Fragile Earth
Sounds of a living planet
Our new concert season tunes in to planet earth, an inexhaustible source of inspiration to artists, and the burning challenge of our time.
Anna Meredith disrupts Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with spangling electronics in Anno, while Samoan artist Lemi Ponifasio counterpoints Mahler’s Song of the Earth with a Samoan chorus whose relationship to the sea is existential. Real birdsong weaves through Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus and Cassandra Miller’s Warbleworks, while composers from all over the globe use field recordings in an immersive day with the The Hermes Experiment (Let us be a Mighty River).
Explore Orford Ness’s sonic archaeology in Ness Songs and dive into the sub-aqua world of John Luther Adams’s Become Ocean. There’s a concerto for recycled percussion, a Medieval floral meditation, and Judith Weir’s The Welcome Arrival of Rain. In a series centrepiece, Julia Wolfe’s major new oratorio UnEarth gathers young voices to generate spiritual hope for the future.
Events
Gabriela Montero with the Calidore Quartet: Canaima
Celebrated Venezuelan pianist and composer Gabriela Montero is joined by the Calidore Quartet for a programme of chamber music including a new work, Canaima, by Montero herself.
Ligeti Quartet: Sunrise Missions
The remarkable Ligeti Quartet traces the shifting contours of memory, nature, and change, through music by Kaija Saariaho, Cassandra Miller, John Luther Adams and many more.
The Hermes Experiment: Let Us Be a Mighty River
A collaboration between The Hermes Experiment and five international sound artists, this immersive concert-installation responds to the climate emergency.
The Marian Consort: The Language of Flowers
Acclaimed choral ensemble Marian Consort pays tribute to flowers and gardens both actual and allegorical, with music from the late Renaissance to the present day.
Julia Wolfe: unEarth
US composer Julia Wolfe’s new work unEarth receives its UK premiere, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, Finchley Children's Music Group, and Danish soprano Else Torp.
Britten Sinfonia/Stevens & Pound: Earth and other planets
An exhilarating re-imagining of Holst's The Planets for folk duo and orchestra, interspersed by text written and narrated by acclaimed writer Robert Macfarlane.
Sea Beneath the Skin / Song of the Earth
Reflecting on the powerful words of Teresia Teaiwa, Theatre of Kiribati merges Pacific rituals with Gustav Mahler’s Song of the Earth in a moving reflection on humanity and collective action.
Britten Sinfonia: Recycling Concerto
Nature and conservation are at the heart of this uplifting programme of orchestral works.
Stravinsky's Firebird
A magical bird, a dream of England, and the sheer magic of pianist Yeol Eum Son, as Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra bring a blaze of colour to the Barbican.
ANNO: Four Seasons by Anna Meredith & Antonio Vivaldi
Experience the passage of time through a surprising and utterly fresh interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Dystopia is Not the Future
Leading thinkers come together in a series of talks and screenings to consider the issues of our time and how we might reimagine them for good.
