Get to know Scott Dickinson

Scott Dickinson recently joined us as our new Principal Viola, so we put a few questions to him to introduce him to Philharmonia audiences.

Tell us a bit about your musical beginnings. What got you started in the first place? And was it straight to the viola or did that come later?

Happily,  there was always music in our house, and I loved listening. Our grandfather had a violin which enthralled my sister (now a professional violinist in Hawaii), and my mum thought I should take a different path, so I started viola early and it wasn’t long before I fell in love with the chocolatey sound and “under the bonnet” feel, right in the thick of both the harmony and the momentum of the music. No wonder so many composers played the viola – its role is the heart and soul of the orchestra!

Could you tell us a little about your career to date?

I grew up in Glasgow and studied in Manchester, London and Salzburg. I then toured widely as a member of the Leopold String Trio, and for the last 22 years I have been principal viola of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with whom I’ve also appeared quite regularly as soloist, including in a CD recording of one of my favourite pieces, ‘Jubilus’, by Jonathan Harvey, which was nominated for a Gramophone Award .

I’m really passionate about the importance of music for all areas of society, love teaching as well as playing and am an artistic advisor to the Tunnell Trust for Young Musicians.

What led to you joining the Philharmonia?

The Philharmonia have long been my favourite orchestra to play with as a guest, so I’m totally thrilled to join !

What’s special about the Philharmonia? Have there been any stand-out concerts to date?

I remember how excited I was to discover that orchestras had different characters and being completely blown away by how the one called the Philharmonia had loads of beauty and personality in the wind and brass and the most gorgeous richness and warmth in the strings. Forty or so years later, that tradition is alive and well, every concert has extraordinary commitment, reactiveness and energy, and I now know what a totally fabulous bunch of people they are, too !

Memorable concerts; already so many…Shostakovich and Sibelius with Santuu in Leicester and around Europe , Bartok with Esa-Pekka in Edinburgh, Barber and Gershwin with Marin in London, Bruckner with Herbert Blomstedt in Spain. I’m so looking forward to all of these conductors being with us again this season !

Quick Fire Q+A:

Where, or what, is perfection? 

Time (and good food) with family and friends; a swift in flight, blue sky through trees, gannets diving, coffee at dawn before happy miles of cycle camping, swimming by moonlight, young people singing, Nan Shepherd’s descriptions of nature, the way Ian MacEwen can spin a narrative, George Mackay Brown poetry, a good Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, the love scene from Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet, Bruckner slow movements, the radiance of the last movement of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony and the exhilaration of Sibelius’s, Soave sia il vento from Act 1 of Cosi fan Tutte and lots of other Mozart, much Bach, Kurtag, Mendelssohn, Schubert songs and Haydn string quartets, the drama of Wagner (though please don’t tell him), Beethoven (of course , in his imperfect and deeply human way), Korngold playing ‘Die Schönste Nacht’, and much much more – we have so much to appreciate in our lives !

What living person do you most admire (and why?)

Anyone who inspires creativity, humour, communication and beauty in others .

What is the most important lesson that life has taught you?

Integrity pays off.

What is your current most-played piece of music?

The classic Philharmonia recording of Strauss ‘Capriccio’ from 1957, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Wolfgang Sawallisch: absolutely spell binding…

What is your most guilty pleasure?

Reading in the bath, cycling the long way, and too much cheese before bed.

What is your favourite word?

I always try to find a new one – for the record, today’s happens to be ‘penumbra’ .

What composer or musician, past or present, would you most like to have dinner with, and why?

Rossini, because his music makes me grin from ear to ear, he loved food (I don’t think there would be any guilt about second helpings), he was kind , humble and riotously funny .

What is your favourite smell?

Pine trees after rain on the descent from an all-weathers-at-once hillwalk .

What is your most memorable holiday?

Trekking in the glorious French/Spanish Pyrenees in 2002 and the love of my life, flautist, collaborative pianist, creative spirit and punner extraordinaire Susan Frank, accepting my 8.30am marriage proposal.

What keeps you awake at night?

Intolerance, injustice, unkindness, war, the future of planet earth; books (I’m always reading far too many at once), pondering the wonder of coincidences/synchronicity, witty answers I wish I’d thought of in time, how to help to bring contentment, trying to string words together to describe wonders both everyday and extraordinary, why I am so bad at diy, did Schubert ever meet Beethoven, and much much more…

Which composer or musician is the most underrated in your opinion?

Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012), whose vision and music seem to come from the earth itself.

Who or what inspires you?

Nature; kind, humorous, warm and curious people; the mysterious intangible energy of concerts, and the way that music can transcend words.

What is your favourite ritual?

Live music, of course, and the first sniff of a new bottle of peaty whisky shared with friends.