BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Where do we go from here?

Festival Director Nicola Benedetti and acclaimed broadcaster Tom Service present a special concert exploring the future of classical music.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and their Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth invite you to explore orchestral works by some of today’s most exciting composers. Festival Director Nicola Benedetti – a champion of contemporary classical music – and acclaimed broadcaster Tom Service will present this performance.

At the heart of the concert is Hans Abrahamsen’s orchestral song cycle Let me tell you, in which Shakespeare’s Ophelia tells her own story. This multi-award-winning work was rated the greatest classical composition of the 21st century by The Guardian in 2019. It is performed by soprano Jennifer France, a leading interpreter of contemporary music.

The programme will also feature Helen Grime’s ‘stunning’ (The Herald) nature-inspired Virga, Elizabeth Ogonek’s colourful and dramatic as though birds and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s expressionist masterpiece Three Screaming Popes – a tribute to the intense paintings of Francis Bacon.

Nicola Benedetti and Tom Service reveal what to expect from a concert that will feature them both on stage, in dialogue with Ryan Wigglesworth, as they seek to demystify a programme of contemporary orchestral works. If an appreciation of modern music eludes you, this is the place to start a journey of discovery.

Click here to download a Word file transcript of the audio introduction for BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Where do we go from here?

All you need to know

edintfest · All you need to know... BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Where Do We Go From Here?

Programme

Programme includes
Hans AbrahamsenLet me tell you (sung in English, with English supertitles)
Helen Grime Virga
Elizabeth Ogonekas though birds
Mark-Anthony Turnage Three Screaming Popes

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ryan Wigglesworth Conductor
Nicola Benedetti and Tom Service Presenters

Jennifer France Soprano

Formed in 1935, initially based in Edinburgh, then at Broadcasting House, Glasgow, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has been based at Glasgow’s City Halls since 2006. The BBC SSO is Scotland’s national broadcasting orchestra and performs throughout Scotland, the UK and abroad, touring to Vienna, Salzburg, Tokyo and Osaka (for the inaugural BBC Proms Japan). It maintains a busy schedule of broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Television.

It is Scotland’s leading champion of new music and has established strong links with local communities through its thriving learning and outreach programme. It is a partner in ‘Big Noise’, Scotland’s project for social change through music; it plays a major role in the BBC’s Ten Pieces initiative; and has a close association with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, working across a variety of disciplines with conductors, composers, soloists and orchestral players. The orchestra appears regularly at the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival (where it made its debut in 1948) and it is a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and of four Gramophone Awards.

Ryan Wigglesworth became Chief Conductor last Season, making his debut in September 2022. One of the foremost composer-conductors of his generation, he directed a wide range of repertoire including a UK Premiere from the orchestra’s new Composer-in-Association, Hans Abrahamsen, and works by Olivier Messiaen to mark 30 years since the composer’s death.

First Violins
Laura Samuel, Kanako Ito, David Routledge*, Cheryl Crockett, Jane Mackenzie, Elita Poulter, Amy Cardigan, Olivier Lemoine, Gent Koço, Emily Ward, Mireia Ferrer Yabar, Kana Kawashima, Tom Hankey, Laura Ghiro

Second Violins
Lise Aferiat*, Jamie Campbell†, Liza Johnson ‡, Julia Norton, Alex Gascoine, Janis Walton, Julia Carpenter, Barbara Downie, Alice Rickards, Ana do Vale, Julia Lungu, Helena Rose

Violas
Scott Dickinson*, Andrew Berridge†, Rik Evans, Fiona Robertson, Mary Ward, Martin Wiggins, Rhoslyn Lawton, Morag Robertson, Liam Brolly, Emma Connell-Smith

Cellos
Rudi De Groote*, Siân Bell†, Niamh Molloy, Sarah Oliver, Harold Harris, Sharon Molloy, Gill De Groote, Anne Brincourt

Double Basses
Gyunam Kim*, Iain Crawford†, Tom Berry, Derek Hill, Paul Speirs, Lynette Eaton, May Halyburton

Flutes
Anna Wolstenholme¥, Brontë Hudnott†, Luke Russell†

Piccolo
Luke Russell †

Oboes
Stella McCracken*, Alexandra Hilton†, James Horan†

Cor Anglais
James Horan†

Clarinets
Yann Ghiro*, Adam Lee, Simon Butterworth†

Bass Clarinet
Simon Butterworth†

Saxophones
Josef Pacewicz, Richard Schofield

Bassoons
Guylaine Eckersley¥, Graeme Brown†, Peter Wesley†

Contra Bassoon
Peter Wesley†

Horns
Lauren Reeve Rawlings¥, Hector Salgueiro, Helena Jacklin¥, Flora Bain, Hayley Tonner, Christine McGinley, Hayley Tonner, Diana Sheach

Trumpets
Mark O’Keeffe*, Mark Calder, Hedley Benson†

Trombones
Simon Johnson*, Jonathan Hollick†, Cillian O’Ceallachain

Bass Trombone
Alexander Kelly†

Euphonium
Jonathan Hollick†

Tuba
Andrew Duncan*

Timpani
Gordon Rigby*

Percussion
Louise Goodwin¥, David Lyons, David Kerr, Martin Willis

Harp
Helen Thomson

Piano
Lynda Cochrane

Celeste
Simon Smith

* section principal
† principal
‡ string sub-principal
¥ guest principal