No, not a headline from the early rounds of Wimbledon's mixed doubles, this is instead news of some important changes in the line-up for the next two weekends of RSNO concerts.

Conductor Yakov Kreizberg, who was due to conduct the Orchestra this weekend, is recovering from surgery and so unfortunately will miss the programme of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No1 (with pianist Ingrid Fliter) and Shostakovich’s Symphony No11 The Year 1905. His misfortune is good news, however, for Principal Conductor and Musical Adviser of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Thomas Søndergård, who will make his Scottish debut; at the Caird Hall, Dundee, Usher Hall, Edinburgh and at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

In addition, soprano Ekaterina Shcherbachenko, who was due to appear with the RSNO the following week (in Rachmaninov’s choral symphony The Bells in Edinburgh and Glasgow) has cancelled performances across Europe citing personal reasons. Shcherbachenko will be replaced by Bulgarian soprano Zvetelina Maldjanska. The programme is otherwise unaffected, with Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov also conducting Rachmaninov’s Symphony No1.

What better way to celebrate our Indian summer, the first few leaves on the ground and that wonderful autumnal crispness in the air than with a Christmas tree and a comedy door mat?

This week Christmas has come early to the Henry Wood Hall. The RSNO Junior Chorus, Orchestra and RSNO Junior Chorus Director Christopher Bell are recording a CD of Christmas music, and so to help them get into the festive spirit, Chorus Manager Christine Walker and her team of volunteers have blown the dust off of our decorations boxes that wee bit earlier.

There had been talk of Santa making an appearance, but we're not sure whether we've been well enough behaved...

Season's Greetings!

Michael Bawtree will be the organ soloist in Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony at our Kelvingrove Concerts next weekend. He kindly has answered some questions we posed him about his instrument and his brilliant and varied musical career.

Can you remember the first time you heard an organ play?

It must have been at my local church in Devon when I had just started playing the piano. I always envied the organist there - all that noise he could make, and he didn't have to listen to the long sermons either, being hidden away. But he said I couldn't play the organ until I had Grade 5 piano - but it was probably because my legs were too short.



Who or what got you into playing the organ?

My grandmother was an avid bell-ringer, so I spent many hours in and around churches when young. The organist at her church in Surrey, Stephen Wright, allowed me to play before and after services - my first attempts at playing in public!


What organs did you learn on? Who were your teachers?

I was lucky to go to a school with a fine chapel organ (Sherborne School in Dorset), where I had my first proper lessons from Paul Ellis, an inspiring musician. From there I was awarded an organ scholarship to Cambridge where I studied with Anne Page, an Australian teacher who's famous for her harmonium performances! More recently, I studied with Margaret Phillips, who had coincidentally opened the English Organ School in a converted chapel in the tiny village of Milborne Port, just a mile down the road from my parents' home in Somerset.


Of all the organs you have played, what is your favourite, and of all the ones you haven't, which would you like to play most?

I have been lucky to be invited to play some extraordinary instruments in the UK and abroad. Every organ is unique - designed for the requirements, architecture and acoustic of its situation. This means that for every performance the organist has to ‘re-orchestrate' the pieces he is playing. Different organs are also suited to different types of music. My favourite ‘orchestral' organ is at Trinity Church in Boston (http://www.trinitychurchboston.org/a.... It has every orchestral colour imaginable - I've played many transcriptions there, including my own version of Tchaikovsky's ‘Sleeping Beauty'. My favourite ‘baroque' organ is a rebuild of a North German instrument from around 1700, which is housed in a church in Gothenburg, Sweden. I was invited to play it earlier this year - and loved it! (check it out here) . I would love to play the organ at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and the Klais organ at Cologne Cathedral (picture here) which is suspended from the roof!


Have you played the Kelvingrove organ before?

Since the museum reopened after its refurbishment, the organ has been used almost every day for free, lunchtime concerts given by organists from near and far. I have performed one of these recitals, and loved both the warm, soft sounds of the instrument and of course its spine-tingling, majestic fortissimo.


Do you wear shoes to play? If so, what sort?

I have a pair of organ shoes from America, made by Organmaster. You send them your foot measurements, along with an outline of your foot. Crucially, an organ shoe must have very thin soles and be as narrow as possible so you only play one note at a time. Ideally it should also have quite a high heel - so often organists will buy dance shoes, which are very similar. My American shoes have been very reliable friends - except for one instance when I was giving a recital in Edinburgh. The heel fell off less than an hour before the concert, leaving me with two nails sticking out. After a quick visit to Timpson's, some rapid gluing, all was well and they've never been better!


Organ lofts can be strange places. What's the oddest thing you've found in one?

Organ lofts are indeed strange places - very often positioned high in a church or cathedral, far away from choirs,