One of Europe’s leading symphony orchestras, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an integral part in Scotland’s musical life, for example performing at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004. Renowned conductors such as George Szell, Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Bryden Thomson, Neeme Järvi, Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev, and Stéphane Denève have contributed to its success. In 2012 the Orchestra welcomed the British-Canadian musician and conductor Peter Oundjian as its latest Music Director and the Dane Thomas Søndergård as its Principal Guest Conductor. 2012 also saw the appointment of two new Leaders, James Clark and Maya Iwabuchi. The Orchestra has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its recordings, having received the Diapason d’Or de l’année as well as eight Grammy Award nominations over the last decade. More than 200 releases are available, the Orchestra’s discography including recordings of the complete symphonies of Sibelius (Gibson), Prokofiev (Järvi), Nielsen (Thomson), Martinů (Thomson), and Roussel (Denève), and the major orchestral works of Debussy (Denève). The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is one of Scotland’s National Performing Companies, supported by the Scottish Government. www.rsno.org.uk