Brian Lang has been nominated by the RSNO’s Board of Directors as the next chair of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  His appointment is subject to approval by the RSNO Society at its Annual General Meeting on Friday 22 August.

Brian Lang has been Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews since January 2001, leading the University through a period of change and growth, and firmly establishing its position as one of the UK’s top higher education institutions. He is currently Deputy Chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (and Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Committee for Scotland), and a member of Council, St Leonards School, St Andrews.  In 2004-5 he was a member of the Scottish Executive’s Cultural Commission, and in 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

Brian Lang will succeed Tom Thomson, RSNO Chair from 2001, who has guided Scotland’s national orchestra through one of  the most successful periods in the organisation’s recent history.  Tom Thomson commented:

"Brian Lang brings the perfect blend of skills, networks and experience to lead Scotland's national orchestra to even greater heights over the coming years.

“Our audiences have risen by a third in the past couple of years under Music Director Stéphane Denève, and the RSNO is financially stable for the first time in many years.

"The ambition now must be to make an even greater impact on the national and international stage, a challenge for which Brian Lang is an inspired nomination.”