Whether it’s legendary modern movie scores, trailblazing musical storytelling, intimate collaborative concerts or classical majesty on the grandest scale, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2025/26 season promises an unmissable year of extraordinary live performances and brand new experiences that unites music-lovers of all ages and tastes in its boldest, most exciting programme to date.
Check out some of the highlights.

Fountain of Youth | Sat 20 Sep | Bridgewater Hall | 7.30pm | From £12

The BBC Philharmonic commence the new season with a visceral, purifying orchestral odyssey featuring a UK premiere from the 2025/26 Composer in Residence, Julia Wolfe.

Titled Fountain of Youth, Wolfe’s composition seeks rejuvenation and catharsis in a ‘musical tsunami’ in which tumbling walls of sound crash through the Bridgewater Hall. Then, Profokiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 adds a fresh dimension to the pursuit of rebirth with a precise yet uniquely expressive composition, brimming with luscious melodies and simple elegance, led by superstar violinist Augustin Hadelich. The programme concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, a maelstrom of maximalist sound which celebrates redemption and embodies ‘the ultimate embrace of fate’ in a triumphant release of passion.

At 7pm, Wolfe’s LAD takes over the Bridgewater Hall foyer with a spectacular pre-show procession featuring nine bagpipes playing drones that stretch and bend with a ‘thrilling agony’.

Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS
Rufus Wainwright: Want Symphonic | Fri 26 - Sat 27 Sep | O2 Apollo | 7.30pm | £44.90

Taking over the O2 Apollo Manchester for two nights alongside conductor Lee Mills and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, pop icon Rufus Wainwright reimagines his seminal Want One and Want Two albums with innovative new arrangements showcasing his signature blend of glossy pop, alt-rock, classical, jazz and French chanson.

Fresh from a premiere performance at the BBC Proms and tours across Europe and the US, Want Symphonic offers the chance to experience Wainwright’s peerless showmanship through some of his best works.

Stockport Rd, Manchester M12 6AP
Moving Pictures | Sat 25 Oct | Bridgewater Hall | 7.30pm | From £12

Revel in the best of 21st century cinema scores with a captivating one-off concert featuring beloved modern classics by Hans Zimmer, Max Richter, Hildur Guðnadóttir and others, as the orchestra honours the ingenious vanguard of contemporary film composition with a genre-hopping set list of transcendent movie tracks.

Programme highlights include Interstellar’s Cornfield Chase (Hans Zimmer), Dawn from Pride and Prejudice (Dario Marianelli) and Bathroom Dance from Joker (Hildur Guðnadóttir).

Book tickets below.

Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS
Storgårds conducts Shostakovich | Sat 15 Nov | Bridgewater Hall | 7.30pm | From £12

On Sat 15 Nov, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra continues its spellbinding journey through the oeuvre of Dmitri Shostakovich, gorgeously rendering the oscillating tenderness and ferocity of the composer’s timeless works under the baton of Chief Conductor, John Storgårds.

Premiered after Stalin’s death in 1953, the grief-stricken and ferociously intense Symphony No. 10 offers a profound, autobiographical reflection of Shostakovich’s searing anguish in the aftermath of tyranny, from the coruscating scherzo to the affecting slow movement, culminating in triumphant final movements imbued with the notes D, S, C and H – his unmistakable musical signature.

In the first half, renowned cellist Anastasia Kobekina delivers a masterful rendition of Dvořák’s virtuosic Cello Concerto, a work she has made entirely her own.

Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS
The BBC Philharmonic Christmas Special | Fri 19 Dec | Bridgewater Hall | 7.30pm | From £12

From the enchanting festive realm of The Nutcracker to the merry-making swing of Duke Ellington, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s Christmas Special invites audiences into a feel-good winter wonderland with a special guest presenter and surprise guests.

Billed as the perfect way to celebrate the yuletide season with family and friends, this unmissable spectacular brings the spirit of Christmas to life with joyful songs and irresistible entertainment.

Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the RNCM | Fri 5 Dec | Fri 30 Jan | Fri 1 May | RNCM | 8pm | £22

Brand new for 2025/26, a new concert series in partnership with the RNCM allows audiences to enjoy an internationally renowned ensemble in an intimate, close-up setting, with relaxed live performances featuring some of the best instrumentalists in the world.

On Fri 5 Dec, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s string section takes centre stage with a powerful rendition of Bartók’s Divertimento, a raw and propulsive technical masterpiece written in 1939, with Europe on the precipice of all-out war. Then, Tchaikovsky offers a soothing slice of lush, vibrant Romanticism with his Serenade for Strings, packed with soaring refrains and poignant lyricism.

On Fri 30 Jan, Jonathan Cohen directs the slimmed-down orchestra in a shimmering showcase of baroque delight, as they carve an extravagant path through the dances, fugues and concertos of Versailles, Vivaldi and beyond. On this occasion, Principal Oboe Jennifer Galloway joins Orchestra Leader Zoe Beyers for a solo performance of Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin, following a radiant performance of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets by star brass players Tom Fountain and Gwyn Owen.

On Fri 1 May, John Storgårds joins esteemed pianist Tamara Stefanovich for a blockbuster artistic collaboration exploring the inimitable power of the ivory keys. The programme includes Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, a pared-back neoclassical masterpiece full of searing wit and kinetic, jazz-inflected rhythms. By contrast, John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music embodies musical indulgence by transforming minimalistic repetition into a sweeping, lavish dreamscape featuring two pianos, a mesmerising wind ensemble and celestial vocal harmonies.

Click below to find out more.

124 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9RD
Anthracite Fields | Sat 21 Mar 2026 | Bridgewater Hall | 7.30pm | From £12

On Sat 21 Mar, Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer-winning oratorio for choir and ensemble Anthracite Fields brings an unflinching musical memorial for American miners and their struggle to the Bridgewater Hall.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Wolfe saw firsthand the relentless labour, tragic loss and collective resistance of workers at the roiling core of American industry and power, where human sacrifice was inextricable from the means of fueling a nation.

Through extensive research and oral histories, Wolfe weaves a tapestry of first-hand stories from the men who risked life-changing injury, communities united in grief, the defiant words of union leader John M. Lewis and others, with her fluid yet forthright writing backed by the full forces of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra alongside BBC Singers.

Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS
Philharmonic Sessions: The Rite of Spring | Fri 22 May 2026 | Aviva Studios | 7.30pm | £26.50

Returning to Aviva Studios as part of a new production powered by the immersive in-house d&b Soundscape audio system and breathtaking light design, the orchestra reawakens primal forces with a performance of Stravinsky’s electrifying The Rite of Spring.

Devised as a depiction of a pagan ritual that ends in human sacrifice, The Rite of Spring caused riots upon its 1913 premiere in Paris, sending shockwaves throughout the world of classical music with its brutality and ceaseless, pulsating asymmetry. Today, Stravinsky’s magnum opus remains as thrilling and provocative as it was then, standing alone as a timeless testament to music’s power to challenge, excite and inspire.

You can choose how you want to experience the jaw-dropping sound of the orchestra – as part of a BBC Proms-style standing arena, or sitting in the upper tier of the Hall.

Aviva Studios, Water St, Manchester M3 4JQ
Finale: Mahler Symphony No. 2, ‘Resurrection’ | Sat 13 Jun 2026 | Bridgewater Hall | 7.30pm | From £12

130 years on from its first performance, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra round off their stunning 2025/26 season with a fittingly majestic rendition of Mahler’s colossal, world-changing work of drama, beauty and power – Resurrection.

From its instantly arresting opening funeral march to its pounding, seismic finale, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 shatters musical convention and reimagines music as a boundless, divine emotional force, where the gathered efforts of a full orchestra, offstage brass, vocal soloists and a powerful chorus combine to produce one of the most life-affirming works of art ever created, and a musical experience that demands to be seen live.

The whole thing sounds as though it came to us from some other world. I think there is no one who can resist it. One is battered to the ground and then raised on angel’s wings to the highest heights.’ – Gustav Mahler

Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS
A Manchester Wire Partnership post

www.bbc.co.uk/philharmonic
Words:
Wolf McFarlane
Published on:
Thu 3 Jul 2025