SCO 26/27: La Voix Humaine

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra are back at The Queen's Hall on Thursday 18 March 2027, with soprano Carolyn Sampson taking the lead on Poulenc's La Voix humaine. It's a one-act opera that runs on a single, devastating telephone call—a woman on one end, her former lover on the other—and it's described as a piece of raw intensity and searing beauty that captures heartbreak and vulnerability in real time. Sampson is the one bringing it to life here.

That's the main event, but the night doesn't start there. The concert opens with Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, a delicate evocation of childhood wonder, followed by Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale Suite, a sharp, witty work born of wartime austerity and infused with jazz rhythms. Between the two, you've got the childhood nostalgia of Ravel and the lean, rhythmic edge of Stravinsky, which sets a wide enough stage for the emotional weight of the Poulenc to land.

Maxim Emelyanychev is conducting, and the whole thing is being presented by the SCO at their home venue. If you're not familiar with the hall, it's on Clerk Street in Edinburgh's Southside—built in 1823 as Hope Park Chapel and converted into a concert venue in 1979, when it was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. It's now the home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and one of the city's busiest stages, with a standing capacity of around 900 and more than 200 events a year across classical, jazz, blues, pop, rock, folk and comedy.

Tickets run from £45 down to £8, which includes a £2 per-transaction fee. The concert starts at 7:30pm.