Orchestras on Stage

Aurora Orchestra’s groundbreaking staging of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall © Aurora

Academy of Ancient Music announced its 2022-23 Cambridge series, 'Tis nature's voice, a musical exploration of the environment and our place within it.

Aurora Orchestra made its inaugural performance as Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre with its revelatory staging of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Birmingham Contemporary Music Group presented a concert of illusions, a performance filled with uncompromising compositions, live electronics, and reflection on desire and loss. As Classic FM’s Orchestra in the South of England, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra signposted audience members to a number of recommended concerts. This Christmas Britten Sinfonia will be joined by the Polyphony choir for Bach's Christmas Oratorio.

City of London Sinfonia presented The Owl and the Nightingale, the first staging of the work by an orchestra. This formed part of its 2022-23 season The World Rediscovered which opened with two concerts at Southwark Cathedral: first, Morning, Noon and Night to take listeners on a musical journey through the day, and Hope for a New Dawn, featuring Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time.

English National Ballet announced the world premiere of Creature at this year’s BFI London Film Festival in October. Its London season includes Ek / Forsythe / Quagebeur at Sadler's Wells, and Nutcracker and Swan Lake at the Coliseum.

Glyndebourne invited audience members a sneak-peek at the creative process behind its Poulenc double-bill of La Voix humaine and Les Mamelles de Tirésias.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama launched its new season of events including OrchestRAM, and the return of Guildhall Jazz Festival in partnership with the EFG London Jazz Festival. Irish Association of Youth Orchestra's Wind Ensemble returned to the University of Limerick for a week of rehearsals after three long years. London Handel Festival launched its 2023 event, Forces of Nature 2023, which includes opening its Handel Opera Studio with a brand new production of In the Realms of Sorrow. London Symphony Orchestra announced its autumn season, including a celebration of the past and future of British Music, Half Six Fix, and free Friday lunchtime concerts.

Glyndebourne’s insight into its production of Poulenc’s Le Voix Humaine gives an insight into various props such as this PTT U43 model telephone © Graham Carlow

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's autumn season, Songs of Travel, opened with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, mixing Coleridge's epic with music by Purcell. The Orchestra of the Swan's 26th season centres on balance, with well-known composers like Mendelssohn and Vaughan Williams with less familiar living composers such as Anna Meredith, Jessie Montgomery, and Roderick Williams.

The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra had its Carnegie Hall debut. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra opened their 2022-23 Journeys of Discovery season in Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall with Music Director, Vasily Petrenko. Scottish Ensemble's Andrew Berridge shared the aim of his latest curation with the orchestra, Breathe, a free concert series based on using music alongside mindfulness.

Ulster Orchestra gave the public the chance to become performers themselves.