Tag orchestra

Reading Time: 3 minutesCreative Director Matt Belcher’s vision for The Orchestral Forest sees the audience experiencing a classical concert from within, free to wander between the ‘trees’, our orchestra blooming from scattered podiums across Sinfonia Smith Square’s hall. The programme celebrates the hidden beauty of the UK’s ancient rainforests, with Belcher’s guide to the performance informing us that at one time, ‘as much as 20% of the UK was covered in temperate rainforest. Today, as little as 0.07% remains. Most have been replaced by conifer plantations – dense, silent monocultures that are intensively grown and felled on repeat…as a result, these forests are now among the rarest and most vulnerable in the world.’

Reading Time: 2 minutesProm 63 of the BBC Proms, featuring The Sixteen under Harry Christophers, was an impeccably curated exploration of English choral traditions, with a focus on sacred and pastoral works. The ensemble’s trademark precision was in full display, as they navigated a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance clarity of Thomas Tallis to the harmonic warmth of Parry and Vaughan Williams.

Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Messiah has been described as one of the world’s favourite oratorios, and it was clear from the atmosphere created at BBC Prom 65 in the Royal Albert Hall why this is the case. Having never been to the Proms, I partially expected an ostentatious event, but the thing that really struck me was the work that has been put in to make the music and the event accessible to all. 

Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe BBC Prom 42 of Beethoven’s Ninth by Heart is a dynamic, powerful musical masterpiece. Throughout the evening, Nicholas Collon began the enchanting night with a beautiful exploration of the creation and legacy of the masterpiece Symphony Number Nine. Followed by the performance (from memory) of the Symphony Number Nine in D minor.