AS Governments in Holyrood and Westminster announced further restrictions on public gatherings in response to the increase in COVID-19 infection, Scotland’s orchestras unveiled programmes of online and broadcast concerts that will be performed behind closed doors and with the musicians adhering strictly to social distancing guidelines.

Significantly, the programme of 10 Friday-night concerts by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, from its rehearsal space on Glasgow’s Killermont Street, stretches to the end of February 2021, confirming that those working in the beleaguered cultural sector see no prospect of an early end to the curbs on their box office income.

Scotland’s national orchestra is offering its supporters the full season of online performances for £90, with £10 tickets for each individual concert. The first one, in which music director Thomas Sondergard conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No.3, is on October 9. Households where more than one person will be viewing and listening are asked to pay £20 to support the orchestra, while full-time students and those under the age of 26 can tune in for £3.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has announced nine Thursday evening and afternoon concerts from Glasgow’s City Halls, beginning tomorrow, all but one of which will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and five of which will be streamed free on the orchestra’s website. The sequence runs until December 10 and includes piano soloists Isata Kanneh-Mason and Paul Lewis, cellist Steven Isserlis, violinist Elena Urioste and tenor Mark Padmore. Guest conductors include Sir Mark Elder, Martyn Brabbins, Joana Carneiro and Nicholas Collon alongside Principal Guest Ilan Volkov and recently announced Associate Conductor Alpesh Chauhan whose programme this week features symphonies by Prokofiev and Mendelssohn.

That concert coincides precisely with the season-opener by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1 with Nicola Benedetti from Perth Concert Hall, which is being streamed free with sponsorship from investment managers Quilter Cheviot. The chamber orchestra is expected to announce its plans for the remainder of the year early next week.

Both the SCO and RSNO had published full programmes of their planned 2020/21 seasons before lockdown in March. Just as the SCO has managed to salvage its planned first meeting of Benedetti and young Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev as an online event, the RSNO’s digital season includes elements of the abandoned season of live events. Artist-in-residence Midori will perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto as part of the orchestra’s marking of the composer’s 250th birthday, which will also include five of his symphonies, one in each of the concerts conducted by Sondergard. Midori returns to Glasgow in January to play a new concerto by Detlev Glanert, co-commissioned by the RSNO.

A planned series celebrating links between Poland and Scotland survives in a performance of Penderecki’s Adagio for Strings, alongside Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, in December. January’s programme includes the world premiere of the Suite from The Mask in the Mirror, by Aberdeen-born Richard Thompson, nodding towards an intended strand of Scottish composition under the title Scotch Snaps.

The RSNO’s guests also include pianist Paul Lewis, playing Grieg in a Classic FM-sponsored concert in February, while Boris Giltburg plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in November. Jorg Widmann plays the Mozart Clarinet Concerto under the baton of Elim Chan, and Francesca Dego plays Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.5 in December. That month also includes Scotland’s star mezzo Karen Cargill singing Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder with Sondergard conducting.

The RSNO’s subscription season follows on from a very full programme of online musical offerings the orchestra launched immediately after live performances were cancelled, including 15 filmed archive concerts shown on digital platforms as its “Friday Night Club”.

Chief Executive of the RSNO, Alistair Mackie, said yesterday: “We were moved and encouraged by the support we received at home and internationally for our efforts to keep bringing music to people during the lockdown period.

“Despite the continued challenges we face, we remain committed to presenting concerts of the very highest international quality that we hope may inspire and encourage us all as we work together to find a way through COVID-19 times.”

Tickets for the new season were available from the orchestra’s website from noon yesterday and each concert will be available to watch on demand from the date of broadcast until March 14, 2021.

Thomas Sondergard added: “It has been wonderful to be reunited with musicians as we prepare to bring new concerts to our audiences at home in Scotland, and around the world.”

Director of the BBC SSO Dominic Parker added: “We’re thrilled to be back playing and recording at City Halls. And while we can’t yet welcome people to concert halls, I’m hugely proud that, under the current restrictions, we’ve managed to bring together such a distinctive and exciting season.”