🎶 This event is available to Young Musician’s Pass members. Booking is now open! Tickets are likely to sell fast so don't wait to secure yours💛

YMP members are eligible for up to two pairs of free tickets across a selected programme.

Please note you have to be logged into your account to book. Any questions, drop us a line at [email protected] or call +44 (0) 131 473 2000 (10-4pm Mon-Fri). Booking closes 4pm on Fri 26 June 🎶

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's monumental cantata trilogy, The Song of Hiawatha (1899), became a sensation in the early 20th century, regularly selling out the Royal Albert Hall. Inspired by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem about an Ojibwe warrior, the now rarely performed piece is one of Coleridge-Taylor's greatest achievements.  

With colourful orchestration and imaginative choral writing, the work explores themes of celebration (Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast), mourning (The Death of Minnehaha) and transcendence (Hiawatha’s Departure). Among the memorable solo numbers are the tenor’s romantic ‘Onaway! Awake, beloved!’ and the baritone’s impassioned ‘Farewell, said he, Minnehaha’. 

Join the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, conductor Rafael Payare, a trio of star soloists including Scottish tenor Nicky Spence, and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus for the first Festival performance of this choral masterpiece. We have invited Uchenna Ngwe, a specialist in Black British classical music, to introduce its fascinating history.  

The orchestra’s second concert, Voices of Canada, features Canadian Indigenous voices and contemporary compositions – their two concerts truly in conversation with each other. 

What to expect at Usher Hall 🎻

Usher Hall is home to our series of world-class orchestras, soloists and operas in concert.

Sit back in the beautiful auditorium, turn off your phone and let the sounds of the symphony wash over you.