A slow month for BBC orchestras
OrchestrasWe have been sent a summary of the January concerts diary of the BBC orchestras, some of which are threatened with losing their BBC funding unless they can raise private or commercial sponsorship.
Some BBC officials argue privately that those orchestras which are not fully occupied should be made part-time.
Here’s the diary:
JANUARY 2023 HIGHLIGHTS
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Mahler Symphony No. 5 – Friday 20 January, 7.30pm at the Barbican, London. Conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and with soprano Elizabeth Watts. The concert will also feature a new orchestral version of Ryan Wigglesworth’s piece Till Dawning which tells a story of suffering, struggle and triumphant reawakening.
Broadcast live on Radio 3 and on BBC Sounds.
Our Precious Planet – Saturday 28 January, 5pm at the Barbican, London. Conducted by Dalia Stasevska and featuring live illustrations and animation from visual artist Grégoire Pont, in a programme that celebrates our planet. Featuring works by Messiaen, Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, Dani Howard, Anna Meredith, John Adams, Britten, Ginastera, Poulenc.
BBC Concert Orchestra
CBeebies: Ocean Adventure – Prom tour starts on Saturday 21 January, 2pm at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton. A magical multi-media event featuring CBeebies theme tunes, orchestral treats, live action film and animation with a few surprises along the way.
Unclassified Live: Bell Orchestre – Saturday 25 January, 8pm at Queen Elizabeth Hall. The Montreal-based six-piece – which shares two members with Arcade Fire: Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry – presents their latest album, House Music, in a performance with the BBC Concert Orchestra for a live edition of Unclassified. The evening includes live interviews with the ensemble. Conducted by André de Ridder and with Elizabeth Alker.
BBC NOW
Disney’s Fantasia in Concert – Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 January, 3pm at Brangwyn Hall, Swansea and St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Scenes from Disney’s Fantasia (1940) and its sequel, Fantasia 2000 will be projected in high definition above the orchestra as they perform classical selections including Beethoven’s The Pastoral Symphony, Debussy’s Clair de Lune, Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, among others.
Marzena Diakun conducts… – Friday 27 January, 7.30pm at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff. Programme includes the UK Premiere of Thierry Pécou’s Cara Bali Concerto inspired by gamelan music, written for and performed by pianist Alexandre Tharaud. Marzena Diakun has conducted with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre National de Lyon, and she has worked as an assistant to Andrey Boreyko (with the Bern Symphony Orchestra) and Mikko Franck (with the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France).
Broadcast live on Radio 3 and on BBC Sounds.
BBC Philharmonic
Ben Gernon conducts… – Saturday 28 January, 7.30pm Concert at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Programme including Shostakovich’s orchestration of the Prelude to Act I of Mussorgsky’s opera Khovantshina, Anna Clyne’s DANCE and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2 in E minor.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Bach & Stravinsky – Thursday 26 and Friday 27 January, 7.30pm at City Halls and Perth Concert Hall. A programme exploring the connection between Bach and Stravinsky, featuring Bach’s Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, da komm, ich her (arr. Stravinsky), and Komm, Jesu, komm!, BWV 229, and Magnificat in D major, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947 version). Conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and with the BBC Singers.
Thursday performance broadcast live on Radio 3 and on BBC Sounds.
Those events are billed as “highlights”, so the listings are probably not complete. But you raise an interesting and worrying point, namely how much work does an orchestra need to do to justify employing its members full-time?
A quick check on Bachtrack (which admittedly may also not be exhaustive) suggests that in the first six months of next year, the BBCSO has 22 gigs, and the LSO has 48.
Can’t compare the BBCSO to the LSO. One is a contract orchestra, whilst the other is a player run orchestra. Therefore a different mindset and attitude from the players! Contract BBCSO. Plus the LSO shall have sessions, tours, education projects during this same period – essentially double/triple amount of BBCSO calls.
The BBC orchestras make many more recordings for broadcast and have far more rehearsals than the self-governed orchestras. The LSO do not have twice as many calls as the BBCSO.
Both the BBCSO and the LSO toured Japan very recently. The BBCSO performed six concerts in fourteen days; the LSO gave thirteen concerts in seventeen days. Think the LSO does twice the number of calls…
Why do BBC orchestras need “far more” rehearsals than other orchestras?
This is just their public concerts which anyone can view on their respective websites. What’s missing from the list is commercial and broadcast recordings, workshops in schools, side by side events with conservatoire students and conducting workshops with students. I think you’ll find the BBC’s excellent orchestras will be as busy as ever.
‘We have been sent a summary’…
‘Some BBC officials argue privately’…
Both formulations concealing the identity of those involved, it would be less disingenuous to tell us who they are; it is widely known that the culture-blind tories have placepersons inside the BBC who are working for its dismantling.
Marzena Diakun is currently chief conductor in Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid
Very selective info here – apparently just their main season concert listings, which for any orchestra (not just the BBC ones) is rarely more than the tip of the iceberg.
It doesn’t take long to find out that (eg) the BBC Philharmonic is giving three concerts in January that are not listed here (two afternoon matinees in Salford and an OOT in Nottingham) and of course there will be no public listing of education work and recording sessions, either for R3 or private hires such as their ongoing projects with Chandos.
January, of course, is an atypical month in the concert calendar – the first week to ten days is typically the domain of Viennese galas and Messiahs; repertoire in which the BBC will not (and many would say should not) be competing directly with non-license-fee-funded orchestras.
this list is selective and misleading.
The BBC Phil will be performing 8 public concerts in January, including a tour to The Canary Islands, all of which are recorded for broadcast on Radio 3.