The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, led by Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Manze, plays Bartók's 'Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta'.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra are at The Queen's Hall on Thursday 3 December, with Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste on the programme. It's part of their 2026/27 season, and this particular night is led by Maxim Emelyanychev.
If you're not familiar with the piece, Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste is a bit of a beast. It's a full-orchestra work, but it's built from a very specific set of ingredients: strings, percussion, and the celeste — that bell-like keyboard that gives the whole thing its distinctive, shimmering edge. It's a piece that sits right on the line between the classical tradition and the more angular, rhythmic world Bartók carved out for himself, and it's one of those works that sounds best when you can hear the individual sections working against each other.
Emelyanychev is taking the baton here, and the SCO are playing it in their home city. The venue is The Queen's Hall, 85-89 Clerk Street, EH8 9JG — a 900-capacity hall that opened in 1823 as Hope Park Chapel before it was converted into a concert hall in 1979 and formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 6 July that year. It's a space that handles everything from string quartets to full touring rock bands, and it's where the SCO spend a good deal of their time.
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This concert is one stop in a wider season. The SCO's 2026/27 New Dimensions series, led by Principal Guest Conductor Andrew Manze, traces the evolution of the symphony through the Classical era, so this Bartók programme sits alongside a broader look at how the orchestral sound has shifted over the centuries. The concert starts at 7:30pm on Thursday 3 December at The Queen's Hall.
