Proms 2024 Bristol Beacon 4: Evelyn Glennie plays Jennifer Higdon

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – Bristol Beacon’s Orchestra in Residence – opens its concert with a little-known gem of Ukrainian music. Feodor Akimenko was born in Kharkiv in 1876, going on to teach Igor Stravinsky before writing his beautiful ‘Poème- Nocturne’ Angel in 1912. The BSO’s Ukrainian Chief Conductor (and Akimenko aficionado) Kirill Karabits conducts it here as a prelude to American composer Jennifer Higdon’s seriously flamboyant Percussion Concerto, played by Evelyn Glennie, and Tchaikovsky’s heart-on-sleeve Symphony No. 5. Knell by Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh offers a glance back to Akimenko’s Angel in its momentary, symbolic plea for peace.

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Image: Evelyn Glennie © Philip Rathmer