Glasgow Orchestral Society

15/03/2026

Congratulations to you all! 👏👏👏

With enormous thanks and gratitude for your votes - we are delighted to announce that we have won!

What an honour! 🤩💝

09/03/2026

And now it’s time to meet our conductor for this Holst concert, Derrick Morgan. GOS is delighted to have secured a slot in Derrick’s very busy diary and we’ve been greatly enjoying his rehearsals with us since mid- January. He’s worked us very hard, and his energy levels have been amazing, not least since he’s been commuting backwards and forwards to Germany over the past two months!

Derrick is from the Scottish Borders but is now Glasgow-based. He has recently completed two years as Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, where he worked closely with Music Director Thomas Søndergård and Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn. He was the inaugural Foundation Conductor of Orpheus Sinfonia’s Foundation programme in London. As an assistant, he has collaborated with leading conductors including the late Sir Andrew Davis, John Wilson, Karina Canellakis, and Sir James MacMillan.

As a conductor, he has worked with ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Hebrides Ensemble, Red Note Ensemble, and the BBC Singers.

Most recently in July 2025, Derrick stepped in with only a few hours’ notice to conduct the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, covering for Jonathan Bloxham. The programme featured Jay Capperauld’s new concerto ‘Rewired’ for Soprano Saxophone, alongside Haydn’s Symphony No. 80 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4.

Derrick is currently Assistant Conductor in Wuppertal, Germany,  assisting  Patrick Hahn on a full Ring Cycle with the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. The final part of the Cycle, Gotterdamerung takes place next Sunday in Wuppertal.

Derrick is deeply committed to education and audience engagement. He leads the RSNO’s partnership with Sistema Scotland’s “Big Noise” programme, preparing young musicians for side-by-side performances and delivering training to tutors across Scotland. He has recorded educational materials with the RSNO for Charanga, reaching over two million children. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has conducted numerous premieres, including the Scottish premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park. In August 2024, he gave the European premiere of Zou Ye’s Symphony ‘Kukai

09/03/2026

And now it’s time to meet our conductor for this Holst concert, Derrick Morgan. GOS is delighted to have secured a slot in Derrick’s very busy diary and we’ve been greatly enjoying his rehearsals with us since mid- January. He’s worked us very hard, and his energy levels have been amazing, not least since he’s been commuting backwards and forwards to Germany over the past two months!

Derrick is from the Scottish Borders but is now Glasgow-based. He has recently completed two years as Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, where he worked closely with Music Director Thomas Søndergård and Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn. He was the inaugural Foundation Conductor of Orpheus Sinfonia’s Foundation programme in London. As an assistant, he has collaborated with leading conductors including the late Sir Andrew Davis, John Wilson, Karina Canellakis, and Sir James MacMillan.

As a conductor, he has worked with ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Hebrides Ensemble, Red Note Ensemble, and the BBC Singers.
Most recently in July 2025, Derrick stepped in with only a few hours’ notice to conduct the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, covering for Jonathan Bloxham. The programme featured Jay Capperauld’s new concerto ‘Rewired’ for Soprano Saxophone, alongside Haydn’s Symphony No. 80 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4.
Derrick is currently Assistant Conductor in Wuppertal, Germany, assisting Patrick Hahn on a full Ring Cycle with the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. The final part of the Cycle, Gotterdamerung takes place next Sunday in Wuppertal.

Derrick is deeply committed to education and audience engagement. He leads the RSNO’s partnership with Sistema Scotland’s “Big Noise” programme, preparing young musicians for side-by-side performances and delivering training to tutors across Scotland. He has recorded educational materials with the RSNO for Charanga, reaching over two million children. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has conducted numerous premieres, including the Scottish premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park. In August 2024, he gave the European premiere of Zou Ye’s Symphony ‘Kukai’ with Orpheus Sinfonia, leading to an invitation for the New Zealand premiere in January 2025.
We’re sure you’re going to greatly enjoy this concert with Derrick at the helm! Not many tickets left – go to our website via our bio to find the kink for tickets!

05/03/2026

Meet Kirsten Baillie, our orchestral leader! Her role is multi-faceted: she is principal first violin who leads her section and also works with the other string principals to achieve the best possible string playing in the orchestra. As leader, Kirsten will also discuss with conductors issues of sound and style affecting the full orchestra.

Kirsten is in her fourth year as leader of GOS, having taken over in December 2022. There have been many exciting programmes, but to lead the orchestra through the Planets is very much a ‘bucket list’ moment for Kirsten.

Kirsten started playing the violin at the age of seven and went on to study BMus Performance at the RSAMD and completed tours with NYOS, Camerata Scotland and played with the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra for 15 years.

Looking ahead to the programme on Saturday 14th March, Kirsten has many challenging but beautiful solos to contend with. Kirsten said ‘to have the opportunity to play solos such as the melody of peace and harmony of Venus in the planets or the sombre and haunting solo of the Intermezzo in the St Paul’s Suite is a huge privilege and one that I am very much looking forward to.’

16/02/2026

String rehearsal on The Planets tonight

16/02/2026

String sectional tonight with lovely Bernie Docherty! Lots of hard work, and some time to catch up. All helping us to play some great music - The Planets is sounding 👌

25/12/2025

Wishing all our followers a very Merry Christmas!
Thanks to everyone who has come to our concerts, bought a raffle ticket, given a donation or liked a post! And thanks too to our lovely members, volunteers, conductors, soloists and extras who make it all happen! We hope to see you all again before too long!

20/12/2025

Break in final rehearsal for our concert tonight - the music is sounding fantastic! Still a few tickets available online or from the Box Office RoyalConcertHall

16/12/2025

Breaking News! Out concert includes the uncut version of Gershwin's 1928 score which will be its first performance in Scotland! Very few tickets left ......you know what to do!

13/12/2025

So much good music! Tickets selling fast so don't miss out. Link in comments below.. See you there!

13/12/2025

Only one week left to buy your tickets for this fantastic concert in the New Auditorium at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall next Saturday ! A great programme (lots of tunes you'll know!) and Alistair Gibson is working us very hard to get the music 👌
Selling fast so don't miss out!
https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/glasgow-orchestral-society-music-of-the-americas-bernstein-gershwin-william-grant-still-marquez