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BBC Symphony Orchestra

The BBC SO kick off a weekend of discovery and innovation from the BBC orchestras and choirs with music by Anna Meredith, Harrison Birtwistle, Elizabeth Maconchy and Walton.

The first of the weekend's programmes features the oldest of the BBC orchestras in its 90th anniversary season, reflecting both its wide-ranging and diverse repertoire and pivotal role at the BBC Proms.

Two big choral works featuring large orchestra and extra brass bookend the programme. Anna Meredith's spectacular opener to the 2018 BBC Proms, which movingly sets soldiers' messages from the WWI front line and Walton's biblical epic, very much a BBC SO calling card, paints the fall of Babylon in irresistible, lurid Technicolor. In between, two composers with a long BBC SO associations, Harrison Birtwistle and Elizabeth Maconchy.

Introduced by Hannah French.

Anna Meredith: Five Telegrams
National Youth Choir of Great Britain
BBC Proms Youth Ensemble
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

Harrison Birtwistle: Violin Concerto
Christian Tetzlaff (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson (conductor)

Elizabeth Maconchy: Proud Thames
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast
Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)

1 hour, 44 minutes

Last on

Sat 13 Mar 202110:30

Music Played

  • Anna Meredith

    Five Telegrams (2018)

    Ensemble: BBC Proms Youth Ensemble. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sakari Oramo.
  • Harrison Birtwistle

    Violin Concerto

    Performer: Christian Tetzlaff. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: David Robertson.
  • Elizabeth Maconchy

    Proud Thames

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sakari Oramo.
  • William Walton

    Belshazzar's Feast

    Singer: Bryn Terfel. Choir: BBC Singers. Choir: BBC Symphony Chorus. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.

Broadcast

  • Sat 13 Mar 202110:30