🎶 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 🎶

The exceptional National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America performs three vibrant 20th-century masterpieces. These talented young musicians are joined by Festival regular, American conductor Karina Canellakis, praised by Gramophone for her ‘finesse and fire’. 

Samuel Barber’s effervescent Overture to The School for Scandal is followed by George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto, which brings the energetic rhythms of jazz dances and the soulful sound of American blues into the classical arena. Virtuoso pianist Kirill Gerstein, described by Tagesspiel as ‘a real phenomenon’, joins as the soloist.  

The concert closes with Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra – his final, and most popular, orchestral work. The Concerto sprung from a period of darkness in Bartók’s life, while he was living in exile in the US and suffering from illness and poverty. Yet, when the conductor Serge Koussevistzky visited him in hospital to commission this piece, Bartók went on to write this alternately nostalgic, witty and joyful tribute to his native Hungary, which is now a hallmark of classical music repertoire. 

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.