Eden Court in Inverness has launched its 50th anniversary year with a landmark concert on Saturday 4 April, bringing the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Opera back to the Empire stage.
The performance came almost fifty years to the day since the same organisations helped open the venue on 15 April 1976, marking a full circle moment for Scotland’s largest multi arts venue.
The anniversary programme was carefully curated to reflect Eden Court’s history, placing past and present side by side in a single evening of music.
At the centre of the night was Confluence, a rarely heard work by the late Highland based composer William Wordsworth, originally commissioned for Eden Court’s opening gala in 1976.
The piece returned to the stage under the baton of renowned American conductor Leonard Slatkin, giving the audience a direct connection to the building’s origins.
The programme also featured Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée and Tzigane, before closing with a full performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 by a 70 strong orchestra.
The scale and confidence of the evening set the tone for what Eden Court is positioning as a year of celebration, reflection and forward momentum.
Rebecca Holt said:
“Saturday night’s 50th gala concert was joyful, it was really special to collaborate with RSNO and Scottish Opera, and to revive ‘Confluence’, a piece that has deep roots in Eden Court’s history.
“The event was the first in a series of anniversary events taking place throughout 2026 to celebrate the scale and breadth of Eden Court’s activity.
“We’ll have special cinema events like site-specific film screenings, a two-week Youth Takeover bringing together young people from all over Scotland, a Gaelic music commission as part of our summer music festival Under Canvas, and a new production touring to primary schools around the region.
“Later in the year we’ll produce an ambitious promenade theatre production, and we will end the celebrations with a curated art installation centred around stories and memories from audiences over the past 50 years.
“There’s so much to celebrate, Eden Court is at the heart of culture in the Highlands, it’s somewhere we hope everyone in the region can be proud of and I’m looking forward to continuing the celebrations.”
The anniversary programme will run throughout 2026, with events designed to reach across generations and bring new audiences into the venue.
Plans include youth led projects, Gaelic commissions, touring productions and large scale installations that draw directly from the stories of the people who have passed through Eden Court over the past five decades.
The approach is clear, this is not just a celebration of the past, but a statement of intent about where Highland culture goes next.
Half a century on, Eden Court remains at the centre of cultural life in the Highlands, with its anniversary year opening not with nostalgia, but with confidence.
To keep up to date with all the news and events from Eden Court’s 50th anniversary year, visit eden-court.co.uk/eden-court-at-50
