Giedré Šledkyté, an appreciation
Giedré Šledkyté, Music Director Designate of RSNO
In December of last year, my review of a concert in the Usher Hall given by the RSNO was as glowing as could be.
‘We were privileged to be in the audience for a truly remarkable evening of music-making, as the RSNO performed Tchaikovsky’s marvellous Violin Concerto and Mahler’s First Symphony. Readings of searing intensity and true enlightenment provided us with the concert of the year, a concert which both entertained and transfixed the full house.
The X Factor was provided by the young Lithuanian conductor, Giedré Šlekyté, making her RSNO debut, and what a debut it was. Slight of build with flowing blond hair, she dominated the proceedings from the start, controlling the mercurial nature of Tchaikovsky’s famous Violin Concerto and producing a reading of Mahler’s astonishing First Symphony that was breathtaking in its sweep and majesty, and quite simply the best I have ever heard. In so doing, she coaxed the finest possible playing from the RSNO, the strings warm and dynamic and the brass, woodwind and percussion out of this world.’
I ended my review thus: ‘Ms Šlekyté absorbed Mahler’s extraordinarily innovative writing into a reading of the symphony which was well-nigh perfect in my book, with well-judged tempi and imaginative rubato. There were so many moments when I thought – “I’ve never heard that before”, and this is a symphony I thought I knew really well. I trust the RSNO management is already engaged in bringing her back soon!’
Little did I know then that she had also so impressed the orchestra itself that they were raving about her too! So it has come to pass that on 12th May 2026, Giedré Šlekyté was appointed as the new Music Director of the RSNO, starting in autumn 2027. She replaces the fantastic Thomas Søndergård, who, although moving on to pastures new, has been announced as Music Director Emeritus, meaning that he will continue to conduct concerts here in Scotland for the foreseeable future, a prospect that we are all thrilled about. He has been a huge part of the orchestra’s journey to the level of international quality which they now represent, and which I hope the new Scottish Government will see fit to support even more. We have a great national orchestra here in Scotland, and it must be nourished and supported to the hilt!
I must say that I personally am delighted to see this new appointment, as I think it will bring even more quality in programming and performance. I am sure the best players will want to be in the orchestra, and the best soloists will want to come and play with them. Ms Šlekyté, who lives in Austria, already has good experience in the world of opera, and I am sure that she will, with her contacts in Europe, be able to bring in top soloists for the RSNO’s vocal and choral concerts. My one occasional gripe with Mr Søndergård was that he sometimes used vocal soloists who were not perhaps as good as his instrumental soloists. I would hope that Ms Šlekyté can improve this aspect, and I would hope also that she will use more of the fabulous Scottish singers on the circuit who we should be hearing much more frequently with our national orchestra. The announcement of Beth Taylor as Artist in Residence next season is a huge step in the right direction.
As Principal Guest Conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz from 2022-2025, Ms Šlekyté is clearly a fan of the Austrian composer and I do hope we can also see more Bruckner programmed for the RSNO in the future!
All in all, this is fabulous news, and we at the EMR would like to wish our new Music Director every success for the future. My only caveat is that my ‘special characters’ feature on my keyboard is going to even more used than with the previous Music Director!!
