Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra – Season 2021/22

Joanna MacGregor, the Music Director of Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, launches her inaugural season on 26 September with a brilliant flourish: Britten’s ‘Young Apollo’ op.16, an exciting work for piano and strings inspired by Britten’s first adult love affair. Then come two Mozart piano concertos separated by MacGregor’s own arrangements of three spicy tangos by Astor Piazzolla. Thomas Gould will be the guest Leader of the BPO, following John Bradbury who has retired after 30 splendid years.

On 7 November there’s a Baroque feast of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Purcell with a selection of virtuoso instrumental solos led by Ruth Rogers (violin) and soprano Gillian Keith.

5 December has Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian pipes/violin) joining MacGregor and Gould in a folk-inspired programme including works by James MacMillan and Vaughan Williams.

The ever-popular New Year’s Eve Viennese confection of Strauss and Lehár is conducted by Stephen Bell with Rebecca Bottone (soprano).

Conductor Laureate Barry Wordsworth makes his welcome appearance on 13 February 2022 in a luscious programme of Mendelssohn, Fauré and Ravel, with stellar young Chinese pianist, Junyan Chen.

6 March presents a very special concert, ‘Silent Classics’. The musicologist and broadcaster Neil Brand shares his enthusiasm and fascinating insights on cinema music at a time when sound recording was affording a whole new way of enjoying orchestral and piano sounds.

The season closes on 27 March in magnificent style as MacGregor and Gould return, this time conducted by Sian Edwards, in another substantial programme of Elgar and Mozart, culminating with the 25-year-old Brahms’ exuberant and monumental piano concerto No.1, a full-blooded celebration for this post-pandemic era of the orchestra and its dynamic new Music Director.

Dome Concert Hall, 2021/22

Andrew Connal