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
Yeol Eum Son plays Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto
Respighi’s Roman spectacular and a new American classic frame Prokofiev’s most thrilling piano concerto in this BBC Symphony Orchestra debut for pianist Yeol Eum Son.
Haydn and Strauss: Nelson Mass and A Hero’s Life
Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Haydn’s Nelson Mass and pure sonic wonder from Samy Moussa. Hannu Lintu conducts a concert of outsize emotions and truly spectacular sounds.
Oramo conducts Strauss and Wagner
Glowing colours and grand passions: Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra join violinist Ilya Gringolts in Szymanowski’s gorgeous concerto – plus music by Wagner, Strauss and Dora Pejačević.
Gerstein plays Busoni’s Piano Concerto
Expect epic visions and piano playing that’s out of this world when Kirill Gerstein and Sakari Oramo champion Ferruccio Busoni’s stupendous Piano Concerto, as well as music by Grazyna Bacewicz.
Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly
A smash-hit Broadway play turned movie, David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly metamorphoses into music theatre as the UK premiere of Huang Ruo’s operatic reworking takes wing.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sousa
Channel waves, folk rhythms and the heartbeat of the cosmos, as conductor Dinis Souza, pianist Bertrand Chamayou and the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Debussy, Bartók and Unsuk Chin.
BBC Singers Centenary Concert
The BBC Singers celebrate their 100th birthday and look forward to the future with a host of star artists and special guests including Eric Whitacre, Anna Lapwood, and Abel Selaocoe.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oramo: A Sea Symphony
Full sail for new shores: Sakari Oramo conducts Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony, Britten’s Double Concerto and an enchanting, newly uncovered late work by Oliver Knussen.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Rakitina: Rachmaninov's Rhapsody
Three composers, three dramatic meditations on Fate and the Day of Judgement. Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony maps a journey from darkness to light, reflecting the crisis of his collapsed marriage.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Brabbins: Old Pictures, New Worlds
Martyn Brabbins takes the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on an adventure that spans oceans – from a majestic choral masterwork from 19th century Brazil to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
BBC SO Total Immersion: Sinfonia... and more
Martyn Brabbins, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers launch an evening-long odyssey through the music of Dallapiccola, Maderna, Nono and Berio.
BBC SO Total Immersion: Italian Radicals
Miniatures by Berio, Maderna, Nono and Dallapiccola, introduced and performed live by virtuoso instrumentalists and singers from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Kate Atkinson and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
The author of Life After Life, Case Histories and Behind the Scenes at the Museum, joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra to read from her own work, and share the music that has moved and inspired her.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Bignamini: Fantastic Symphony
Severed heads, demonic orgies and obsessive love. Jader Bignamini pairs Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique with the equally colourful imaginations of Poulenc and Camile Pépin.
Clemens Schuldt conducts Beethoven
Clemens Schuldt conducts Raymond Yiu’s powerful new violin concerto, framed by explosions of colour and joy from Kodály and Beethoven.
Discover
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.
