Sub-principal Viola Susan Buchan
When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in January 1993.
Where are you from?
I’m from Aberdeen.
Where did you study?
I studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and went on to do a post grad at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).
What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
I grew up going to SNO concerts with my family so it meant a lot to me to be offered a job with my ‘home’ Orchestra. I particularly enjoy the close-knit unity of the orchestra and, of course, the music.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
I have two children so I look after them. I also have a Border Terrier, Ruby and she either runs with me or else we love long walks in Pollok or Linn park. I run, with a club or often with Nicola McWhirter with whom I also job share.
You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed 3 CDs and 1 book. What would they be, and why?
I’d take the entire works of Jane Austen, unoriginal but I love them and can read them over and over. Stauss’ Four Last Songs sung by Elizabeth Schwatzkopf (actually just remembered that’s Gordon Bruce’s CD which I must have borrowed when I joined the orchestra. Better give it back!) Mahler 9, performed by the ECYO conducted by Bernard Haitink which brings back happy memories and is a recording of my last concert with them in the Concertgebow in Amsterdam. Finally something by Ella Fitzgerald.
