BBC Symphony Orchestra
Associate Orchestra
The backbone of the BBC Proms and one of the UK's finest orchestras, the BBC SO performs a thrilling, distinctive range of music, from works at the heart of classical music to contemporary premieres.
Events
![Nicholas Carter looking to his left, with circular orange swirls framing his head](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-08/240201%20Nicholas%20Carter.jpg?h=9e335514&itok=QioYf9hc)
Carter conducts Tchaikovsky
Night thoughts: from the magic of Helen Grime to the fantasy of Richard Strauss and the unchained emotion of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique symphony, conducted by a true rising star.
![Vilde Frang violin](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/20%20Jan%20Wilde%20Frang.jpg?itok=3JhJbk08)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo & Vilde Frang: Northern Lights
Sakari Oramo joins star violinist Vilde Frang to bend time and play the unplayable – whether Andrew Norman’s American odyssey or Sibelius at his most passionate.
![Ryan Wigglesworth conductor](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/15%20Dec%20Ryan%20Wigglesworth.jpg?itok=TGwb4bdD)
BBC Symphony Orchestra: Heaven, Earth and the Human Heart
My soul doth magnify the Lord: Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC SO and Chorus in music from four centuries that aims directly at the human heart.
![Sakari Oramo conductor](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/6%20Oct%20AND%208%20Dec%20Sakari%20Oramo.jpg?itok=TN2y6F8O)
BBC Symphony Orchestra: Globe Skimmers and Nordic Winters
From the elemental grandeur of Sibelius to the miracle of a globe-skimming dragonfly, Sakari Oramo joins violinist Johan Dalene to explore new horizons and old.
![Jennifer Johnston mezzo-soprano](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/1%20Dec%20Jennifer%20Johnston.jpg?itok=auK1-Sxj)
BBC Symphony Orchestra: Fantastic Voyages
Beethoven’s Eroica, Ravel’s Shéhérazade, and the adventures of the Argonauts: mezzo Jennifer Johnston joins Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and no emotion is off-limits.
![Semyon Bychkov, conductor](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/24%20Nov%20Semyon%20Bychkov.jpg?itok=p9bjUhWY)
BBC Symphony Orchestra: Bychkov conducts Brahms
Two different centuries, and two very different – but equally heartfelt – fourth symphonies. Semyon Bychkov conducts music by Detlev Glanert and Johannes Brahms.
![Roderick Cox against a black background with pink and purple swirls framing his head](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-10/BBC%20S0_Branded_Imagery_1920x1080_KOPIE%20%282%29.jpg?h=e028bcb1&itok=THtsoTg0)
BBC Symphony Orchestra: The Faun and the Firebird
Fairytale colours, Ukrainian courage and a talking violin. Roderick Cox conducts Stravinsky and Debussy and Ilya Gringolts gives the world premiere of a violin concerto with a difference.
![David Afkham, conductor](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/27%20Oct%20David%20Afkham.jpg?itok=DCqSBSKU)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Afkham: Dark Visions, Milky Ways
Darkness meets light as Shostakovich’s shattering Tenth Symphony confronts music of ecstasy, beauty and soaring optimism by Olivier Messiaen and Outi Tarkiainen.
![A picture of Ryan Wigglesworth who wears a blue shirt and stands against a black background. Two circles swirl around him in different shades of pink.](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-10/15%20Dec%20Ryan%20Wigglesworth.jpg?itok=q3Ih0CYj)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Wigglesworth: Rites Remade
Violence, delicacy and sounds to liberate the imagination: as Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Symphony Orchestra put Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring at the centre of a century of sonic adventure.
![Sakari Oramo conductor](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-03/6%20Oct%20AND%208%20Dec%20Sakari%20Oramo.jpg?itok=TN2y6F8O)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo: Mahler Symphony No 5
Grand passions and epic vistas: Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is the gateway into a lost world of central European music, as Sakari Oramo opens the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s new season.
![Photo of Mount Everest](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-08/Everest%20image.jpg?h=c3487b19&itok=065v63wh)
Joby Talbot's Everest
The UK premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer’s new opera Everest: a spectacular drama of life, death and the human spirit on the roof of the world.
![BBC Symphony Chorus are in the centre of the image, surrounded by yellow BBC Symphony Orchestra branding](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/26%20May_Chorus.jpg?h=e4d7c85a&itok=bPqcYlIH)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Slobodeniouk
The BBC Symphony Chorus sings Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, at the heart of a life-affirming debut concert from guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk.
![Sir Andrew Davis conducts, with green BBC SO branding around his centred image](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/12%20May_Sir%20Andrew%20Davis.jpg?h=5f297c2d&itok=tYVrj7sI)
BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/Davis: A Child of Our Time
Hope comes from darkness as Sir Andrew Davis conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a team of world-class performers in Michael Tippett’s heart-rending A Child of Our Time.
![Kaija Saariaho image, centered around pink BBC SO branding](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/6%20May_Saariaho_4.jpg?h=4437296b&itok=BetbRgIC)
BBC SO Total Immersion: Oramo conducts Kaija Saariaho
Light becomes sound; poetry becomes music and words create worlds. Sakari Oramo crowns a day of total immersion in the music of Kaija Saariaho with a sumptuous orchestral celebration.
![Kaija Saariaho image, centered around red BBC SO branding](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/6%20May_Saariaho_3.jpg?h=9e13351f&itok=XdwBk_Kj)
BBC Total Immersion: BBC Singers Spotlight on Kaija Saariaho
The BBC Singers perform the vocal music of Kaija Saariaho – part of a day of Total Immersion in the sounds and thoughts of this visionary Finnish composer.
![Kaijo Saariaho image](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/6%20May_Saariaho_1.jpg?h=b2be3910&itok=gtAXk01w)
BBC SO Total Immersion: Spotlight on Kaija Saariaho
The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s day of Total Immersion in the music of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho begins with music of gentle (but limitless) power.
![Violinist Inmo Yang playing his violin](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/15%20April_Inmo%20Yang.jpg?h=4f2a5de1&itok=j5otkhLI)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo
Sakari Oramo, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and violinist Inmo Yang raise the roof in three dazzling concertos – one for violin and two for the whole orchestra.
![Ian McEwan leans on his hand, his centralised image is surrounded by BBC SO branding](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/31%20March_Ian%20McEwan.jpg?h=550d500a&itok=cTCSkDAM)
Ian McEwan and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
In the latest of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s collaborations with great writers, Ian McEwan joins the orchestra for an evening of words and music.
Discover
![architecture detail of the barbican hall](/sites/default/files/styles/discover_small/public/images/2018-12/DSC_6059_0_0.jpg?itok=6PHs6Ol8)
Composer Focus – Episode 5: Jean Sibelius with Sakari Oramo
In the final episode, host Edward Seckerson is joined by BBC Symphony Orchestra conductor Sakari Oramo to discuss his fellow countryman Jean Sibelius, and the themes of nature and Finnish national identity woven throughout his music.