Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Cl@six

Source: The List (Issue 587)
Date: 4 October 2007

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New season

Something different is on offer from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra this season as they embark upon a new series that makes concert-going incredibly easy. With a venue that could hardly be more central, a start time to coincide with the end of the working day and length of performance that still allows plenty of the evening left for a night on the town, CL@SIX is highly likely to appeal to new concert-goers as well as existing classical lovers who are up for a bit of change.

‘It’s a bit of an experiment for us and a way of accessing a different audience,’ says SCO Managing Director, Roy McEwan. ‘Possibly older folk who are not keen on being out late at night, but it’s also to attract the more occasional concert-goer who might not make one of our core season evening concerts.’

McEwan is especially pleased with St Cuthbert’s Church, at the foot of Edinburgh’s Lothian Road, as the venue for the CL@SIX series. ‘It’s big,’ he says, ‘but has a good acoustic and is close to the business district of the city. We hope to attract people who work in town who want to avoid travelling home in the rush hour and spend an hour listening to music instead.’

The Tuesday concerts feature two performances with the full orchestra of 37 players, one each by SCO Winds and SCO Strings and the final one from the award-winning SCO Chorus.

‘The repertoire is essentially easy for a non-regular classical concert-goer but also attractive to the more experienced.’ It is due to support from the Scottish Government and the direct funding national companies now receive that has allowed the orchestra to take the initiative on board, the first time in 15 years that they have done anything at all quite like this. (Carol Main)

SCO, St Cuthbert’s Church, from Tue 9 Oct

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