The BBC Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The BBC SO is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the English National Opera and Welsh National Opera and was the first Australian chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He also specialized in Czech music as a whole, producing many recordings for the Czech label Supraphon.
Adam Walker was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire in 1987. He is an English flautist.
Sir Andrew Frank Davis is an English conductor. He is conductor laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Emma Johnson is a British clarinettist, who was appointed MBE for services to music in 1996.
The Concerto in D major for Oboe and Small Orchestra, AV 144, TrV 292, was written by Richard Strauss in 1945. It was one of the last works he composed near the end of his life, during what is often described by biographers, journalists and music critics as his "Indian summer."
Gwilym Simcock is a Welsh pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, often blurring any distinction between the two musical forms.
Sir Mark Philip Elder is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.
Guy Johnston is a British cellist and the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2000. He has subsequently enjoyed a successful international career as a soloist and chamber musician and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York.
Jennifer Elizabeth Pike is a British violinist.
Mark Simpson is a British composer and clarinettist from Liverpool. In 2006, he became notable for winning both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year, making him the first and, to date, only person to win both competitions.
Ilan Volkov is an Israeli orchestral conductor.
Benjamin Grosvenor is a British classical pianist.
Paul Watkins is a Welsh classical cellist and conductor. His brother is the composer Huw Watkins. Watkins studied cello with William Pleeth, Melissa Phelps and Johannes Goritzki. In 1988, he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year in the string section. From 1990 to 1997, he was principal cellist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Erich Gruenberg was an Austrian-born British violinist and teacher. Following studies in Israel, he was a principal violinist of major orchestras, including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was an international soloist, playing the first performance of Britten's Violin Concerto in Moscow. As a chamber musician, he was leader of the London String Quartet and recorded all Beethoven violin sonatas with pianist David Wilde. He was the lead violinist for The Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Gruenberg taught at the Royal Academy of Music until age 95, influencing generations of violinists.
Martin Owen is a British classical horn player. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He was principal horn of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) 1998–2008. In 2008, he was appointed principal horn of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Abel Pereira is a Portuguese horn player. He played as soloist and principal horn in major European orchestras, such as Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2014, he has been Principal Horn of Washington's National Symphony Orchestra. Pereira won several awards and prizes, including the 1998 European Master Prize.
Richard Strauss composed his Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, whilst living in Vienna in 1942. The work was premiered in 1943 at the Salzburg Festival and was recorded in 1944, both with solo horn Gottfried von Freiberg. The score was published by Boosey & Hawkes of London in 1950. It was taken up and popularised by the British horn player Dennis Brain. It has since become the most performed and recorded horn concerto of the 20th century.
The Duet-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon, TrV 293, with string orchestra and harp in F major, was written by Richard Strauss in 1946/47 and premiered in 1948. It is the last purely instrumental work he wrote.
