Free Edinburgh concert at the Usher Hall will celebrate Scotland’s musical heritage – book your ticket now

Free concert to take place at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall that aims to bring the city together | Euan Robertson Photography

It will be performed by the city’s relatively new Philharmonic Orchestra, Capella Edina, founded in 2024 by the German conductor Luis Schmidt, 22.

The orchestra believes that music should be accessible to everyone and hopes to highlight the power of music with its concerts.

The free concert at the Usher Hall on September 15 will celebrate all things Scotland – with music such as Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances, music from the film Mary Queen of Scots, and the sounds of pipes and drums.

Luis Schmidt | Silvan Metzker

Rising star violinist Andrea Cicalese will be joining the orchestra for a performance of Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy.

And it all began because a 10-year-old Luis wanted to take up music simply so that he could be in the same form as his friends at school.

Then when his friends didn’t join the class, his mother suggested Luis give music study a couple of weeks to decide if he liked it.

Five weeks later he was playing the trumpet in an ensemble; a few years later he was fascinated by conducting; he went on to study music in Newcastle (where he began to learn the bagpipes); and by a twist of fate, visited Edinburgh where the seed of creating the orchestra was planted.

No-one in Luis’ family had a musical background; and that is behind one of Luis’ strongest beliefs - that more people should get the chance to discover classical music.

He says: “Because I’m not from a musical family, I was very lucky that my mother said yes, if you want to learn an instrument, I will support you while you do that.

“But we’d never been to a classical concert before I went to normal state school and I’ve actually never been to a classical concert with my parents.

“Something I’ve noticed in the UK is that music education in schools is on the decline – there are many passionate teachers but the government’s funding priorities have long shifted away from the arts.

“And that’s such a big shame because I think there’s so much stuff going on in the world right now. You don’t want to switch on the news anymore.

“Yet with music, there’s just this unbelievable feeling of music being able to connect people.

“I feel everyone has a right to have that possibility to access music. Because it’s so integral for being a human, having that culture.”

Capella Edina performing a free concert at the Usher Hall, celebrating Edinburgh’s 900th anniversary. | Euan Robertson

The seed for the idea of the free Capella Edina Scotland-themed evening comes from an event last year.

Luis had been approached by supporters and Capella Edina performed a free concert at the Usher Hall, celebrating Edinburgh’s 900th anniversary.

Says Luis: “This year we were approached again and now we want to make it a yearly thing to perform a concert for the people of Edinburgh that is accessible to everyone regardless of their background.

“We have quite an eclectic programme and it all boils down to music from or about Scotland.”

Even the orchestra’s name – Capella Edina – gives a nod to Edinburgh.

Edina, as Robert Burns fans will know, appears in the poem Address to Edinburgh – the first line being Edina! Scotia’s darling seat!

And when recruiting the musicians to the orchestra, Luis wanted to focus on Edinburgh-based musicians as much as possible to create employment opportunities and support the local economy – “it was very important to me” he.

Folk indie artist Fink will join Capella Edina for a concert at the Usher Hall on 19 November.

Says Luis: “Music is a lot about collaboration; it connects us on stage and we hope that we can bring different people in our audiences together and build up a connection with them as well.

“The idea with Capella Edina is to see how we can present excellent orchestral music, while at the same time serving Edinburgh’s community.”

To find out how to secure one of the free tickets for the Scotland concert on Tuesday September 15 – and for updates and news on future events - go to the Capella Edina website.