The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra bring a night of fierce drama and shimmering grandeur to The Bridgewater Hall

This October, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra returns to The Bridgewater Hall with an evening of dramatic beauty, power and anguish, performing a haunting yet resplendent programme spanning fiery overtures, visionary new music and one of the most beloved symphonies in the classical repertoire.

Led by conductor Gemma New, the concert opens with Grażyna Bacewicz’s blazing Overture, a defiantly radiant and energetic piece written during the German occupation of Poland.

Then the UK premiere of Gabriella Smith’s Lost Coast sees acclaimed soloist Gabriel Cabezas front an exhilaratingly bold concerto for cello and orchestra, inspired by the composer’s own five-day trek along the rugged climes of Northern California’s namesake trail. Blending visceral, jagged orchestral textures with Cabezas’s singular instrumental flair, the new work offers a “raw emotional expression of grief, loss, rage, and fear” in the face of climate change, balanced by “the joy, beauty, and wonder” found in nature’s last wild realms.

The concert reaches its triumphant climax with Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, a sweeping score that unfurls organically in divine grandeur. Often interpreted as a majestic paean to freedom and resilience, this timeless masterpiece imbues anguish with irrepressible splendour, providing a fitting climax to an unmissable night of orchestral wonder.