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RSNO Season opens in Dundee on Vienna’s Golden Age, Søndergård conducting a boisterous Don Juan, Karen Cargill singing Berg Seven Early Songs and a sparkling Mahler Symphony no 1.

The complex world of Górecki, Bacewicz and Cytż is contrasted with Dvořák and Chopin as The Scottish Ensemble embarked upon an Eastern European journey with guest director Bartosz Woroch.

International percussionist Johannes Fischer brought almost everything but the kitchen sink to the Scottish Ensemble’s lively Baroque Dance Party.

The Scottish Ensemble on lively form is joined by exciting Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero to explore the links and influences of Bach and Mozart on modern South American composers.  

Always with an eye for the unusual, The Hebrides Ensemble surpassed themselves brilliantly with a lively programme of Amerian influenced music, including Elvis on bassoon.

Love and War in Bohemia, with rising star mezzo Sophie Harmsen, an engaging evening of light and darkness, and a study of composer pupils with famous masters.

We see so many images of war and fighting on the televisions in our living rooms daily that we can almost become acclimatised to shocking violence. Yet within living memory our main cities in Britain were a different world of fear, soldiers, bombs and destruction.

The Scottish Ensemble has been resident in Dundee for four days, really getting under the skin of the city. Amongst a whole raft of activities, including pop-up concerts, performing a film score live at a screening at Dundee Contemporary Arts, the Ensemble has been working with string players from Dundee Schools Orchestra and Dundee Symphony Orchestra.

The Scottish Ensemble launched their 2011/12 season with a programme of Mendelssohn and Stravinsky. On the face of it the pairing looked rather unlikely, but as Artistic Director Jonathan Morton explained to us, both composers were full of energy and invention, and each searching out new musical direction in their own times.