91Èȱ¬

It was on the 2 December 1935 that the 91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra switched on the red light for its inaugural broadcast, beginning the history of one of Europe's leading orchestras. On the 8 October, under the baton of Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles, the orchestra launches its 75th Birthday Season at the Music Hall in Aberdeen, with a concert exploring the unbridled passion of Beethoven, Mozart and Berlioz.

The centrepiece of the concert is Beethoven's 'Erocia' Symphony, a work with a colossal energy conceived on a colossal scale. Finished in 1804, Eroica was by far the biggest symphony ever composed up to this time and was originally written as a tribute to Napoleon. But disillusioned by Napoleon's megalomania, Beethoven famously retracted the dedication, though the music still endures as a universal homage to the noblest aspirations of man, with the power to overawe the listener through the intensity of its drama.

The soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No.18 is a multi-award winning young performer and one of the leading pianists on the international stage, Sofya Gulyak. This brilliant young Russian became the first female winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2009, one the highest profile music contests in the world. The 91Èȱ¬ SSO and Runnicles open the concert with Berlioz's sparkling overture to his opera Béatrice and Bénédict, based on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Maestro Runnicles opens and closes this anniversary series which features a roster of star soloists that could hardly be bettered – Scots piano virtuoso Steven Osborne, cellists Lynn Harrell and Johannes Moser, and star violinist Daniel Hope. Visiting conductors include Ilan Volkov, well known to the Aberdeen audience as the 91Èȱ¬ SS'’s Principal Guest Conductor, and popular guests Vassily Sinaisky and Andrew Litton.

When it was formed in 1935, the "91Èȱ¬ Scottish" was Scotland's first full-time orchestra, albeit a modest studio band of just 35 players. The 91Èȱ¬ SSO now comprises 76 full-time players and is regarded as one of the cornerstones of Scottish cultural life. It has gradually emerged from the studio over the past four decades, wining a string of major awards, including the Royal Philharmonic Award for Best Orchestra, the only Scottish Orchestra ever to do so.

Though it performs to large and enthusiastic audiences all over Scotland, broadcasting is still, of course, its primary duty and virtually all of its performances are heard on the 91Èȱ¬â€™s radio and television services.

Notes to Editors

91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra

The Music Hall, Aberdeen – Friday 8 October, 7.30pm
Berlioz Overture: Béatrice et Bénédict
Mozart Piano Concerto No.18 in B flat, K.456
Beethoven Symphony No.3 'Eroica'

Sofya Gulyak, piano Donald Runnicles, conductor

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Donald Runnicles

Edinburgh-born Donald Runnicles is Chief Conductor of the 91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra, having taken up the post in September last year. The appointment is his first chief artistic post of a symphony orchestra. He also holds concurrent positions as General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, Wyoming, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He first worked with the 91Èȱ¬ SSO in 2001 for a performance of Berlioz's The Trojans at the Edinburgh International Festival, and has since appeared with the orchestra virtually every summer at either the Edinburgh International Festival or the 91Èȱ¬ Proms.

He began his conducting career in Mannheim, and was an assistant in Bayreuth during the Eighties before making his American debut in 1988, conducting Berg's Lulu at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. From 1989 to 1993 he was General Music Director of the City of Freiburg. In 1990, following two Ring cycles for San Francisco Opera, he was invited to become its Music Director, a post he held for 17 seasons, during which time he led more than 65 other operas, amongst them the 2005 world premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic, and the American premiere of Messiaen's St. Francis of Assisi. He has frequently conducted at the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals, and on many of the world's leading opera stages including the Metropolitan, Vienna, La Scala Milan, Paris, Glyndebourne, and Munich. In concert he appears regularly with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia, and London Symphony orchestras.

Donald Runnicles was awarded the OBE in 2004 and holds an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh.

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Sofya Gulyak

In September last year, Sofya Gulyak was awarded First Prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Sixteenth Leeds International Piano Competition – the first woman to have achieved this distinction in the competition's history. She has also won prizes at a number of other prestigious piano competitions, including First Prize at the William Kapell in the USA, the Maj Lind in Helsinki, the Tivoli in Copenhagen, the Gyeongnam in South Korea, and the San Marino in Italy. She is a native of Kazan (Russia) where she studied in a Special Music College, and then at the Kazan State Conservatoire. She also studied and graduated with the highest distinction from the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot. She continued her studies in Italy and at the Royal College of Music in London.

Sofya Gulyak's solo recitals and concert appearances have been numerous, with performances in various cities in Russia, throughout Europe, in Brazil, the USA, Japan, and South Korea. She has appeared as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Rio de Janeiro Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, Bucharest Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Copenhagen Symphony, Orchestre National de France, and the Baltimore Symphony. Future highlights include appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rome Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Philippines Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a tour with Hallé, a tour of Asia, recitals in Copenhagen's Tivoli Concert Hall, Kennedy Center Washington, as well as the Harrogate Festival, the Busoni Piano Festival in Bolzano Italy, and the Krakow Piano Festival.

Sofya Gulyak makes her 91Èȱ¬ SSO debut at this concert.

The 91Èȱ¬ Scottish Symphony Orchestra is recognised as one of the UK's leading orchestras. The winner of several awards, including a Royal Philharmonic Society Award and four Gramophone Awards, its wide repertoire and flexible approach means it can perform complex contemporary pieces alongside major symphonic works.

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