Tchaikovsky, Britten and Nicholson

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Gernon

,Barbican Hall
A headshot of Ben Gernon

A London premiere by the Scot Alasdair Nicolson sits between Britten's defiant, pacifist Sinfonia da Requiem and Tchaikovsky's wintry First Symphony.

The BBC SO premiered Alasdair Nicolson’s atmospheric song-cycle – ’character studies of ghostly apparitions’ – at the St Magnus International Festival in Orkney where he is Artistic Director. They now bring it to London alongside Britten’s fiercely defiant and pacifist Sinfonia da Requiem, written during the Second World War. The programme ends with Tchaikovsky’s atmospheric and all-too-seldom heard First Symphony with its wintry evocations. It was piece he laboured hard to write, and is, perhaps, his first major work. Ben Gernon, an alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and winner of the 2013 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award, makes his Barbican debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Tagged with: Classical music BBC Symphony Orchestra 2017–18 BBC Symphony Orchestra 2017–18 Multibuy

Programme

Britten Sinfonia da Requiem
Alasdair Nicolson Shadows on the Wall – Five Hauntings (London Premiere)
Tchaikovsky Symphony No 1, Winter Daydreams

Performers

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Ben Gernon conductor
Marta Fontanals-Simmons* mezzo-soprano

*Mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany is no longer able to perform and we are grateful to Marta Fontanals-Simmons, who has agreed to perform in her place.

Barbican Hall

Discover

Photo of music instrument

Collection: Classical Music

From world-class international orchestras and ensembles, top soloists and musicians to innovative young talents, discover exclusive content from our classical programme and creative learning projects with Guildhall School of Music & Drama. 

Read more
a black and white picture of the barbican towers in central london

Watch: Architecture

Discover more about the history of our Grade II listed building plus debates and discussion about architecture – with slight favouritism towards Brutalism…

Watch more
Photo of orchestra in the Barbican Hall

Podcast: Classical Music

Hear interviews, performances and exclusive tracks from the world’s finest classical musicians and performers, Barbican resident orchestras and our international associates in Barbican Classical Music podcasts.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Acast