Ian Whyte (conductor)

Ian Whyte (13 August 1901 – 27 March 1960) was a Scottish conductor and composer, and founder of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Born in Dunfermline, Whyte studied in London, and was a pupil of Stanford and Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music. which Warrack conducted for the first ten years. Whyte took over as conductor in 1945 and stayed until 1960. He appointed young assistants to help with the orchestra that went on to be very influential in their own right: Alexander Gibson, Colin Davis and Bryden Thomson. His own considerable output of compositions and arrangements includes the ballet Donald of the Burthens (produced at Covent Garden in 1951), influenced by Scottish themes and folk tunes. The Scottish Music Information Centre holds 668 Whyte manuscripts, mostly unplayed. He died in Glasgow, March 27, 1960. Selected works Opera * Comala * The Forge * The Tale of the Shepherds Ballet *Goblin Haa * The Trout * Donald of the Burthens Orchestral * Symphony No. 1 (1949) * Symphony No. 2 * Edinburgh, symphonic poem (1945) * Tam O’Shanter, symphonic poem * The Rose Garden, symphonic poem * The Treadmill, overture * Oragif, overture * Concert Overture * Dunfermlin