Playful Coleridge-Taylor contrasting with dramatic Mahler from the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Elena Urioste
 © Chris Gloag

Elena Urioste (violin)

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Alice Farnham (conductor)

Ruth Rogers (leader)

2.45pm, Sunday 19 October 2025

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton

★★★★

Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel (1875-1912): Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80

Encore:

Arlen, Harold (1905-1986): Over the Rainbow (?arr. Poster, Tom (b.1981))

Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911): Symphony No. 5

For their latest programme, ‘The Romantics’, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra presented two highly contrasting works, with Mahler’s mighty Symphony No. 5 following the lighter offering of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80. Ben Gernon was originally scheduled to conduct the concert but was replaced by Alice Farnham, whose combination of precise direction and energy made for a highly engaging afternoon’s programme. Of course it shouldn’t be worthy of note, but it’s great to see an all-female roster (for the second time this season) of conductor, soloist (Elena Urioste) and leader (Ruth Rogers) – with Music Director Joanna MacGregor the overall driving force. 

Elena Urioste
© Nick Boston

Violinist Elena Urioste was born in the US, and has an established solo career, performing with orchestras around the world. She is also a committed chamber music, with her Chamber Music by the Sea festival in Maryland celebtrating its tenth anniversary this year. She also co-founded with her partner, Tom Poster, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, frequent performers at the Wigmore Hall and at the most recent Coffee Concert at Brighton Corn Exchange. She first performed Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto with Chineke! in 2019, recorded it with them in 2022, and has become a strong advocate for the somewhat neglected work. It’s an open-hearted piece, full of lyrical invention and plenty of opportunity for a virtuoso soloist to shine. Born in Croydon, of mixed Sierra Leonean and English heritage, Coleridge-Taylor originally intended to use spirituals for the melodic material of his Violin Concerto, but wasn’t happy with his attempts, deciding instead to use his own thematic ideas. Of course, Dvořák’s take on ‘American’ music also must have had an influence to bear here too, but the resulting work has a great sense of fun and individual style, which Urioste communicated here with great enthusiasm. 

Following the brassy stately opening from the orchestra, Urioste launched with a flourish into the first melodic idea, and from there, delivered each episodic entry with panache, at one point dancing her line over the accompanying pizzicato strings, and elsewhere injecting just enough bite to point up her dotted rhythms over the full orchestra. That dotted rhythm featured highly in her impressive cadenza, leading to a dramatic conclusion from the orchestra. The second movement is unashamedly lyrical, and the BPO strings set up just the right kind of muted accompaniment to allow Urioste to sing the silky lines above them. Orchestral ensemble was kept tight by Farnham through the ebb and flow of the rubatos whilst Urioste’s tender solos roamed effortlessly. The sprightly finale is once again packed with thematic invention, and Urioste and Farnham drove on through with playful energy (accompanied by frequent audible foot-tapping from Urioste). Virtuosic downward scale passages and skittering runs were aplenty, and weighty tuttis from the orchestra made for a brightly dramatic conclusion. In stark contrast, Urioste gave a simple yet highly tender rendition of Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen (arranged I believe by Tom Poster), with gentle double-stopping providing some harmony, but the emphasis being on the beauty of the melodic line, delighting the Brighton audience.

 

Alice Farnham & the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
© Nick Boston

In contrast to the light-hearted ease of the Coleridge-Taylor, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 was of course a completely different matter. The funereal opening movement immediately takes things in a darker direction, and the challenge for the orchestra is equally weightier. There is a great deal of pressure on many soloists from the orchestra, chiefly the trumpet and horn, and on the whole, the BPO acquitted themselves very well. It has to be said, however, that the overall strike rate today of brass splits was relatively high, which was a pity. The first movement’s woodwind dance had finesse, with some wild car-chase strings to follow, and Farnham steered the orchestra through with great clarity, although the latter part of the movement lost a little forward momentum. The screaming opening of the second movement had great drive, and the concluding brass chorale gleamed brightly, although the central marching section could have taken a bit more bite. The Scherzo had lilt and swagger, although at times a little too precisely measured, and once again, it was the woodwinds that shone the most, with the pecking bassoon and delicately precise oboe proving most noteworthy. The Adagietto was beautifully shaped by Farnham, with warm and tender playing from the strings, and sumptuous playing from harpist Alex Rider. The finale raised the mood, with precise horn and woodwind solos leading to the cellos deftly setting off the playful fugal section that followed. The orchestra appeared more in their element now, and the brass climaxes, swaying strings and woodwind interjections were knitted together with momentum by Farnham, with the final accelerando racing to a spectacular finish. So if not the most precise Mahler 5 at every point, Farnham and the BPO certainly delivered a performance with high energy and many great moments. 

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra launch their 101st season

Elena Urioste, BPO season brochure

After an extremely successful 100^th season, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra have revealed their plans for their 101^st, and Music Director Joanna MacGregor is not taking her foot off the pedal, with another exciting and varied programme revealed.  

Big names this season include tenor Mark Padmore, cellist Guy Johnston and violinist Elena Urioste. Pianist Junyan Chen (runner up at last year’s Leeds International Piano Competition, also coming away with two other prizes, including the chamber music prize) and Nigerian-Scottish trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo also feature, as well as Lativan accordionist Alise Siliņa. And percussion, so much a feature now of BPO’s programmes, forms the centrepiece of the season’s final concert, with a new work for Brazilian percussion and piano, to be written by MacGregor, and performed by Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale and MacGregor on piano. Leader Ruth Rogers also gets a chance to shine as a soloist, along with Romanian violist Sacha Bota, and actor Alistair McGowan returns for the BPO’s popular version of A Christmas Carol.
 

Junyan Chen

And so to the music. The season kicks off with Junyan Chen playing Rachmaninov’s mighty Piano Concerto No. 3, and this sits alongside two great ballet scores, Ravel’s wild La Valse and Bartók’s equally outrageous The Miraculous Mandarin Suite - the ballet was banned in Germany after its 1926 Cologne premiere (2.45pm, Sunday 28 September, Brighton Dome).
 

Ben Gernon

Joanna MacGregor has repeatedly demonstrated her commitment to bringing rarer and more unusual repertoire to the BPO’s programmes, whilst also managing to show that they don’t neglect core repertoire. Last year, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky sat alongside MacMillan, Schnittke and Gwylim Simcock, and of course, who could forget their barnstorming performance of Messaien’s Turangalîla Symphony? But I’m not sure when I last heard the BPO perform Mahler, so it’s great to see his Symphony No. 5 on the schedule, with Ben Gernon conducting, alongside a luscious gem, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto, played by one of the work’s great advocates, Elena Urioste (2.45pm, Sunday 19 October, Brighton Dome).
 

Mark Padmore
© Marco Borggreve

The strings of the BPO are at the heart of their next concert, with tenor Mark Padmore and the BPO’s Principal horn, Alexei Watkins joining them for Britten’s wonderful Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. There’s more Britten, with his Young Apollo, a radiant work for piano, string quartet and strings, and also Britten’s arrangement for string quartet and string orchestra of Purcell’s Chacony in G minor. MacGregor is then the arranger, this time of Dowland for Mr Dowland’s Midnight, and the concert ends with James MacMillan’s Piano Concerto No. 2, a work full of Scottish folk music influences, with a wild, anarchic ceilidh to finish (7.30pm, Saturday 8 November, Brighton Corn Exchange).
 

Alise Siliņa

December brings two Christmas themed events. The first unusually puts a solo accordionist, Alise Siliņa centre stage, in Václav Torjan’s Fairy Tales: A Concerto for Accordion, which draws on Czech fairy tale characters for its three movements. Ukranian composer Thomas de Hartmann fled from the Nazis to Paris, and it was there that he composed his orchestral work, Koliadky (Noëls ukrainiens, or Ukrainian Christmas Carols). The concert opens with Delius’ rarely performed Eventyr (Once upon a Time), evoking Norway’s folk tales, mythical beasts and landscapes, and they end with the Christmas classic, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite (2.45pm, Sunday 7 December, Brighton Dome). Then, as mentioned above, Alistair McGowan returns, joined by MacGregor and the BPO Brass Quintet for Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, directed by Richard Williams. And this year, they are taking the show to Petworth and Lewes, as well as giving two performances in Brighton (18, 19 & 20 December, St George’s Church Kemptown, St Mary’s Church Petworth & St Anne’s Church Lewes).
 

Aaron Azunda Akugbo

They usher in 2026 with classic, infectiously minimalist Michael Nyman film scores, The Draughtman’s Contract and Prospero’s Books, set alongside Wynton Marsalis’ Trumpet Concerto, which combines jazz with blues and classical trumpet styles in a virtuosic whirlwind, a great showcase for the young trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo (7.30pm, Saturday 24 January, Brighton Dome).
 
Once again combining core repertoire with the lesser known, Mozart’s glorious Sinfonia Concertante, with Ruth Rogers (violin) and Sascha Bota (viola), and the Piano Concerto No. 20, with Joanna MacGregor at the piano, are separated by Lonely Angel: Meditation for violin and strings, by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks. They open with Bartók’s distinctive Romanian Folk Dances, a short suite of piano pieces that Bartók then orchestrated for strings (2.45pm, Sunday 22 February, Brighton Dome).
 

Guy Johnston
© Frances Marshall

John Tavener’s masterpiece, The Protecting Veil is the highlight of their next concert, with cellist Guy Johnston the soloist. The work combines moments of joyful ecstasy with soulful contemplation, and is a real tour de force for the soloist. Before that, Ruth Rogers (violin) is the soloist in Spring and Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, coupled with Max Richter’s mesmerising take on the movements, from his hit work. Vivaldi Recomposed. And another homage from one composer to another, Vaughan Williams’ richly evocative Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, opens this concert (2.45pm, Sunday 29 March, Brighton Dome).
 

Adriano Adewale

Sounds of Brazil will bring the season to a close, with an eclectic programme, including that new Concerto for Brazilian Percussion and Piano by MacGregor, with soloist Adriano Adewale. This will follow on from Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, a firm favourite to show off all sections of the orchestra. I’m not sure how the Russian witches of Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, or the puppets of Stravinsky’s Scenes from Petrushka (or the Britten for that matter) fit in with a Brazilian theme, but this will nevertheless no doubt be a lively, joyful programme to end the 101^st season.
 
Also worth a mention is an exciting new collaboration with Brighton College to take chamber music to younger audiences, with three recitals, each preceded by short masterclasses for students in the afternoons. Concerts include music by Glass, Rameau, Liszt, Haydn, Dvořák and Piazzolla, with Joanna MacGregor being joined by principal string players, and soloists Adriano Adewale and cellist Adrian Brendel (7pm, 10 September, 25 February & 15 April, Brighton College).
 
With low income concessions and tickets from £10 for all under 30s, as well as last-minute offers for first-time bookers. Details of all concerts and tickets at brightonphil.org.uk and brightondome.org.

Light at the end of the tunnel from Elena Urioste and Aurora principals at Kings Place

Elena Urioste
© Nick Rutter

Elena Urioste (violin)

Aurora Orchestra - Principal Players

inc.

Sally Pryce (harp)

Ruth Gibson (viola)

Tom Service (presenter)

Streamed live online 7pm, Friday 26 February 2021

Kings Place, London

★★★★

Thea Musgrave (b.1928): Light at the End of the Tunnel

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Introduction and Allegro

Anna Meredith (b.1978): Music for Ravens

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) (arr. Iain Farrignton (b.1977)): The Lark Ascending

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847): Octet in E flat major, Op. 20

Sally Pryce
© Nick Rutter

Musgrave:

'Strikingly moving, and Aurora violist Ruth Gibson commanded the empty stage, a resonant cry of anguish contrasting with the glassy harmonics in this fleeting miniature'.

Ravel: 

'Harpist Sally Pryce was impressive in the extensive solo passages, the close microphones allowing her to contrast dramatic sweeps with extreme delicacy and pianissimo detail'.

Meredith:

'The Aurora players’ intensity and command of the complexity was impressive'.

Vaughan Williams:

'Urioste’s solo was sweet, effortless and relaxed, with breathy tone at the start of the solo passage in the lower registers, gradually warming up as the lark rises higher and higher, with a naturalistic rhythmic flexibility'.

Members of the Aurora Orchestra
© Nick Rutter

Mendelssohn:

'Their performance was full of exhilarating life and energy ... The finale was a masterclass in joyous performance, with constant communication and clear delight'.

Read my full review on Backtrack here.