Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) is Scotland's national performing art company for orchestral music. Joel McNeely composed the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack and, for its recording in 1996, conducted the orchestra's performance of the score alongside the RSNO chorus in Glasgow. Decades later, the RSNO recorded Wilbert Roget II's score for the 2024 video game Star Wars Outlaws.
==Description==
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, abbreviated RSNO, serves as the national performing art company for orchestral music in Scotland. Based in the country's Glasgow Royal Concert Hall since 2015, the orchestra was founded in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, was renamed as the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and adopted its present name in 1991 following HM The Queen's granting of royal patronage in 1977. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus was founded in 1843 to give the first full performance of Handel's 1741 oratio Messiah in Scotland. RSNO has been holding regular concerts of John Williams' film music, including pieces from the Star Wars saga and live performances of Star Wars movies.
==History==
Lucasfilm hired Joel McNeely to compose music based on the literature of the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire publishing project, to be recorded and released under the Varèse Sarabande label. The resulting soundtrack was performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to record for a Compact Disc release. Totalling 51 minutes, the music was conducted by McNeely and performed by a 90-piece RSNO and a 150-voice RSNO chorus in Glasgow over three recording sessions on February 24 and 25 of 1996. Several days later, on March 3, McNeely conducted the orchestra in concert at the Royal Concert Hall, playing selections from Shadows of the Empire, Bernard Herrmann's score for the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo, Franz Waxman's score for the 1935 James Whale film Bride of Frankenstein, and Alex North's score for the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film Spartacus. After an encore, McNeely was reportedly beckoned back to the stage for five rounds of ovations.
The recording of Shadows of the Empire was mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, England, as time pressures did not allow for the mastering to be done in the United States. With the addition of biographies, including on the RSNO, the Varèse Sarabande CD was released on April 23 in the same year. With McNeely as conductor, the orchestra's Varèse Sarabande recording of Herrmann's Vertigo won the first Gramophone Award for film music in 1997.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra performed the score and trailer music for Massive Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games' 2024 video game Star Wars Outlaws, which were composed by Wilbert Roget II in collaboration with co-composers Jon Everist and Kazuma Jinnouchi, Nashville Music Scoring, and many soloists. The soundtrack contractor Scottish Digital Arts announced on May 4, 2024, that they recorded the RSNO's performance of Outlaws in Scotland's Studio at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall.
==Sources==
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*The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
==Notes and references==
Category:Real-world music performers