian American pianist Kirill Gerstein plays Tchaikovsky’s soaringly romantic First Piano Concerto, SCO Associate Composer Jay Capperauld unveils a specially written piece The Origin of Colour, and Beethoven’s majestic Eroica symphony brings the festivities to a rousing conclusion.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is joined by guest conductor Anja Bihlmaier, the young musicians of Big Noise Raploch and pianist Nelson Goerner on Thursday 9 November for a concert that includes Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony, Rachmaninov’s passionate Second Piano Concerto and Anna Clyne’s rollocking Stride.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra celebrates 20 years of music-making in Perth Concert Hall on Friday 26 January, with its charismatic Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov. The driving rhythms and fairground puppets of Stravinsky’s popular Petrushka are paired with the composer’s less familiar Scènes de ballet. And the energising, genre-busting British pianist Joanna MacGregor performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 9 in E flat; Jeunehomme.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra returns on Friday 23 February for Tchaikovsky’s roof-raising Fifth Symphony with conductor Tabita Berglund and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with soloist Truls Mørk.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s concert on Thursday 7 March is an all-French evening inspired by the sea. Conductor Thomas Søndergård and Scotland’s international award-winning mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison unleash floodtides of passion with works by Chausson, Ravel, and Bonis and concluding with Debussy’s fabulous La Mer.
Scotland’s international piano virtuoso Steven Osborne is just the musician to convey the wit and sparkle of Ravel’s Piano Concerto with Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Wednesday 24 April. Conductor Andrew Manze’s programme of poetry and playfulness continues with Ravel’s Pavane, Honegger’s Pastorale d’été and Haydn’s last Paris symphony.
Perth Concert Hall shows its support for the people of Ukraine by welcoming the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine to the Hall on Saturday 28 October. Part of an extensive UK tour to raise funds for its musicians, the programme of works by Ukrainian composter Lyatoshynsky, Beethoven and Sibelius promises a beautiful romantic evening to demonstrate international solidarity through music.
Young conductor DaYe Lin leads China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra through Tan Dun’s music from Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chausson’s gorgeous Poème and Mahler’s stunning first symphony in the company of violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and cellist Jiapeng Nie on Monday 18 March in a fantastic opportunity to hear a major orchestra from China.
In the first of this season’s special concerts, the period instrumentalists of Dunedin Consort join forces with players from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Friday 13 October for the Scottish premiere of Heiner Goebbels’s Songs of Wars I Have Seen. On a stage illuminated as a living room with tabletop and standard lamps and a score that mixes 17th century and contemporary music and readings from Gertrude Stein’s wartime diaries, this promises to be an unforgettable and emotional evening in the crystal-clear acoustics of the Hall.
The second special concert sees Scottish superstar violinist Nicola Benedetti take the lead as she discovers new depths in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Wednesday 13 December. Orchestra leader Benjamin Marquise Gilmore directs the orchestra in Mozart’s thrilling Symphony No 34 and Jessie Montgomery’s rhythmic and fiery Strum.
Brilliant British soprano Jennifer France brings her silvery vocal sparkle to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s Viennese New Year Concert on Thursday 4 January. Vibrant young Prague-born conductor Jiři Rožeň conducts a tempting selection of musical confections to get 2024 off on a celebratory note.
Lunchtime Concerts
Another specially curated Perth Concert Hall collection – the Lunchtime Concerts series serves up a mouthwatering mixture of rising stars and established names in an hourlong Monday midday treat.
The brilliant principal members of Scottish Ensemble launch the autumn series on Monday 11 September with Beethoven’s vibrant early B flat quartet, Dvořák’s American Quartet and contemporary quartets by Caroline Shaw and Jessie Montgomery. Leading period instrument ensemble, Consone String Quartet perform quartets by Spanish virtuoso violinist Arriaga, Beethoven’s pupil Czerny and Felix Mendelssohn on Monday 2 October. Bulgarian pianist Marina Staneva explores the connection between Chopin and Mompou on Monday 23 October, the Lark Trio play piano trios by Haydn and Schumann on Monday 27 November and rising accordion star Ryan Corbett brings his energy and charisma to a programme of Franck, Lohse and Trojan on Monday 11 December.
James Waters, Creative Director for Classical Music for Perth Concert Hall said:
“We are truly privileged to present artists of a standing which would grace any major international concert hall. From solo guitar to symphony orchestra and semi-staged music theatre, and from top level international stars to exciting new talent, our 23-24 season has it all. We couldn’t be more excited.”
For tickets and info for classical concerts in Perth Concert Hall visit perththeatreandconcerthall.com or call or visit the Perth Theatre Box Office on 01738 621031 (Mon – Sat 10:00 – 16:00).
Wednesday 30 August 2023