The BBC Orchestras and Singers will be unwrapping a selection box of musical treats this Christmas with concerts taking place across the UK throughout the festive period.
The yuletide feast of music will follow an exciting week for the BBC performing groups during which, for the first time ever, BBC Radio 3’s Afternoon On 3 will present a live concert every day of the week from each of the five BBC Orchestras, playing at their respective homes in Cardiff, Salford, London and Glasgow.
The concerts kick off with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s last concert of their Americana series at Cardiff’s BBC Hoddinott Hall (2 December) followed by the BBC Philharmonic performing a programme of Bernstein, HK Gruber and Mendelssohn at MediaCity in Salford (3 December), the BBC Concert Orchestra live at the Mermaid Theatre in London for an all-American programme featuring Radio 3 New Generation Artist Kitty Whately (4 December), the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at their home, City Halls in Glasgow, with a programme of Wagner, Strauss and Franck (5 December) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra rounding off the week with an all-American programme at their home in London’s Maida Vale Studios under American conductor Joshua Weilerstein (6 December).
In London, the Christmas festivities get underway with two concerts by the BBC Concert Orchestra at Watford Colossuem (10 December, 7.30pm broadcast live on Radio 3) and G Live in Guildford (11 December, 7.30pm). Joined by the New London Chamber Choir and conductor Barry Wordsworth, the programme includes Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and the frosty tale of Rimsky Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, while looking ahead to the New Year with Viennese favourites Lehár’s Gold and Silver Waltz and Johann Strauss II’s Champagne Polka.
As the resident orchestra of BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night Is Music Night, the BBC Concert Orchestra will also present a stocking full of Christmas classics alongside stars of the stage under the baton of Broadway maestro Larry Blank, in a special edition of the much-loved programme broadcast live on Radio 2 at 8pm on Friday 20 December.
Rounding off the first ever Temple Winter Festival, a week of music at London’s Temple Church, the BBC Singers perform Handel’s ever popular Messiah (20 December, 7pm broadcast live on Radio 3) alongside leading period-instrument orchestra, St James’s Baroque, and a showcase of young British classical music talent: soprano Ruby Hughes, counter-tenor David Allsopp, tenor Robin Tritschler and bass Neal Davies. Audiences will also be given the opportunity to take part in a free Messiah workshop at BBC’s iconic Maida Vale Studios (Sunday 15 December, 11am) led by Chief Conductor David Hill and members of the BBC Singers. The ensemble then joins forces with members of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and chamber ensemble Onyx Brass to perform a selection of seasonal music old and new at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, from Praetorius’ In Dulci Jubilo to works by leading choral composers of the 21st century including Jonathan Dove and conductor Ben Parry’s very own Magi (13 December, 7.30pm broadcast live on Radio 3).
The BBC Symphony Orchestra brings Berlioz’s luminous retelling of the Christmas story, L’enfance du Christ, to London’s Barbican as part of the orchestra’s season focus on France (15 December, 2pm broadcast live on Radio 3). Led by French conductor Francois-Xavier Roth, the orchestra will be joined by the BBC Symphony Chorus, Trinity Laban Chamber Choir and soloists Karen Cargill, Yann Beuron, Marcus Farnsworth and Christopher Purves.
Meanwhile, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will be bringing a sackful of Christmas cheer to Wales when it is joined by youth choirs and conductor Grant Llewellyn at St David’s Hall in Cardiff (17 December, 7pm) and Sir Thomas Picton School Hall in Haverforwest (21 December, 3pm & 7pm) for timeless favourites including Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride and ballet music by Tchaikovsky as well as choral classics by John Rutter and Edmund Waters.
In Scotland, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will be getting into the festive spirit with its annual Christmas Classics concerts in Ayr (19 December, 7.30pm) and Aberdeen (20 December, 7.30pm recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland) with conductor Stephen Bell. Celebrated tenor and presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Classics Unwrapped’, Jamie MacDougall, hosts the evenings of sing-alongs and traditional Christmas music by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov before returning with the orchestra to Glasgow’s City Halls to present an afternoon of musical classics from the big screen (22 December, 3pm recorded for future broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland). The orchestra, led by Matt Dunkley will perform the scores from films ranging from It’s A Wonderful Life to Harry Potter and Braveheart.
For further information visit bbc.co.uk/orchestras
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/41752/
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