As Edinburgh’s first resident philharmonic orchestra in almost 90 years prepares to conclude its inaugural annual season at the Usher Hall on Sunday 12 October, it is pleased to announce two important new supporters of the orchestra and its vision.
His Grace the Duke of Hamilton will take on the role of the orchestra’s first Patron. He said: “Edinburgh is known for its cultural heritage and diversity, which is why I am delighted to see that it now also has found its own philharmonic orchestra in Capella Edina. I commend Luis’s mission of bringing people together through music and think it is needed nowadays more than ever before and thus, am glad to have been asked to be the patron of Capella Edina.”
The orchestra has also announced its Honorary President, Sir Thomas Allen. The internationally renowned opera star commented: “I am delighted to have been asked to become Honorary President of Capella Edina. I travelled as a schoolboy to Edinburgh from County Durham, to hear concerts in the Festival in the early ‘60s. There, I still remember, I heard, Carlo Maria Giulini in the Usher Hall. Heady days, and heady experiences. Imagine the thrill of working with Maestro Giulini less than ten years later in that same hall. You can imagine then the pleasure it gives me to be associated once more with the great city and with the arrival of a new orchestra.”
These new appointments highlight the continuing development of the orchestra and its deepening ties with the city of Edinburgh and the wider music community.
Details of Capella Edina’s 2026 season will be announced soon. In the meantime, audiences can still enjoy the final performance of the orchestra’s first season at 3pm on Sunday 12 October at the Usher Hall.
The afternoon concert, titled Enigma, will feature Elgar’s celebrated Enigma Variations, preceded by a selection of shorter works inspired by riddles. These include Arthur Bliss’s playful A Knot of Riddles, with Scottish baritone Arthur Bruce joining the orchestra, and Alexandre Desplat’s moving Suite from The Imitation Game, the haunting tribute to Alan Turing from the 2014 film.
Adding further cinematic highlights, the concert will include music from the same year’s The Theory of Everything, which told the story of Stephen Hawking. The Golden Globe-winning score by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson will be performed in a special Suite.
Capella Edina’s composer in residence, James Clay, will premiere his third work for the orchestra, Afterland, a piece for string orchestra, organ and timpani. Dedicated to Alan Turing, the work incorporates God Save the King, the first piece of music ever produced by a computer developed under Turing’s direction.
Riddles have captivated audiences for centuries, none more so than Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. “The Enigma I will not explain,” Elgar wrote of this masterpiece, which reflects friendship, love and profound personal reflection.
From the resounding power of brass to the delicacy of strings, culminating in the grandeur of the Usher Hall’s majestic organ, Elgar’s Enigma Variations promises a fittingly spectacular conclusion to Capella Edina’s first season.
Tickets start from £10 with concessions available.
