Dramatic, thrilling, magnificent – we open the 2026 Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester with a concert full of dazzling music.

Three Choirs Festival: Belshazzar’s Feast

Gloucester Cathedral

The 2024 National Champions of Great Britain, Flowers Band returns to Newbury Spring Festival with a programme that really does have something for everyone, including Orbital by Ivor Novello award-winning composer, Richard Blackford. This exciting work is Richard’s first work for Brass Band and Flowers Band are delighted to be part of the consortium that have commissioned this major piece, with support from BBC Radio 3 and The Radcliffe Trust.

Flowers Band

Corn Exchange Newbury

EPSG:4326

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Kurpark Bad Oeynhausen

Konzerthalle, Bad Salzuflen

Detmold University of Music

Rathaus Gütersloh

Schützenhof city park

Stadtpark Schützenhof Hangül GmbH

The Minden Theater (Stadttheater Minden)

Paderhalle Paderborn

Arvo Pärt’s cult concerto for two violins, Tabula rasa, redefines sound, silence and the relationship between them, while Gavin Higgins’ Rough Voices responds to the pandemic with a musical protest, giving voice to the most vulnerable.

Britten Sinfonia At Summer At Snape

Snape Maltings

Britten Sinfonia At Bbc Proms In Bristol

Bristol Beacon

Charles Ives described the opening of The Unanswered Question as a ‘cosmic landscape’ and this concert is very much rooted in landscapes of all types, from Ives’s exploration of the human spirit’s connection to the realm of nature to the pastoral idyll of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. Gavin Higgins’s Horn Concerto was written for our soloist, Ben Goldscheider, and is inspired by the Forest of Dean, where Higgins grew up. There are echoes of hunting calls and Wagner in a work that finishes with a movement uniquely inspired by the forest floor and titled Mycelium Rondo.

The Great Outdoors

Ulster Hall

Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft takes to the podium to conduct the world premiere of Composer in Association, Gavin Higgins' A Monstrous Little Suite from his opera The Monstrous Child, before Håken Hardenberger makes a much anticipated return to BBC NOW for one of the finest concertos of its kind, Weinberg's playful, suspenseful and witty Trumpet Concerto. With shadows of darkness, to a hobbling waltz, this concerto ingeniously quotes music from some of the most popular works in existence, from Bizet's Carmen to Stravinsky's Petrushka, from Mendelssohn's iconic Wedding March to Mahler's fifth.

BBC NOW - Shostakovich 6 with Ryan Bancroft

Brangwyn Hall

Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft takes to the podium to conduct the world premiere of Composer-in-Association, Gavin Higgins’ A Monstrous Little Suite from his opera The Monstrous Child, before Håken Hardenberger makes a much anticipated return to BBC NOW for one of the finest concertos of its kind, Weinberg’s playful, suspenseful and witty Trumpet Concerto. With shadows of darkness, to a hobbling waltz, this concerto ingeniously quotes music from some of the most popular works in existence, from Bizet’s Carmen to Stravinsky’s Petrushka, from Mendelssohn’s iconic Wedding March to Mahler’s fifth.

Shostakovich 6 with Ryan Bancroft

 Brangwyn Hall

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Wales Millennium Centre

Conductor Martyn Brabbins, at home in both symphonic and brass band genres, returns to Antwerp, where he served as the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra's first guest conductor until 2015. Celebrating the Festival Brass Band's 25th anniversary in 2025, the Belgian premiere of Gavin Higgins' vibrant Concerto grosso for brass band and orchestra awaits. Higgins describes it as a 'love letter to the world of brass bands.' Antwerp Symphony Orchestra also explores classical territory with Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, offering 14 variations portraying friends with a mix of humor and seriousness. Join us for this delightful musical ode to friendship.

Concerto for brass band and orchestra

Queen Elisabeth Hall

Superstar Ben Goldscheider joins LCO to perform two outstanding works for French horn. It’s easy to see why Mozart’s Fourth Horn Concerto is one of his most enduringly popular works: full of cheerful tunes and upbeat accompaniments, the last movement must be one of the most recognisable melodies out there.

LCO & Friends: Ben Goldscheider plays Mozart & Higgins

Kicking off the series is BBC NOW’s Composer-in-Association, Gavin Higgins, with the concerts world premiere, his Sarabande, before we turn to the exciting multi-award-winning Chinese American composer Tan Dun and his Three Muses in Video Game. This trombone concerto pays tribute to gaming music, whilst reflecting the traditional music of China - with its movements named after ancient Chinese instruments these distinctive sounds are the muse for orchestra and soloist alike. To perform we’re delighted to welcome Jrgen van Rijen, who also gave the works world premiere.

Bbc Now - Now!

Revel in the chance to hear a world premiere by our Composer-in-Association Gavin Higgins this new year.

Gavin Higgins

Events

Past events

Jul 25, 2026

Three Choirs Festival: Belshazzar’s Feast · Philharmonia Orchestra

May 23, 2026

Flowers Band · Newbury Spring Festival

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