Featuring familiar favourites, world premieres and rare masterworks performed by the world’s most gifted musical luminaries, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra unveils a wondrous 2024-25 season brimming with grand arrangements, intricate storytelling and show-stopping drama.
As summer gives way to another brisk early autumn, the orchestra keeps spirits high with a night of triumphant burlesque and vibrant spectacle, beginning with Strauss’ comic portrait of his relentless peasant prankster, Till Eulenspiegel. For one night only, the orchestra is joined by one of the world’s foremost trumpet players, Håkan Hardenberger, who showcases his fathomless virtuosity across Haydn’s joyous Concerto and Betsy Jolas’ vivid Onze Lieder.
Finally, Stravinsky’s sparkling ballet Petrushka transforms The Bridgewater Hall into a Mardi Gras carnival with a raucous, rococo tale packed with noisy revellers, thrilling circus acts and a magician with the power to give wooden dolls a soul for one magical evening.
On Sat 2 Nov, the orchestra invites visitors to spend a stirring night amongst the boundless musical vistas of the Romantic greats, opening with Carl Maria von Weber’s soaring, poignant opera Oberon, a technical marvel which unites mystical fantasy with achingly resonant humanity in a work of sumptuous theatre.
Further down the River Rhine, Robert Schumann’s ‘Rhenish’ Symphony evokes images of his beloved landscapes through divine melody and unbridled joy, before Brahms’s lively First Piano Concerto brings the curtain down with an affectionate yet fiercely dramatic arrangement performed by acclaimed pianist Garrick Ohlsson.
In celebration of the indomitable human spirit, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra hosts an evening of inspirational musical narratives beginning with the UK premiere of Anna Clyne’s This Moment, an intricate meditation on the words of Zen Master and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh; ‘this moment is full of wonders.’
From the rejuvenating to the reflective, Shostakovich’s second Cello Concerto revisits a life of unbowed defiance amid oppression, shot through with wry flourishes of black humour and an glimmering thread of hope.
Finally, Strauss’ definitive hero’s journey offers a thrilling, impassioned and glorious orchestral autobiography which whisks audiences on a life-affirming ride through adversity and triumph with ‘enough power to heat The Bridgewater Hall on a cold evening’.
On Sat 30 Nov, the orchestra sets about decrypting Elgar’s spellbinding Enigma Variations – in which an actual code remains unsolved to this day – where each movement doubles as an affecting tribute to his ‘friends pictured within’.
In Swansong, Arvo Pärt issues a breathtaking paean to the 19th century priest and scholar, Cardinal Newman, before decorated baritone Roderick Williams brings new dimensions to the music of Frank Martin.
In a captivating conceptual twist, the world premiere of Geoffrey Gordon’s Anime Mia takes inspiration both from Principal Bassoon Roberto Giaccaglia and the unsettling humanoid artwork of HR Giger in a uniquely bold hybrid composition.
As the festive frenzy enters full flow on the city streets, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra offers a merciful reprieve with an exceedingly rare opportunity to enjoy Messiaen’s lustrous masterpiece, From the Canyons to the Stars.
Initially commissioned to write a bicentennial commemoration of the American Declaration of Independence, the composer found inspiration amongst the colossal peaks and rugged ravines of Utah, where the colourful formations and burnished deserts imbued his profound spirituality with a jolt of natural majesty.
Led by piano virtuoso Steven Osborne alongside Associate Artist Ludovic Morlot and horn player Martin Owen, this one-off Christmastime concert provides the unmissable chance to hear this luminous work by one of the most distinctive voices of the 20th century.
The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, Manchester, M2 3WS
www.bbc.co.uk/philharmonic
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Sun 5 May 2024
On Sat 21 Sep, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra kick off their 2024-25 season with an evening of euphoric interstellar wonder, opening with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in G Minor before Holst’s sweeping, transcendent cosmic odyssey transports audiences across the solar system, from Mars the Warrior to Neptune the Mystic, as the orchestra delivers a masterful rendition of a revelatory musical vision.
Elsewhere, RNCM alumnus Grace-Evangeline Mason conjures a celestial soundscape of her own with her ‘amorphous nocturne’ ABLAZE THE MOON, having premiered with the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms last year.
Click below to book tickets for the opening concert of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024-25 season.