Welcome to the SCO!

This month we welcome Lucy Forde as our new SCO Connect Director. We caught up with Lucy to see how she is settling in and to find out about the newest addition to the SCO team.

Tell us a bit about your background before joining the SCO.

Originally from Edinburgh, I studied modern and baroque flute at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Royal Northern College of Music. I continued my studies in Milan, Italy and on returning to the UK developed my skills as a creative artist and workshop leader at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

For the last 9 years I have been based in London working as a freelance flautist, animateur and artistic director of education and creative projects. I worked with a broad range of orchestras and arts organisations in the UK and abroad. Some of these include the Wigmore Hall, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva Orchestra, the Hanover Band, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the British Council, Royal College of Music, Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Prince Claus Conservatoire in Groningen, Musique et Sante, Endellion String Quartet, Music in Hospitals, Music for Life and Music in Prisons. I have also been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama since 2008 and the Royal College of Music since 2009.

One of my particular interests is working collaboratively across cultures and this has taken me to work with musicians in The Gambia, Tanzania, South Korea, Thailand and India where I spent 10 months studying Indian music and leading a cross-cultural collaborative project for the British Council. I also have a strong interest in cross-art collaborations and in addition to regularly working with visual artists, I was the Music Director of music and dance ensemble ‘Aranea’.

What is it about the SCO that made you decide to work with the Orchestra?

I was very excited to work with the SCO because they are not only one of the best chamber orchestras in the world but they are also extremely innovative and are dedicated to the promotion of new music. They were also the orchestra that inspired me to take up music in the first place so I feel very privileged to be working with them now.

© Jen Owens

Which SCO Connect project are you most looking forward to working on and why?

I am really looking forward to working on 'Masterworks' which is SCO Connect’s flagship project for Standard and Higher Grade students. This is a fantastic project that breaks down classical contemporary music in an engaging and inspiring way for young people.

The 2011/12 SCO Season closes this week and we are already looking forward to our summer tours throughout Scotland and the start of the new Season in October. Which upcoming SCO concert are you most excited about?

The South of Scotland Tour – Duns Concert. I can’t wait to hear the new piece, Border Lines, by composer-conductor Howard Moody which was inspired by the National Trust for Scotland’s Nature Reserve at St Abb’s Head and its local communities. I am particularly looking forward to this performance in Duns as this will include the Eyemouth Fisherman’s Choir.

For more information on our performance in Duns, and all of our other summer tours, take a look at our concert pages.