Scottish Chamber Orchestra Fri May 4 7.30pm City Halls, Candleriggs, Glasgow £10-£22.50 0141 353 8000 Sat May 5 7.30pm Queen's Hall, Edinburgh £8-£24 0131 668 2019 Finnish conductor John Storgards has become a regular fixture of the SCO's season in recent years, his visits following a pattern that alternates standard repertoire with the eclectic programming and unusual works for which he is known. Thus, while in December he conducted one of the orchestra's "Great Romantics" programmes featuring works by Weber, Mendelssohn and Schumann, Storgards returns this weekend for rather more unusual concerts showcasing the music of his homeland.

Most people associate Finnish music with Sibelius and while he appears on the programme, it's in the guise of some of his little-known theatre music, the Swanwhite Suite. The avian motif is continued in the most popular works by Finland's most famous living composer, Cantus Articus by Rautavaara, subtitled a "concerto for birds and orchestra" which includes birdsong recorded near the Arctic Circle. The programme also includes the premiere of a new clarinet concerto by Jukka Tiensuu played by Finnish virtuoso Kari Kriikku, a co-commission between the SCO and the Tampere Philharmonic, of which Storgards is chief conductor.