Eclectic and adventurous programming from Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra for their 99th Season

As their hundredth anniversary creeps closer, the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra have another inventive and diverse programme planned for their 99th season. Music Director Joanna MacGregor continues to serve up a mix of concerts, with some strong soloists, jazz influences and plenty of 20th and 21st century repertoire. 

They open with a lively programme of American music, including Gershwin’s Piano Concerto with MacGregor at the keyboard. American conductor Clark Rundell is at the helm, opening with John Adams’ great crowdpleaser, the Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and ending with Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances, from West Side Story. In between is a real gem - Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question (2.45pm, Sunday 8 October, Brighton Dome). 

Andy Sheppard
© Sara Da Costa

They follow this with a full-on move into jazz territory, with a concert exploring the influence of cult 1960s musician and composer Moondog. Saxophonist Andy Sheppard has worked extensively with MacGregor, and for the first half of this concert, they explore music from their album Deep River: Deep South gospel and blues meet electronica, with music by Nick Cave, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, with Sheppard and MacGregor joined by Khuljit Bhamra on tablas and Seb Rockford on drums. This is followed by Sidewalk Dances, an orchestral suite arranged by MacGregor which draws on Moondog’s compositions, including Voices of Spring, Bird’s Lament, Dogtrot and Single Foot (7.30pm, Sunday 12 November, Brighton Dome).

Sian Edwards
© Justin Slee

Their December concert promises to be a treat, with conductor Sian Edwards returning for a Winter Solstice theme, with music by Pärt and Sibelius. Pärt’s Lamentate features MacGregor on piano, and violinist Ruth Rogers is the soloist in his haunting Spiegel im Spiegel. Then it’s Sibelius’ Second Symphony that takes centre stage, with the privilege of being the only major symphonic work in their season, a further sign of their departure from more traditional programming (2.45pm, Sunday 3 December, Brighton Dome).

Ellie Laugharne

Their seasonal offerings include their popular Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, with Pip Torrens narrating, and brass arrangements of carols from the BPO Brass Quintet (6pm & 8pm, Friday 15 December, St George's Church, Brighton), and then a New Year’s Eve Gala, with Strauss, Léhar and Prokofiev, conducted by Stephen Bell, with soprano Ellie Laugharne (2.45pm, Sunday 31 December, Brighton Dome).

The New Year brings some really interesting programmes, starting with Henk de Vlieger's crazy adaptation of Wagner's Ring Cycle - yes, the whole cycle in just 65 minutes, complete with anvils, Wagner tubas and 8 horns. As an appetiser, they will perform Ligeti's Atmosphères, and then Berio's Folk Songs, with soprano Dorothea Herbert, all conducted by the young British conductor, Geoffrey Paterson (7.30pm, Saturday 27 January, Brighton Dome).

Errollyn Wallen

In February, it's 20th century classics with Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, conducted by Sian Edwards, along with three actors (lead by Alistair McGowan) and a dancer. The programme also includes Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, written for Woody Herman's band, so for solo clarinet and jazz band, and then Milaud's 1920s jazz inspired ballet score, La Création du Monde. Keeping with the jazz theme, but shifting to Berlin, they will also perform Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera Suite (7.30pm, Sunday 25 February, Brighton Corn Exchange). 

Eleanor Alberga

Joanna MacGregor returns to the podium in March for Mighty River: Celebrating Women, marking International Women's Day. Florence Price's Mississippi River Suite, which draws on spirituals, popular song and jazz, following the course of the mighty river. Alongside this are two works from contemporary women composers, with Errollyn Wallen's Mighty River complementing the Price in terms of inspiration, and Eleanor Alberga's Clouds following a similar theme of movement in nature, this time drifting and storming cloud patterns (7.30pm, Friday 8 March, Brighton Dome).

Ragnhild Hemsing
© Nikolaj Lund

For their final concert in the season, they move from the rivers to the sea, with Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Debussy's La Mer bookending the programme. In between, Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt's Concerto No. 2, Three Fjords features the hardanger fiddle, played by Ragnhild Hemsing. Music by the Japanese film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away earlier this year, completes what promises to be a fascinating programme, all conducted by Adam Hickox (2.45pm, Sunday 7 April, Brighton Dome). 

Adam Hickox

And as a final addition, they are off to the Petworth Festival in July for a concert of chamber music, with music by Purcell, Bach, Pärt, Piazzolla and Vaughan Williams (7.30pm, Saturday 13 July 2024).

So all told, this promises to be the BPO's most eclectic and adventurous season yet - it will be interesting to see how they top this for their 100th season! 

Full details here, and tickets here.

An exciting 2022/23 season ahead from the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra is working its way up to its centenary in 2025, and their coming 2022/23 promises to be one of their most varied programmes for some years. They also venture out of their traditional Sunday afternoon slot into Saturday evenings for some concerts, and head out to some new venues too. In a further bid to reach new audiences, they are also offering a limited number of £10 'LoveMusic' tickets for three of their concerts, available to those who have never been to a classical concert or heard the BPO before (check out the details for this here).

Joanna MacGregor CBE

There is some familiar repertoire on offer - Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar and Mahler, amongst others. However, notable is the inclusion of a broader range of repertoire, as well as some (albeit a few) works composed by women. So in their opening concert (2.45pm, Sunday 2 October, Brighton Dome), alongside Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, is Joan Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, composed some 40 years after Copland's piece. This concert includes Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite, and Quiet City, featuring soloists John Ellwood (trumpet) and Clare Hoskins (cor anglais). This packed programme also includes Gershwin - the Rhapsody in Blue (with the BPO's Music Director, Joanna MacGregor the piano soloist), and his Symphonic Suite from Porgy and Bess, all under the direction of conductor Sian Edwards.

 

The BPO Chamber Ensemble also pop up at the popular Strings Attached Coffee Concerts at the Attenborough Centre at the University of Sussex, with Rebecca Clarke's Two Pieces for String Quartet, along with Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1, and Elgar's Piano Quintet (11am, 

Sunday 19 March, ACCA). MacGregor and the ensemble also venture over to the University of Kent in Canterbury for a concert of chamber works by Shostakovich, Brahms and Frank Martin (7.30pm, Friday 18 November, Gulbenkian Arts Centre).

 

Sian Edwards

The orchestra also collaborate with visual artist Kathy Hinde for Beautiful World, incorporating birdsong and Hinde's audio-visual work into a programme celebrating winter landscapes, with music by Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin. Once again Sian Edwards takes the baton, with Joanna MacGregor on piano and keyboards (7.30pm, Saturday 21 January, Brighton Dome).

 

Barry Wordsworth

Former principal conductor, now Conductor Laureate, Barry Wordsworth returns for Transfiguration, with Haydn's Symphony No. 88 paired with Mahler's Symphony No. 4. Carolyn Sampson (soprano) is the soloist, and she will also offer a couple of Mozart concert arias to complete the programme (2.45pm, Sunday 27 November, Brighton Dome). 

 

The BPO join voices with Brighton Festival Chorus for two concerts in the season. The first sees the BPO Brass Ensemble join the chorus for a concert of music by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, as well as The Farthest Shore, an oratorio by Paul Mealor (7.30pm, Saturday 19 November, All Saints Church, Hove). Then the orchestra and chorus team up for a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion, conducted by Robert Howarth, with soloists including James Oxley as the Evangelist (2.45pm, Sunday 19 February, Brighton Dome).

 

Ailish Tynan

For Christmas, the BPO Brass Quintet are joined by actor Roger Allam for performances of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (3pm & 6.30pm, Saturday 10 December, St Luke's Church, Brighton). And they celebrate the New Year with their traditional Viennese Gala. Conductor Stephen Bell is joined by Ailish Tynan (soprano) for classics from the Strauss family and the world of operetta, as well as seasonal music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Korngold and film composer Christine Hals (2.45pm, Saturday 31 December, Brighton Dome). 

 

They end this packed season with Towards the Light, with two Beethoven concertos (the Triple Concerto, Op. 56 and the Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 'Emperor') preceded by Barber's Adagio for Strings. Joanna MacGregor conducts from the piano, and is joined by Ruth Rogers (violin) and Peter Adams (cello) in the Triple Concerto (2.45pm, Sunday 26 March, Brighton Dome). 

 

Visit the BPO website here for details of all the concerts, the full season brochure and links to book tickets.