Conductor

Mind-bending and transcendent, our season finale carries us off on a luxurious magic carpet of sounds, and some of the greatest showmen in music, with Richard Wagner. The mythical other worlds he created have inspired countless film scores and fantasy novels. Wagner’s orchestral songs are a rare chance to hear him in miniature. French composer Messiaen beams down a smile on a world of spiritual glory. It’s a place which vibrates with rainbow colours and mystery. The calm before the storm of Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony, music which does more than it says on the tin. Come and hear the BBC Philharmonic in glorious technicolour as we whip up dreams, passions, and devilish visions from Berlioz‘s intoxicating Romantic stupor. A thrilling end to our concert season.

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Ending on a High

The Bridgewater Hall

Immerse yourself in the profound musical journey of "The Essence of Brahms" presented by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. This captivating concert, set to take place at the Lighthouse, Poole, on Wednesday 7 May at 7.30pm, promises an evening of emotional depth and exquisite craftsmanship, showcasing the brilliance of Johannes Brahms alongside works by Wagner and Britten.

The concert will open with Wagner's "Lohengrin Prelude," a piece that paints a celestial depiction of the Holy Grail, followed by Britten's "Violin Concerto," a work of dark beauty and complex virtuosity written as the shadows of the Second World War gathered. The highlight of the evening, Brahms' Symphony No.4, stands as a testament to the composer's mastery over musical structure, thematic economy, and emotional expression, offering a journey through a cosmos of textures, tempos, and moods.

Under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth, with the virtuosic Clara-Jumi Kang on violin, this concert is not just a performance but a tribute to the essence of Brahms himself. The event also honors the memory of Bill Ellaby, making the evening an even more poignant experience.

For those unable to attend in person, the concert will be available via digital livestream for £10, allowing the magic of the BSO to be enjoyed from the comfort of your own home. Please note that the concert will be livestreamed, and audience members may appear in wide-angle shots.

Tickets for the live event at the Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, BH15 1UG, are priced between £17 and £52. Priority booking is open, with general booking available from Wednesday 29 May. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the grandeur and intimacy of Brahms' music, performed by the esteemed Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

The Essence of Brahms

Portsmouth Guildhall

Lighthouse Theatre Warrnambool

From the beginning, Brahms’ Third Symphony has proven to be his most evocative. Brahms offers a compelling, highly revealing musical self-portrait, rich with references to his own thoughts about life and love in its striking mixture of passion and pessimism, of restlessness and serenity, With numerous acknowledgments to Wagner and allusions to the same Rhine-based mythology, it provides other fascinations as well. The spirit of Brahms infuses Hough’s Piano Concerto. The title refers to Stefan Zweig’s memoir of his cultural life in Vienna before the First World War and evokes nostalgia for a bygone era when piano concertos were a touring composer-pianist’s calling card. It bridges time, weaving together echoes of the past with virtuosic brilliance. The Variations on an Original Theme is a brilliantly varied portrait gallery of Elgar’s friends, family and neighbours. The musical caricatures contain some of the most charming and deeply felt music Elgar ever penned and these are elaborated upon in this unique performance with Elgar’s descriptions narrated by an actor.

Notes of Nostalgia

Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts

Superstar violinist Maxim Vengerov, “the greatest living string player in the world today” (Classic FM),
returns to dazzle Dallas with the technical fireworks of Brahms’s Violin Concerto that has inspired the
admiration and awe of audiences for well over a century. Sibelius’s First Symphony, painting with darker shades of the musical palette and evoking the atmosphere of his beloved Finland, rounds out this concert.

Vengerov Plays Brahms

Meyerson Symphony Center

In the 50th-anniversary year of the Royal Northern College of Music, former student Sir Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto – a work full of Romantic passion and ‘youthful freshness’, written while the composer was still a teenage student. Hough is joined onstage by the Manchester-based BBC Philharmonic and conductor Mark Wigglesworth, who also perform Mahler’s First Symphony – complete with birdsong, fanfares, storms and a funeral march – and a new commission from rising-star composer and RNCM graduate Grace-Evangeline Mason.

Prom 6: Sir Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninov

Royal Albert Hall

Walton’s First Symphony was a landmark of English composition and represents the peak of his symphonic thinking. Its turbulent emotions and high-voltage energy were the fruit of tempestuous events surrounding Walton at the time. After an eloquent, dramatic first movement, a stinging, malicious Scherzo and a truly melancholic slow movement, the finale is totally different in outlook – an almost Elgarian ceremonial jubilation, as if a cloud has lifted. The Concerto for the Left Hand displays a great deal of resourcefulness and originality on Ravel’s part. Unfolding in a single movement in three sections, dark and powerful, it is so full of illusion and texture that the solo part rarely gives the slightest hint that a mere single hand is involved. The exquisite orchestral scoring leans toward the rich, lower pitches which lends it a rather sombre hue and an apt heroic grandeur. In the overture to his only comic opera, Wagner skilfully combines the main themes associated with the mastersingers and their apprentices.

Wigglesworth Conducts Walton

Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto begins with a brief murmuring from the orchestra and the simplest of introductions of the main theme from the piano. A mood of dark, impassioned lyricism prevails throughout which builds with urgent expressiveness before reaching an almost delirious close. With its massive chords, cascading and leaping octaves, high-speed runs and wide-spaced, busily embellished textures, it demands a pianist with strength, dexterity, control, and stamina – and big hands! Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker has charmed audiences over the years with its range of gorgeous music and romantic imagery. There is a wonderfully vivid, pictorial quality to his colourful music. From the elegant Waltz of the Flowers to the witty Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Dance of the Reed Flutes, the score is a feast of wonderful melodies. The music tinkles in the memory like a lost music box – enchanting for young and old alike.

Nutcracker Magic

Brahms finished his Second Symphony directly on the heels of his First, but it would be hard to find two more different works. Occasionally referred to as his ‘Pastoral’ symphony, it is of a much happier and lighter nature, and it was immediately taken to the hearts of Viennese audiences, with its sunny themes and numerous dance-like melodies – gentle and lyrical. In their simple beauty the themes give the impression of having been written down in inspired spontaneity. Berg was not a musician of revolutionary temperament. On the contrary, he had great reverence for musical tradition, demonstrated in his Violin Concerto which draws substance from, and pays homage to, the musical past. Throughout the work Berg uses the Lutheran chorale It is Enough to form repeated phrases before ending in peaceful reverence; this perhaps explains Berg’s dedication “to the memory of an angel.” Johann Strauss’ sweeping waltz conjures the elegance of the Viennese dancehalls.

Viennese Whirls

The Anvil

We are delighted to welcome the new Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mark Wigglesworth, in a programme which highlights connections in Viennese music across generations.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

From chirruping birds and babbling brooks to a kaleidoscopic cosmic lightshow – the power of nature pulses through this electrifying concert directed by energetic British conductor Mark Wigglesworth.  

Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony is a hymn of wonder and gratitude to the natural world, combining captivating nature portraits with sounds to move and inspire.  

Hungarian-born Péter Eötvös surrounds the audience with music in his ravishing Aurora, dreamt up while contemplating the Northern Lights aboard a plane high above Alaska. The SCO’s own Principal Double Bass Nikita Naumov – a deeply charismatic player – is Aurora’s expressive soloist. Wigglesworth launches the celestial explorations with US composer Aaron Jay Kernis’s otherworldly evocation of the songs of angels.  

SCO 24/25: Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony

The Queen's Hall

From chirruping birds and babbling brooks to a kaleidoscopic cosmic lightshow – the power of nature pulses through this electrifying concert directed by energetic British conductor Mark Wigglesworth

Mark Wigglesworth

Conductor

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 20, 2024

Wigglesworth Conducts Walton · Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

4 - 5 Dec, 2024

Nutcracker Magic · Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

22 - 25 Jan, 2025

Viennese Whirls · Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Jan 25, 2025

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra · Anvil Arts

Mar 20, 2025

SCO 24/25: Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony · The Queen's Hall

Past events

Jun 22, 2024

Ending on a High · BBC Philharmonic

7 - 8 May, 2024

The Essence of Brahms · Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Symphony No. 1 (Titan) by Mahler

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Un sourire by Messiaen

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Violin Concerto by Berg

Anvil Arts

Conductor in Violin Concerto by Brahms

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No. 2 by Brahms

Anvil Arts

Conductor in Piano Concerto No. 1 by Rachmaninoff

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 1 by Sibelius

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Musica Celestis by Kernis

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Conductor in Enigma Variations by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Wesendonck Lieder by Wagner

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Violin Concerto by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No.2 by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in The Mastersingers of Nuremburg Overture by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Piano Concerto for the Left Hand by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No.1 by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Piano Concerto No.3 by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in The Nutcracker (Act II) by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No.3 by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Piano Concerto (The World of Yesterday) by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Lohengrin Prelude by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in Symphony No.4 by

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Conductor in On the Beautiful Blue Danube by Strauss

Anvil Arts

Conductor in Ablaze The Moon by Mason

BBC Philharmonic

Conductor in Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral' by Beethoven

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

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