Symphonic Pride

Join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for a joyful, feel-everything celebration of LGBTQ+ artists, from Tchaikovsky to Chappell Roan.

Symphonic Pride: We Have Always Been Here is a bold celebration of LGBTQ+ artists whose creativity has shaped orchestral music across centuries. In the first Pride-themed concert by a professional orchestra in Scotland, we move between big-hearted orchestral classics and bold new expressions from the 21st century. At the concert’s heart is Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake – arguably the most famous ballet score ever written – whose themes of hidden identity and impossible love continue to
resonate with the LGBTQ+ community today. Alongside that, we have a UK premiere from Elena Kats-Chernin celebrating the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2013, Broadway glitz and glamour from Leonard Bernstein, and a new orchestral version of LGBTQ+ anthem Pink Pony Club.

Presented by Bryan Burnett at City Halls, Glasgow, on Wednesday 22 July 2026.

Leonard Bernstein: Overture to On the Town
Elena Kats-Chernin: Rainbow Promise (UK premiere)
Francis Poulenc: Sinfonietta (1947) (c.28 mins)
interval
Jennifer Higdon: blue cathedral
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Selections from Swan Lake
Chappell Roan: Pink Pony Club, arranged for orchestra by Fiona Bruce

Jessica Cottis conductor
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra