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
Wigglesworth conducts Debussy and Berg
Poetry unlocks the imagination, as Ryan Wigglesworth and soprano Sophie Bevan plunge into the wild, wondrous sonic universe of Claude Debussy and Alban Berg.
BBC Symphony Orchestra: Oramo conducts Vaughan Williams
England’s dreaming: Sakari Oramo rediscovers rare and wonderful British masterpieces by Vaughan Williams, Doreen Carwithen and Malcolm Arnold.
Oramo conducts Mahler's Fourth Symphony
Sakari Oramo conducts Mahler’s playful Fourth Symphony – and plays the violin too, as Kurt Weill retells the myth of Orpheus in his own, utterly original style.
Hough plays Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto
Stephen Hough plays Beethoven and Sakari Oramo conducts Mahler’s First Symphony. Genius, pure and simple, from the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Slobodeniouk conducts Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet
From the depths to the stars; from romance to tragedy: Dima Slobodeniouk pairs Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet with Lili Boulanger’s mighty shout of hope and praise.
BBC Symphony Orchestra: Elder conducts Mahler
Goodnight, Vienna: Sir Mark Elder conducts Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, as the BBC Symphony Orchestra brings its season to an unforgettable close.
BBC SO Total Immersion: Missy Mazzoli's Song from the Uproar
The UK premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s opera Song from the Uproar, the story of a woman who redefined the possible, performed by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately, the BBC Singers and musicians from the BBC SO.
BBC SO Total Immersion: Missy Mazzoli – New worlds
For Missy Mazzoli, small ensembles unlock infinite possibilities, and her music for ensemble and electronics finds her exploring the wildest reaches of a boundless musical imagination.
BBC SO Total Immersion: Missy Mazzoli – Worlds in Us
Dalia Stasevska conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra as the composer introduces four of her most powerful (and personal) orchestral pieces.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Lintu: Fireworks and Fantasies
Alexander Malofeev plays Prokofiev, and Hannu Lintu conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in colourful showpieces by Adams and Stravinsky – plus a Bernard Rands world premiere.
Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony
Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony crowns an evening of music that speaks directly to the world around us, in the first London appearance by conductor Kahchun Wong.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
