Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra – Centenary Season

You need a bold statement to launch Centenary Celebrations and Joanna MacGregor has planned something very special. She’s set to conduct the BPO in Tchaikovsky’s thundering ‘Piano Concerto no.1’ – played by the young Dutch phenomenon Aidan Mikdad, who should deliver all the vigour and excitement this heroic work demands. Now a much loved work, it was originally met with fierce criticism. So too was Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’, which nearly brought the house down, literally, in a riot at its première. The roof of the Dome should be safe with the trusty BPO audience but we can expect musical fireworks and passion in this opening concert (Sunday 22 September – 2.45pm Brighton Dome).

Aidan Mikdad

The Second concert will be just as exciting, starting with Sibelius’ patriotic tone poem ‘Finlandia’, always a thrill. The mood will lighten a bit with Glazunov’s melodious ‘Concerto for Saxophone’, when conductor Alpesh Chauhan is joined by star saxophonist Jess Gillam whose career first blossomed as a finalist in BBC Young Musician (2016) and as the youngest ever soloist at the Last Night of the Proms. You can hear her now on Saturday’s ‘This Classical Life’ BBC Radio 3.

Jess Gillam

The October concert continues with the wonderfully evocative ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ of Henryk Górecki. Former BBC New Generation Artist, Ruby Hughes returns to Brighton to sing the exquisite soprano solos. Don’t be put off by the sad title, this will be a spellbinding occasion (Sunday 13 October – 2.45pm Brighton Dome).

Ruby Hughes

Totally different, ‘The Madness/Lightness of Being’ is an evening concert in Brighton Corn Exchange on Saturday 16 November. The programme explores the sinister side of Hollywood music. A Bach keyboard concerto and Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Tango in a Madhouse’ will set the scene. Valentin Silvestrov’s ‘Silent Music for Strings’ is soothing, which cannot be said of Bernard Herrmann’s ‘Suite from Psycho’.

Psycho

Then Joanna MacGregor and the BPO Strings will the reprise the rousing works by Piazzolla that delighted us so much in the Covid era, climaxing in her spine-tingling performance of ‘Libertango’ (Saturday 16 November – 7.30pm Brighton Corn Exchange).

Geoffrey Paterson

Last year Geoffrey Paterson scored a hit with his ‘Wagner’s Dream’ concert. This year should be as wonderful when he conducts super-star percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie in Sir James MacMillan’s ‘Veni, Veni, Emmanuel’, the concerto section of a Sunday afternoon concert that includes Peter Maxwell Davies’ ‘An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise’ and Rimsky-Korsakov’s sensuous ‘Scheherazade’, two of the most entertaining works in the repertoire (Sunday 12 December – 2.45pm Brighton Dome).

Dame Evelyn Glennie

I said last year that ‘Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’, abridged and directed by Richard Williams, deserves repeating every year, and happily Joanna MacGregor with the BPO Brass Quintet have taken me at my word. Roger Allam and Paul Ryan both endowed the narrator with the unnerving gravitas that Dickens’ tale demands. Alistair McGowan has already proved last February that he too has this eerie skill with his virtuoso performance as the Devil in Stravinsky’s ‘The Soldier’s Tale’. Mince pies and mulled wine are served before these 70 minutes of Christmas spirit (Saturday 14 December – 6pm & 8pm St George’s Kemptown).

Alistair McGowan

January’s Saturday evening concert takes conductor Clark Rundell and the BPO into jazz territory, exploring the symphonic music of Duke Ellington, with pianist Gwilym Simcock, bass player Conor Chaplin and drummer James Maddren (Saturday 25 January – 7.30pm Brighton Dome).

Duke Ellington

February takes us back to Sunday afternoon with conductor Ben Gernon and Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’, half an hour or so of music that celebrates friendship. Then Brighton Festival Chorus and American baritone Cody Quattlebaum sing William Walton’s epic cantata ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’, which in 1968 was the Chorus’s first ever performance, under the baton of the composer himself. With a handful of school friends I sang in that extraordinary concert and have loved this sensational work ever since (Sunday 9 February – 2.45pm Brighton Dome).

Cody Quattlebaum

‘Reich/Richter’, the March Sunday evening concert, will be a learning experience for me. I know only a few Steve Reich works and very little of Gerhard Richter’s art which is the inspiration for this programme. It includes Steve Reich’s ‘Music for Pieces of Wood’, ‘Double Music’ by Lou Harrison/John Cage, ‘Pieces for Orchestra’ by Yoko Ono and ‘Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight (Salome Dances for Peace)’ by Terry Riley. Alongside the highly acclaimed conductor/percussionist Colin Currie and Joanna MacGregor, Matthew Fairclough is given credit for sound projection – which is intriguing (Sunday March 23rd – 7.30pm Brighton Dome).

Steve Reich

The Centenary celebrations culminate in a brilliant Gala, Olivier Messiaen’s mind-blowing ‘Turangalîla Symphony’, conducted by BPO favourite Sian Edwards with Joanna MacGregor at the piano and Cynthia Millar playing the mysterious ondes martenot. In 2002 Turangalîla was one of the first concerts given in the renovated Dome, and few other works could test an acoustic better than this kaleidoscopic and intoxicating piece. As extravagant and glorious as the Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky that begin the season, this concert will complete the Centenary festivities in great style demonstrating to the full the orchestra’s extraordinary scope and talent (Sunday 13 April – 2.45pm Brighton Dome).

Olivier Messiaen

For 100 years Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra has grown and matured through slump, war and pandemic, flourishing through the good times as it presents world-class music to a loyal and attentive audience. The orchestra’s Music Director and Principal Conductor Joanna MacGregor has continued to take risks and prepare adventurous programmes, as did her eminent predecessors Herbert Menges, John Carewe and Barry Wordsworth, maintaining the highest standards of musicianship. This Centenary programme gives us a good idea of how varied and fruitful the next century will be.

Joanna MacGregor

Please read the BPO brochure carefully because once again there are changes to the usual times and venues. Look out for the Season Tickets, the Family tickets (children just £1), and the 50% discounts.

You can get the most up-to-date information about the BPO programme, dates and tickets by visiting www.brightonphil.org.uk.

Andrew Connal
June 2024