Part of our wider classical offering at Portsmouth Guildhall.
We’re delighted to go on sale with the newest season from the wonderful Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra! These shows will be part of our wider classical series at the Portsmouth Guildhall for 2024/2025.
Book your tickets now for the opportunity to see some of the world’s most well-known classical music performed by a sensational orchestra!
BSO: THE PLANETS
4th October 2024 – BOOK NOW
The Planets remains by far Holst’s most popular work; one of the 20th century’s great colouristic showpieces. Its conception has a boldness, excitement and epic sweep that remain immediately impressive after a hundred hearings. Vaughan Williams once said that the work was “the perfect equilibrium” of Holst’s nature – the melodic, precise and structured, combined with the mystic and unexplainable. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 came straight from the heart of its creator and was a showcase for his own amazing pianistic talents. Revolutionary in its scale, drama and intensity, it is a masterful partnership between soloist and orchestra, opening with an unprecedented sense of power, purpose and potential. Vaughan Williams’ symphonic impression is a beautifully written masterpiece. Like the fenland landscape, the music doesn’t impose itself, evoking the wide-open skies over the flat countryside, dark clouds pierced by shafts of sunlight.
Karl-Heinz Steffens
Conductor
Paul Lewis
Piano
Works and composers:
Vaughan Williams In the Fen Country
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3
Holst The Planets
BSO: NUTCRACKER MAGIC
5th December 2024 – BOOK NOW
Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto begins with a brief murmuring from the orchestra and the simplest of introductions of the main theme from the piano. A mood of dark, impassioned lyricism prevails throughout which builds with urgent expressiveness before reaching an almost delirious close. With its massive chords, cascading and leaping octaves, high-speed runs and wide-spaced, busily embellished textures, it demands a pianist with strength, dexterity, control, and stamina – and big hands! Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker has charmed audiences over the years with its range of gorgeous music and romantic imagery. There is a wonderfully vivid, pictorial quality to his colourful music. From the elegant Waltz of the Flowers to the witty Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Dance of the Reed Flutes, the score is a feast of wonderful melodies. The music tinkles in the memory like a lost music box – enchanting for young and old alike.
Mark Wigglesworth
Conductor
Boris Giltburg
Piano
Works and composers:
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3
Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker (Act II)
BSO: LAST NIGHT OF THE CHRISTMAS PROMS
20th December 2024 – BOOK NOW
Christmas just isn’t Christmas without the BSO’s Last Night of the Christmas Proms concert! This year we are thrilled to welcome the talents of pianist and singer extraordinaire, Joe Stilgoe, who will be showcasing his musical talents with a hamper full of Christmas musical goodies alongside all your favourite orchestral treats.
Joe works regularly with orchestra across the UK and can be heard extensively on radio, having hosted and starred many times in BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night, while also being a regular presence on the station (Joe Stilgoe – Christmas At The Movies, Jingle Bell Joe, One Night Stand at Ronnie Scotts), and being a regular guest and presenter on JazzFM, Radio 3 and Radio 4.
Joe Stilgoe
Piano/Singer
Works and composers:
Wood Oh I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Anderson Sleigh Ride
Marks Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Tormé The Christmas Song
Goodwin Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Slade Merry Christmas Everybody
Pierpont Jingle Bells
BSO: VIENNESE WHIRLS
23rd January 2025 – BOOK NOW
Brahms finished his Second Symphony directly on the heels of his First, but it would be hard to find two more different works. Occasionally referred to as his ‘Pastoral’ symphony, it is of a much happier and lighter nature, and it was immediately taken to the hearts of Viennese audiences, with its sunny themes and numerous dance-like melodies – gentle and lyrical. In their simple beauty the themes give the impression of having been written down in inspired spontaneity. Berg was not a musician of revolutionary temperament. On the contrary, he had great reverence for musical tradition, demonstrated in his Violin Concerto which draws substance from, and pays homage to, the musical past. Throughout the work Berg uses the Lutheran chorale It is Enough to form repeated phrases before ending in peaceful reverence; this perhaps explains Berg’s dedication “to the memory of an angel.” Johann Strauss’ sweeping waltz conjures the elegance of the Viennese dancehalls.
Mark Wigglesworth
Conductor
Alena Baeva
Violin
Works and composers:
J Strauss The Blue Danube
Berg Violin Concerto
Brahms Symphony No. 2
BSO: SYMPHONIC DANCES
6th March 2025 – BOOK NOW
The Symphonic Dances is an exhilarating summary of Rachmaninov’s life’s work – rhythmically animated and truly symphonic, nostalgic and sarcastic. He creates a wondrous kaleidoscope of instrumental colours, from the mellow crooning of an alto saxophone to the dry-bones clatter of a xylophone, and with its incisive dance rhythms inspired by folk and jazz the work finally explodes with visceral energy. More akin to a symphony, Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto is a real tour de force of a piece, calling on everything in the violinist’s technical arsenal as well as vast physical and emotional stamina. The wide emotional range of its four-movement structure encompasses brooding, elegiac melancholy with savage, mocking sarcasm before it gives itself up totally to a rhythmic energy and brilliance of colour. Sibelius’ gem of a miniature masterpiece, Valse Triste, portrays a dance of death between a woman and the Grim Reaper, and is both haunting and poignant.
Adam Hickox
Conductor
Rosanne Philippens
Violin
Works and composers:
Sibelius Valse Triste
Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances
BSO: Heroes & Superheroes
21st March 2025 – BOOK NOW
Heroes both historical and fictitious as well as the superheroes of the Marvel and DC comics remain fertile mine of inspiration for Hollywood and some of the best big screen adventures ever. Scores include the classics of Robin Hood and The Magnificent Seven by Eric Korngold and Elmer Bernstein as well as those by John Williams and James Horner from films depicting real-life heroics of wartime sacrifice and space exploration in Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13. Superheroes are represented by Superman, Batman and the X-Men.
Pete Harrison
Conductor
Works and composers:
Korngold Robin Hood March
Bernstein The Magnificent Seven
Barry Dances With Wolves – John Dunbar Theme
J Williams Hook – Flight To Neverland
Jarre Lawrence Of Arabia
Zimmer Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest – Jack Sparrow
Zimmer The Dark Knight
Horner Apollo 13
Shore Lord Of The Rings – The Fellowship
Zimmer Angels & Demons – Illuminati
Horner Braveheart
J Williams Saving Private Ryan
Barry On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Giachino Solo: A Star Wars Story – The Adventures of Han
J Williams Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
BSO: The Essence of Brahms
8th May 2025 – BOOK NOW
The Fourth Symphony is at once a summation of Brahms’ learning and technique, and a work of art that for all its complexities cuts as close to the heart as music can. His craftsmanship is evident in its thematic economy, elegant harmonic designs and command over musical structure. Of all Brahms’ works, it displays his essence most completely – a cosmos of textures, tempos and moods, culminating in music of unsurpassed grandeur. Britten’s Violin Concerto was written as the Second World War broke out and there are dark portents in the opening timpani notes. Dark, yet dazzling, with haunting melodies. multiple crescendo finales and superbly energised virtuoso passages, it remains one of the most challenging works for violinists. Lohengrin was Wagner’s first internationally recognised masterpiece. The Act I Prelude is a musical depiction of the Holy Grail as it descends to the Earth in the care of an Angelic host.
Mark Wigglesworth
Conductor
Clara-Jumi Kang
Violin
Works and composers:
Wagner Lohengrin Prelude
Britten Violin Concerto
Brahms Symphony No. 4
Multibuy Discounts for the BSO Season:
– Book any 5+ concerts and get 10% off. BOOK NOW
– Book any 3-4 concerts and get 5% off. BOOK NOW