Viennese New Year Gala

over the following week to concert halls around Scotland. This year it will be heard in Dumfries and Ayr, and for the final show will return to Perth Concert Hall.

“The show is a mixture of (Strauss family) classics that we all know like the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, the Blue Danube Waltz and the Radetzky March at the end,” says Alison, “but it’s not all waltzes and polkas, this year we also have Dances of Galanta by Kodaly, which is full of musical fireworks.

“It’s really enjoyable, and it has big solos for lots of members of the orchestra, so it gets you really involved. There are also Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances as well, so there’ll be much that’s familiar.”

There will also be music from Smetana’s comic opera The Bartered Bride and a solo performance of Ravel’s Tigane by violinist Stephanie Gonley, while the guest conductor will be Simon Rattle’s protégé Duncan Ward.

“With the SCO’s 37 regular players to conduct, plus guests, planning for the show advance.

“For the musicians, you have to keep playing and practising over the Christmas holidays, and there’s a lot to play,” says Alison.

“Although the pieces are quite light, there’s a lot to think about in them and you have to have your wits about you. We get our schedule months in advance, and we get the music and time to practise on our own, but we don’t actually come together until December 31, when we rehearse all day. That’s really hard work.

“There’s a special atmosphere at the concerts, though,” she continues.

“The audiences are always very warm and welcoming, they seem to really enjoy it, although there’s always an extra frisson when you do it for the first time, because you’re getting in the way of it.

“You’re on the edge of your seat a bit for the first one, but by the time you get to Perth you know what you’re doing.” tends to begin months in

The gala at Perth Concert Hall will be a mixture of musical classics, waltzes, polkas, dances and marches.