Paragon Ensemble is one of Scotland's foremost contemporary music ensembles, founded in 1980 by David Davies. The Ensemble quickly formed a reputation as the new music ensemble in Scotland, and following radio broadcasts of their concerts, were invited to perform UK wide and in Italy. The Ensemble modeled its instrumentation on the fourteen principal instruments of the orchestra, adding or detracting players and instruments, both electric and acoustic, as music scores required.

In 1990 Paragon commissioned Edward McGuire to write the Celtic opera, The Loving of Etain, which initiated an era of music theatre. It was through this that Paragon began its education outreach work, established by Ninian Perry.

By 1992 Paragon had made 2 CDs of new Scottish Music by composers including Edward McGuire, William Sweeney, James MacMillan, Lyell Cresswell, Gordon McPherson and Thomas Wilson. Works were also commissioned internationally from Lepo Sumera (Estonia);  Stepan Rostomyan (Armenia);  Violetta DInescu (Rumania), Lars Graugaard (Denmark) and Koji Asano (Japan).

After 20 years at the helm David Davies, founder and Artistic DIrector, stepped down and Garry Walker was appointed Principal Conductor in 2001 along with John Harris as Artistic DIrector. Ninian Perry continued to develop the outreach programme, collaborating with other art forms and working with mixed ability groups.

Paragon Ensemble became 'Ensemble in Residence' at Glasgow University in 2002, providing workshops, recordings of student compositions and workshop demonstration seminars throughout the academic year.

In 2005 Ninian Perry was appointed Creative Director and Paragon continued to be recognised as having the highest reputation for new music performance in Scotland as well as having developed an outstanding education programme. BBC radio and television broadcasts reinforced these achievments.

Paragon has over 50 major commissions of new music and 3 CD recordings. They have toured UK wide as well as in Italy, Iceland and Germany. Performances include venues such as Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall and Festival performances include Edinburgh International Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, St Magnus Festival and Potsdam New Music Festival.

Paragon Ensemble continues to perform and is dedicated to performing cutting edge and uncompromising new music. We aim to commission and perform music from Scottish and International Composers and provide young composers with opportunities to develop their skills through tailor-made projects with Paragon musicians.