The Radio 3 Children in Need Auction 2015

Here’s your chance to own a piece of musical history. To mark the BBC Children in Need appeal for 2015, five of our most distinguished living composers have donated an original manuscript, or part of a manuscript, to be auctioned online. All the money raised by the auction will go towards helping some of the most disadvantaged children in the UK.

To find out more about BBC Children in Need, click here.

Here are details of what’s available to bid for. In many cases the composers themselves have written the descriptions of what they are offering for auction and what the work symbolises for them.

THE BBC RADIO 3 CHILDREN IN NEED CHARITY AUCTION 2015 IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU.

"I’m donating a signed, handwritten manuscript of the opening bars of one of my most performed choral pieces, Lux Aurumque, to the Radio 3 auction to support BBC Children in Need 2015. I wrote Lux in the late 90s and asked my dear friend, poet and historian Charles Anthony Silvestri, to translate the words of Edward Esch to Latin for the piece. I knew that I wanted to try to create something very simple and very beautiful for this text, and as I wrote I waited patiently for the tight harmonies to shimmer and glow in my mind before I transferred them to manuscript paper. Lux Aurumque is dedicated with love to my great friend Dr. Jo Michael Scheibe."

Eric Whitacre, 9 October 2015

Please note that the winning bidder must pay postage costs. These will vary according to the location of the winning bidder and the postage services selected.

"I'm donating this original sketch to the Radio 3 auction for BBC Children in Need 2015.

It’s a quote from a piece I wrote for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for the BBC Proms in 1990, and it was first performed there in August of that year, conducted by Jerzy Maksimiuk. Entitled 'The Confession of Isobel Gowdie' it is a tone poem based on the true story of a woman accused of witchcraft in the north of Scotland in the 17th century. It was a commission from the BBC Proms, and was one of my first works to reach a wide audience. I hope the auction winner will enjoy reading through this melodic line, an obsessive motif which emerges in the music as the mood darkens and the narrative becomes more threatening.”

James MacMillan, 5 October 2015

Please note that the winning bidder must pay postage costs. These will vary according to the location of the winning bidder and the postage services selected.

"I’m donating this original manuscript sketch to the Radio 3 auction for BBC Children in Need 2015. It’s a piece I wrote for the Chapel Royal Choir, Hampton Court to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Hampton Court Palace. It will receive its first performance on Monday November 17 (i.e. the Monday after the BBC Children in Need Appeal). It is a loud, energetic piece scored for choir, organ and two trumpets. The pages have a lot of crazy handwriting and coloured pen; maybe the auction winner might like to stick a page or two up on the wall."

Judith Weir, 5 October 2015

Please note that the winning bidder must pay postage costs. These will vary according to the location of the winning bidder and the postage services selected.

The composer has donated a page of the manuscript of his opera Anna Nicole to the Children in Need Appeal. The extract is the start of the chorus at the end of Act 1.

The opera takes a close look at the life of Anna Nicole Smith, the Playboy bunny who married an octogenarian billionaire, only to discover that "there's no such thing as a free ranch".

The first performance was on 17 February 2011 at the Royal Opera House.

Please note that the winning bidder must pay postage costs. These will vary according to the location of the winning bidder and the postage services selected.

"I am donating this original manuscript – one of the two copies of the complete harmonic sketch to the third movement of my Symphony (2014-15) – to the Radio 3 auction for BBC Children in Need 2015.

The symphony was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the BBC Proms 2015 season. It was given its world premiere by countertenor Andrew Watts and BBC Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Edward Gardner on the 25 August 2015 at the Royal Albert Hall.

This work signifies an important step in my career as a composer. As well as being my first BBC commission, it was also the first occasion on which my music was featured at the BBC Proms.

With the enthusiastic response from both the critics and audience, I hope this work will have a life after its premiere performance. Also, to my knowledge, it is the first symphony written for countertenor and orchestra. Therefore, the auction winner might be in possession of a piece of unique musical history!"

Raymond Yiu, 5 October 2015

Please note that the winning bidder must pay postage costs. These will vary according to the location of the winning bidder and the postage services selected

THE BBC RADIO 3 CHILDREN IN NEED CHARITY AUCTION 2015 IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU.