BPO – Sounds of Brazil – Adriano Adewale (Brazilian percussion), Joanna MacGregor (conductor/piano)
Professor MacGregor closed the 2026 season in spectacular style. Behind all the musicality and glamour lies the core of a compulsive and very effective educator. This carnival finale had plenty to teach an adult audience – children got in for just £1.00 and had a special open rehearsal beforehand too. If this was their first live orchestral concert it will have been life-changing!
Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is a magnificent work, based on a rousing theme that is developed in a stunning succession of variations by every section of the orchestra – they are all soloists, and Britten didn’t make it easy for any of them, not even for the conductor. Not only does it introduce the sounds of all the instruments but gives each player their virtuoso moment. It is really challenging music and the final fugue was thrilling, especially at MacGregor speed!
Adriano Adewale
All this excitement led neatly into the world premiere of MacGregor’s Para Adriano, for percussion, piano and strings, a rather mystical concerto constructed of five contrasting Brazilian dance themes. Adriano Adewale is a tall and dynamic figure with a compelling stage presence. He began with rhythmic patterns on a set of small, unconventionally tuned gongs. It was difficult to identify which movement he was playing because they ran on without any break. The piano and strings sometimes accompanied, sometimes mimicked, and sometimes seemed to compete with the soloist. He in turn occasionally called out, sang or hummed (in the manner of Glenn Gould). It was a structured performance yet also partly improvised and concluded with the seductive samba beat of Canto de Ossanha that aroused thunderous applause. I wonder when we will ever hear it again as it requires the rare combination of not only a virtuoso percussionist but also a jazz-savvy concert pianist conductor too.
Joanna MacGregor © Frances Marshall
Mussorgsky’s stark tone poem chillingly evokes a barren mountain top, exposed to the weather and a witches’ Sabbath. Even when sweetened by the more conventional harmonies of Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestration it is a challenging piece for orchestra and audience alike. The children in front of us were entranced – scary music is clearly popular on a warm Sunday afternoon. So apparently is the cruel tale of Petrushka, whose sad fate at the Shrovetide carnival was spelled out most viciously in Stravinsky’s score, in particular by the trumpet of John Ellwood and by Xiaowen Shang at the piano, who takes us back to the concert’s educational theme because she is one of the current scholars in the BPO’s Spring Forwards mentoring scheme.
What a splendid way to conclude a season, with masterworks works that excite and encourage the players, satisfy the connoisseurs and enchant the youngsters (of all ages)! Expectations are now very high for the next BPO season – to be announced on Thursday – I can’t wait!
Andrew Connal
Brighton Dome Concert Hall,
18 April 2026
Rating:
Adriano Adewale – Brazilian percussion
Joanna MacGregor – conductor
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
Ruth Rogers – leaders
Programme:
Britten – The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
MacGregor – Para Adriano, for percussion, piano and strings (premiere)
Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov – Night on Bald Mountain
Stravinsky – Scenes from Petrushka (1947 version)
