Live Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony Thu 19 – Sat 21 March

Repertoire includes

Pärt - Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten Elena Langer - The Lives of Birds* World Premiere Tchaikovsky - Symphony No4

Conductor

Kristiina Poska

Soloists

Anna Dennis - Soprano

Beauty, passion and the miracles of nature – there’s no tale that an orchestra can’t tell, and there’s definitely no symphony quite like Tchaikovsky’s shattering Fourth. Raw tragedy, roof-raising triumph: it’s explosive stuff, so guest conductor Kristiina Poska begins with something a little more tranquil. Arvo Pärt’s haunting Cantus is the perfect complement to a wonderful new set of songs from Elena Langer, inspired by the songs of birds and the nature poetry of Glyn Maxwell. Experience musical history in the making.

*Commissioned by the RSNO. The Elena Langer New Commission is generously supported by Javan Herberg KC and Jessica Boyd KC.

In Glasgow, there will be a 6pm pre-concert performance from the Music School of Douglas Academy which is free to ticket holders.

Gain insight into the music with our musicians at the pre-concert talk at 6.45pm in the Marryat Hall in Dundee, Upper Circle Bar in Edinburgh and the Clyde Foyer in Glasgow. Free to ticket holders.

The running time of this concert is approximately 2 hours, including a 20-minute interval.

Get a taste of the concert by listening to Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten:

Caird Hall, Dundee

Thu 19 March 2026, 7.30pm £15, £21, £26 (Booking fees may apply. Discounts are available for under 18s, under 26s, mature students, unemployed patrons, patrons with disabilities and groups.) Book now

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Fri 20 March 2026, 7.30pm £14, £23, £29, £37, £43 (Booking fees may apply. Discounts are available for under 18s, under 26s, mature students, unemployed patrons, patrons with disabilities and groups.) Book now

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

Sat 21 March 2026, 7.30pm £14, £21, £28, £34, £40 (Booking fees may apply. Discounts are available for under 18s, under 26s, mature students, unemployed patrons, patrons with disabilities and groups.) Book now

Explore Artists

Conductor Kristiina Poska

The award-winning conductor Kristiina Poska is in high demand on the international music scene. She has held the post of Chief Conductor of Flanders Symphony Orchestra since 2019/20 season, Principal Guest Conductor of Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since 2021/22 and will start her tenure as Music Director of Orchestre Français des Jeunes in summer 2025. She studied choral conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater in Tallinn and orchestral conducting at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin. Poska was a finalist at the renowned Donatella Flick LSO Competition in 2010 and at the Malko Competition in May 2012, where she also won the audience prize. She then went on to win the prestigious German Conductors’ Prize in April 2013.

Last season’s highlights included several debuts – with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Colorado Symphony in North America, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao in Spain, Swedish Radio and Norwegian Radio Symphony orchestras in Scandinavia as well as Orchestre National de Montpellier, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Grazer Philharmoniker. During the concert season, she returned to Orchestre National de France, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and toured with Flanders Symphony Orchestra several times performing in Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany and Estonia. As the new Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, she embarks on two European tours at the end of the summer.

Recent highlights include debuts with Minnesota Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Nacionales de España, as well as NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. She has appeared with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, Poska has worked with orchestras such as hr-Sinfonieorchester, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Gothenburg Symphony, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich to name a few.

Equally prolific in the operatic repertoire, Poska debuts at the Opéra de Dijon this season, conducting a double bill production featuring Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Strauss’ Metamorphosen directed by Dominique Pitoiset. Recent opera productions include a return to Staatsoper Berlin with a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte at Norwegian National Opera and Royal Danish Theatre, Puccini’s La bohème by Robert Carsen at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Carmen with Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail with Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Semperoper). She has appeared with Komische Oper Berlin, Royal Swedish Opera, English National Opera, Finnish National Opera, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Volksoper Vienna among others.

Poska’s previous roles included Principal Conductor of Cappella Academica from 2006 to 2011, Kapellmeister at Komische Oper Berlin from 2012 to 2016, and Music Director for Theater Basel for the 2019/20 season. Together with Flanders Symphony Orchestra Poska currently records the complete Beethoven cycle for the label Fuga Libera.

See Kristiina Poska conduct Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony with the RSNO on 19, 20 & 21 March 2026.

Soprano Anna Dennis

Anna studied at the Royal Academy of Music and was the recipient of the 2023 Royal Philharmic Society’s Singer award.

Her opera performances include Katie Mitchell’s New Dark Age at the Royal Opera House, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at Drottningholms Slottsteater in Stockholm, Handel’s Rodelinda at the Göttingen Handel Festspiel, Mozart’s Idomeneo directed by Graham Vick at Birmingham Opera Company, Damon Albarn’s Dr Dee at English National Opera, and roles in all three Monteverdi operas during John Eliot Gardiner’s world tour of the trilogy. She recently created the title role of Violet in Tom Coult’s debut opera, premiered at the Aldeburgh festival, and multiple roles in Sir David Pountney’s Purcell pasticcio Masque of Might for Opera North.

In concert she has sung with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St Luke’s in New York, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Orquestra Gulbenkian, les Violons du Roy, Britten Sinfonia, Akademie Alte Musik Berlin and Sinfonietta Riga. She has sung Britten’s War Requiem at the Berlin Philharmonie and Thomas Ades’ Life Story, accompanied by the composer, at New York’s White Light Festival. Recent highlights have included performing Antony Burgess’ setting of TS Eliot’s The Wasteland with Benedict Cumberbatch and Britten Sinfonia at the Charleston Festival, Bach’s Mein Herze Schwimmt im Blut with Kristian Bezuidenhout in Riga, Haydn’s Jahreszeiten with Düsseldorfer Sinfoniker under Adam Fischer, and Handel’s Orlando with the Academy of Ancient Music under Laurence Cummings.

Her numerous recordings include Elena Langer’s Landscape with Three People, the Grammy-nominated Kastalsky Requiem with the Orchestra of St Luke’s under Leonard Slatkin, two orchestral song cycles on composer Tom Coult’s debut disc Pieces that Disappear with the BBC Philharmonic, and Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula with Early Opera Company under Christian Curnyn.

In the current season she sings Queen of the Night/The Magic Flute for Opera North, Boulez Pli Selon Pli with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins, Thomas Ades’ America: A Prophecy with the Hallé, conducted by the composer, Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Portland Baroque Orchestra, Mendelssohn Lobgesang with the Orquestra de la Comunidad de Madrid, and Poulenc Gloria with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

See Anna Dennis perform Elena Langer’s New Work for Soprano and Orchestra with the RSNO on 19, 20 & 21 March 2026.