BBC Symphony Orchestra

BBCSO/Brabbins review – last-minute change adds drama to Beowulf premiere

With Charles Styles stepping in to sing the lead at short notice, the BBCSO’s world premiere of Iain Bell’s Wagnerian cantata had an extra edge

Tim Ashley

19, Mar, 2023 @2:16 PM

There is no one with power to fight for classical music at the BBC now. It’s as if Herod runs the creche | Paul Hughes

Savage cuts suggest a cadre of bosses has forgotten what public service broadcasting is, says Paul Hughes, former director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC Singers

Paul Hughes

14, Mar, 2023 @10:00 AM

BBC chief draws ire of 700 composers with ‘devastating’ plan to axe choir

Closure of BBC Singers was announced last week along with 20% cut to salaried positions in BBC orchestras

Charlotte Higgins Chief culture writer

13, Mar, 2023 @1:20 PM

Conductors condemn ‘shortsighted’ plans to disband BBC Singers

In letter to director general, conductors also express disbelief at 20% job cuts in BBC’s orchestras in England

Charlotte Higgins Chief culture writer

09, Mar, 2023 @1:59 PM

BBC Singers to close in corporation’s ‘major review of classical music’

Reductions also made to the BBC’s three England-based orchestras as part of plan to ensure the long-term future of organisation’s remaining performing groups

Imogen Tilden

07, Mar, 2023 @2:56 PM

BBCSO/Watts/Wigglesworth review – a striking song cycle that finds divine in the everyday

Elizabeth Watts’s buoyant soprano drew us in to this poignant performance of Ryan Wigglesworth’s work Till Dawning, based on the poetry of George Herbert

Erica Jeal

22, Jan, 2023 @2:04 PM

Elgar: Viola Concerto; Bloch: Suite for Viola and Orchestra review | Andrew Clements's classical album of the week

Violist Timothy Ridout makes deft work of Lionel Tertis’s arrangement of Elgar’s cello concerto and is equally impressive in Bloch’s Suite for viola and piano

Andrew Clements

19, Jan, 2023 @3:00 PM

BBCSO/Karabits review – Ukraine speaks out through its music

The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s guest conductor Kirill Karabits and pianist Anna Fedorova brought music from their homeland to an enthusiastic audience

Andrew Clements

16, Jan, 2023 @1:19 PM

BBCSO/Stasevska review – Auntie’s delayed premiere and an electrifying Sibelius First

The BBC’s 100th birthday gift from its Symphony Orchestra was Iain Farrington’s jaunty tribute, plus a scientific curiosity, a noble Elgar and an edge-of-your seat Sibelius finale

Tim Ashley

23, Oct, 2022 @1:16 PM

BBCSO/Oramo Total Immersion: Sibelius the Storyteller review – hair-raising climaxes and soaring intensity

A day of concerts led by Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra explored the Finnish composer’s tone poems and songs, and made for a vivid - and special - experience

Andrew Clements

10, Oct, 2022 @9:24 PM

Prom 66: BBCSO/Canellakis review – Jolas puts her tongue in her cheek

Betsy Jolas’s bTunes is a witty ode to our attention-sapping times, while Karina Canellakis commanded Mahler’s First Symphony with an expressive and sharply etched performance

Andrew Clements

06, Sep, 2022 @11:59 AM