BBC Philharmonic

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The BBC Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It is one of a total of five radio orchestras at the station. The orchestra is based in Manchester , the regular venue is Bridgewater Hall. The orchestra gives more than 100 concerts each year, most of which are broadcast on the radio. The ensemble also makes concert tours, including abroad, and performs regularly at the Proms in London.

Omer Meir Wellber has been the orchestra's chief conductor since September 2019 . Leading guest conductors are John Storgårds as Chief Guest Conductor and Ben Gernon as Principal Guest Conductor . Yan Pascal Tortelier is currently an honorary conductor.

history

The orchestra was founded in 1922 under the name 2ZY Orchestra , as an orchestra for the 2ZY radio station in Manchester under the direction of the conductor Dan Godfrey Junior . In 1926 it was renamed the Northern Wireless Orchestra . In 1930 the BBC Symphony Orchestra was founded in London . As a result, the Northern Wireless Orchestra's funding was cut - it was temporarily reduced to just nine musicians and renamed the Northern Studio Orchestra .

After the BBC decided to set up the ensemble again as a symphony orchestra, it was called the BBC Northern Orchestra from 1934 . Due to another name change in January 1967, the orchestra was now called the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra . The BBC enlarged the orchestra again in 1982 and gave it its current name: BBC Philharmonic. Musicians at the time joked that the new name was BBC Enharmonic , as the orchestra had been renamed again, but sounded the same as before.

In 1991 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was appointed first house composer. His successor in this position was James MacMillan in 2000 , who in turn was replaced in 2009 by the Austrian composer HK Gruber . The current composer in association is the British clarinetist Mark Simpson.

Chief conductor

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c BBC Philharmonic Biography . bbc.co.uk
  2. ↑ Martin Cullingford: BBC Philharmonic names new Chief Conductor. Omer Meir Wellber to take up post in September 2019. In: Gramophone . October 4, 2018, accessed February 5, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c Joseph Stevenson: BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra on Allmusic (English)
  4. ↑ a b Aryeh Oron: BBC Philharmonic with Bach Cantatas (English)