BBC Orchestras and Singers refers collectively to a number of orchestras, choirs and other musical ensembles, maintained by the BBC.
All of the BBC’s Orchestras and Singers record performances primarily for BBC Radio 3, with the exception of the BBC Concert Orchestra which also has a dual role shared with BBC Radio 2. Recordings are either taken from one of around 400 live concerts each year with an audience, [1] or from studio sessions.
Unusually for BBC departments, all of the ensembles also take part in a number of non-broadcast activities, including festival appearances and international touring, and in education work within their regional communities.
The ensembles managed in England report to the Controller of Radio 3 [2] with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra reporting to BBC Cymru Wales [3] and BBC Scotland respectively.
In 2012, John Myerscough was commissioned to report on potential financial savings of the BBC’s Orchestras and Singers. He recommended no more than 10% budget cuts, highlighting the ensembles' successful range of work. [4]
The two choruses, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC National Chorus of Wales, are volunteer choristers and are not paid a salary. The BBC Singers are the UK’s only full-time professional chamber choir, and along with the five orchestras, they are full-time salaried musicians whose pay is negotiated with the Musicians' Union (United Kingdom).
In March 2021, it was announced that the BBC Concert Orchestra would relocate to a new city "outside of the M25", [5] as part of wider BBC announcements redistributing hundreds of jobs outside of London. [6] [7]
In March 2023 the BBC announced plans reduce salaried orchestral posts across the BBC Symphony, Concert and Philharmonic orchestras by around 20% and close the BBC Singers. [8] After protests by the Musicians Union and the broader musical community the BBC said in April that it would seek alternative ways of finding financial savings that would seek to sustain the future of BBC performing groups. [9]
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both a broadcasting orchestra and national orchestra. The BBC NOW has its administrative base in Cardiff, at the BBC Hoddinott Hall on the site of the Wales Millennium Centre, since January 2009.
The BBC Symphony Chorus is a British amateur chorus based in London. It is the dedicated chorus for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though it performs with other national and international orchestras.
Thomas Wilson CBE FRSE was an American-born Scottish composer, a key figure in the revival of interest in Scottish classical music after the second world war.
Graham John Bickley is an English actor and singer. He is best known for playing the role of Joey Boswell in Bread from 1989 until 1991, taking over from Peter Howitt, who played him from 1986 until 1989.
Bernard Rands is a British-American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus.
Martin France was a British jazz drummer. He recorded on over 100 albums and was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was sponsored by Paiste cymbals.
Susan Gritton is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss.
The BBC Singers is a professional British chamber choir, employed by the BBC. Its origins can be traced to 1924. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British choir, the BBC Singers feature in live concerts, radio transmissions, recordings and education workshops. The choir often performs alongside other BBC Performing Groups, such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and is a regular guest at the BBC Proms. Broadcasts are made from locations around the country: London venues have included St Giles-without-Cripplegate, St John's, Smith Square and St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge.
The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) is an amateur philharmonic orchestra based in Cardiff, Wales. The CPO played its first concert in 1982 and subsequently played over 250 concerts, primarily in Wales but also in England, Switzerland, and France. The CPO has a wide repertoire and appears regularly at Wales' premier concert hall, St. David's Hall.
Arthur Eckersley Butterworth, was an English composer, conductor, trumpeter and teacher.
This is a listing of all of Igor Stravinsky's commercially released studio recordings as a conductor or as a pianist; it also includes recordings conducted by Robert Craft "under the supervision of the composer." Works are arranged in chronological order by date of composition.
The BBC Radio Orchestra was a broadcasting orchestra based in London, maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1964 until 1991.
The BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra (SRO) was a light music broadcasting orchestra based in Glasgow, Scotland, maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1940 until disbandment in 1981.
Bristol Choral Society is a large mixed-voiced choir based in Bristol, England, founded in 1889. As of 2002, it is conducted by Hilary Campbe, it has around 140 auditioned members. The choir stages at least three concerts annually at the Bristol Beacon in Bristol with professional orchestras and soloists, and another annually at Bristol Cathedral in addition to other performances and broadcasts in Bristol and further afield.
This is a summary of the year 2017 in British music.
This is a summary of the year 2018 in British music.