Ten years ago, the musicians of the BBC Scottish Symphony and the Scottish Opera were ambushed by the announcement that the managements of the two organizations had agreed to merge, and to form a single orchestra to do the work of two. What followed was years of legal battles, terse negotiations, and – astonishingly – unprecedented success for each of the two distinct orchestras. These days, to eliminate either of the two would be unthinkable, and most observers agree that it should never have been considered in the first place.