From the Stage to the Pit … While the caution continues for us all, doing this edition’s symphonic picks was really quite difficult. Not for lack of choices, quite the opposite! If performances remain possible then the upcoming concerts in the UK orchestral scene are absolutely mouth-watering. Here are just a few of the best and most interesting programmes I came across, but please do have a look yourselves as there’s undoubtedly something for everyone coming up in the very near future! Also worth noting at the time of going to press, most of the BBC Orchestras and the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland are yet to release their 2022 seasons, so you may want to check them out when they’re announced.
BY JOSH CIRTINA // PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE IN THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORC HESTRA
SYMPHONIC HIGHLIGHTS LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – UNSUK CHIN,
BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY AND ROYAL SCOTTISH
SIBELIUS & BARTOK
NATIONAL ORCHESTRAS – HARMONIELEHRE
7.00pm, Thursday, 6 January Barbican, London Here’s one to really get the new year off to a great start. Sir Simon Rattle leads his orchestra through a thrilling programme featuring a world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s new Violin Concerto with the astounding talents of Leonidas Kavakos, followed by Sibelius’ glorious Seventh Symphony and concluding with one of (in my opinion) the greatest works of the 20th Century – Bartok’s simply scintillating Miraculous Mandarin.
7.30pm, Wednesday, 9 February Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow A rare event! The BBC Scottish Symphony and the Royal Scottish National Orchestras, conducted by Kevin John Edusei, join forces for what is sure to be a thrilling evening featuring a UK premiere from Carlijn Metselaar, Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, performed by Maria Dueñas, and Adam’s absolutely colossal Harmonielehre.
BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – TOTAL IMMERSION: FRANK ZAPPA LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – POEMS OF ECSTASY
7.00pm, Saturday, 22 January Royal Festival Hall, London You should be ECSTATIC about this one…Karina Canellakis commands the forces of the LPO in Scriabin’s positively effervescing and abundantly colourful Fourth Symphony (The Poem of Ecstasy), but before this we can enjoy Cédric Tiberghien performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Boulanger’s dreamy D’un sour triste and Wagner’s stunning Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.
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From 11.00am, Saturday, 19 March Barbican, London Arguably one of the greatest 20th Century influences on music, Frank Zappa is the focus of the BBC Symphony’s March ‘Total Immersion’ day. Zappa’s music is famed for its huge variety of influences from classical modernism and rock and roll to free improvisation and cultural satire. Worth a listen!
