See 10 performances featuring BBC Philharmonic OrchestraWidely recognised as one of Britain’s finest orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic has its own recording studio at BBC Manchester, where it records programmes and concerts for BBC Radio 3. It also performs around 20 concerts each year at Manchester’s magnificent Bridgewater Hall. The Orchestra has built a worldwide reputation for outstanding quality and committed performances over a wide-ranging repertoire.
In September last year the BBC Philharmonic announced a major new partnership with Salford City Council, enabling the Orchestra to build active links with Salford and its communities. From 2011 the BBC Philharmonic will be based in a dedicated state-of-the-art studio at the BBC’s new home in the North – MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. This will be its base for community and learning activities in Salford and in the meantime the Orchestra will work closely with Salford City Council, the Salford Music Service (MAPAS) and schools in the area.
Gianandrea Noseda is Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and has been at the helm of the Orchestra since 2002. Last year he became Music Director of the Teatro Regio in Turin. His role there will run alongside his work with the BBC Philharmonic.
The BBC Philharmonic is regularly invited to major European cities and has recently performed in Prague, Vienna and Budapest. After a highly successful tour to Japan in 2005, Gianandrea and the Orchestra returned there in March for a three-week tour that included three concerts in Tokyo. At the beginning of 2009 the Orchestra will visit Beijing.
The Orchestra’s policy of introducing new and adventurous repertoire has meant that many of the world’s greatest composers have taken the BBC Philharmonic podium, among them Berio, Copland, Penderecki, Tippett and Walton. In 1991 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies became the BBC Philharmonic’s first Composer/Conductor and was succeeded in 2000 by James MacMillan. The Orchestra has recorded three CDs of MacMillan’s music, including The Birds of Rhiannon with the BBC Singers and The Confession of Isobel Gowdie. The BBC Philharmonic is currently hosting a series entitled ‘Neglected Genius’ in which it performs neglected works by composers such as Messiaen, Schoenberg, Berg, Dallapiccola, Dukas, Stenhammar and Berio.
In recent years the BBC Philharmonic, in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music, has collaborated with many composers, including Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Hans Werner Henze, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Malcolm Arnold and Unsuk Chin. Conductors with whom the Orchestra regularly works include its own Chief Guest Conductor Vassily Sinaisky,Günther Herbig,Yan Pascal Tortelier (Conductor Laureate), Yutaka Sado and Paul Daniel.
The Orchestra’s Learning/Community team worked with over 15,000 people last year in various settings, including schools, colleges universities, care homes, special needs centres and some more unusual places – council offices, supermarkets, factories –
taking music and the arts to people wherever they are.
| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 9-May-2013 Bridgewater Hall | The Rite of Spring with the BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena |
 Juanjo Mena concluded his season-long exploration of Stravinsky ballets with a sharp account of the most famous, The Rite of Spring, as part of a programme of unusually grand proportions.
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| 13-Mar-2013 Bridgewater Hall | MacMillan, Britten and Stravinsky with the BBC Philharmonic and H.K. Gruber |
 Conductor H.K. Gruber’s visits to the BBC Philharmonic are guaranteed to be unmissable concerts of the season; with unquenchable enthusiasm and pride in the music he programmes, Gruber, (known affectionately to all as “Nali”), always assures a stirring performance.
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| 15-Feb-2013 Bridgewater Hall | Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert from the BBC Philharmonic |
 Chief conductor Juanjo Mena conducted a programme of energetic Beethoven and Schubert alongside an original reading of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
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| 16-Nov-2012 Bridgewater Hall | BBC Philharmonic and Juanjo Mena: Bach and Bruckner 9 |
 Few concert programmes can feature such different works based on the same inspiration, but the BBC Philharmonic managed the intricacies of Bach and the grandeur of Bruckner with great success. The biggest tragedy of the evening was the audience: the whole top tier of seating was closed, and the stalls were barely half full.
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