The Scottish Chamber Orchestra makes a welcome return to Eden Court Theatre on Sunday 8 May, with a concert featuring the music of works by Brahms, Haydn, Wolf and Mendelssohn.

Popular guest conductor Olari Elts directs the performance which opens with Brahms’ Variations on a theme of Haydn from 1873. Brahms spent a significant time studying the musical styles and techniques of earlier music and, as well as this piece, wrote variations for solo piano on themes of Handel, Schumann and Paganini.

Acclaimed young French cellist, Jean-Guihen Queryras, makes his SCO debut performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major, a work which was lost for almost 200 years before its discovery and subsequent performance in Prague in the 1960s. Queryras’ own recording of the concerto was recently released on Harmonia Mundi to critical acclaim.

Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade was one of the Austrian composer’s rare works for string instruments and was later developed into the orchestral arrangement to be heard in this programme. It features a beautiful solo for viola, performed here by SCO Principal Viola Jane Atkins.

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4 ‘Italian’ brings the concert to a close. Premiered in London in 1833 in a performance conducted by the composer himself, it is a light-hearted and picturesque celebration of Italy.

A previous winner of the prestigious Sibelius Conductors’ Competition, Estonian-born Olari Elts has worked with some of the world’s leading ensembles and was the SCO’s Principal Guest Conductor from 2007-2010. He currently holds the same position with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

Jean-Guihen Queryras has established himself as one of the most versatile cellists of his generation and is in demand as both a chamber musician and solo performer throughout the world. He will be joined by SCO Principal Cello David Watkin in a pre-concert talk at 7.15pm, which is free to ticketholders.

Source: Scottish Chamber Orchestra