Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English
orchestra
. Originally based in Bournemouth
, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole
in 1979.
The orchestra played in the 'old' Winter Gardens from its inception until that building was demolished in 1935 (the last piece to be performed being Haydn's Farewell Symphony). After a time at the Pavilion Theatre, the orchestra moved back to the 'new' Winter Gardens with an inaugural concert on 18 October 1947. The orchestra performed regularly there until the mid 1980s, when the Poole Arts Centre became its main venue. The 'new' Winter Gardens were demolished in May 2006. In Poole, the orchestra gives its main season at the Lighthouse Centre for Performing Arts (formerly Poole Arts Centre), where the concert hall has 1,596 seats. Currently Portsmouth Guildhall
and the Great Hall of Exeter University are the other main venues, with shorter series given in Bournemouth (Pavilion Theatre) and Basingstoke
.
as a group of 30 wind players and a drummer, though several of the instrumentalists - as is the current practice with military musicians - were proficient in both wind and string instruments. This flexible approach meant that the musicians could form a military band for open air concerts (playing on Bournemouth Pier) or a more formal classical ensemble for indoor programmes. The group gave its first concert on Whit Monday 1893 at the Winter Gardens, with its first classical concert in October that year.
The band quickly expanded to become a full orchestra, gaining a reputation for championing British
music. Edward Elgar
and Gustav Holst
(among others) conducted the orchestra in their own works. The orchestra gave the UK premieres of major works by Richard Strauss
, Camille Saint-Saëns
and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
. On 14 December 1903, the Orchestra gave its 500th symphony concert, conducted by Godfrey; a souvenir booklet listed all the works played by the orchestra since its inception, noting any first performances. The Bournemouth Municipal Choir, founded by Godfrey in 1911, sang regularly with the orchestra.
From 1922 (to 1940) an Easter Festival was an important feature in the Bournemouth calendar; in 1927 the Festival was devoted to music of British women composers. In 1934, Godfrey retired as principal conductor, having conducted over 2,000 symphony concerts.
The first recording by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra was made in 1914 and occasional records were issued during Godfrey's tenure: Godfrey's recordings included works such as Ferdinand Hérold's overture to Zampa
, Daniel Auber
's overtures The Bronze Horse
and The Crown Diamonds
, or Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
's Petite Suite de Concert, along with "novelty items" with titles such as 'Slippery Sticks' and 'Whispering Pines' by members of the orchestra and featuring them as soloists.
Godfrey remains the longest serving principal conductor of the orchestra, and his stewardship ensured that, unlike many of the seaside orchestras that functioned from the end of the 19th century up until the outbreak of World War II, the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra established an ongoing tradition of music making. Godfrey's programmes mixed populist elements, such as variety
acts and light music
, with extracts from more serious pieces. Alongside these, he instituted a series of symphony concerts which introduced diverse repertoire. He cultivated connections with most of the prominent British composers of the day including Edward Elgar
, Hamilton Harty
, Alexander Mackenzie, Hubert Parry
, Charles Villiers Stanford
, Ethel Smyth
, Gustav Holst
and the Australian Percy Grainger
.
From the very beginning, Godfrey had a difficult relationship with the Bournemouth Borough Council
who saw the orchestra as a commercial concern which needed to pay its way. As part of Bournemouth's visitor attractions, any request for expansion of the orchestra or changes to their contracts were the subject of exhaustive debates in the Council chamber. However, in general, Godfrey was successful at balancing both high artistic standards and box-office success.
. Radio broadcasts took place from the Pavilion and a number of celebrated composers visited during this time, including Igor Stravinsky
, William Walton
, Ernest John Moeran
, Sergei Rachmaninov, Roger Quilter
, Balfour Gardiner and Percy Grainger
. At the outbreak of war, the orchestra was cut from 61 to 35, and then in 1940 to only 24 players. Austin resigned in the same year and Montague Birch
helped keep the orchestra going during the war, giving many 'popular' concerts.
Whilst the Municipal Orchestra struggled in a depleted state, the war years saw concerts in the town by the Wessex Philharmonic, a freelance orchestra conducted by Reginald Goodall
, which included some ex-members of the BMO.
was appointed Musical Director of a re-formed orchestra of 60. He conducted the orchestra in its first concert in London since 1911, at the Royal Albert Hall
in 1948, and in two concerts at the Royal Festival Hall
during the Festival of Britain
in 1951. Schwarz's tenure was marked by artistic consolidation, but also financial troubles.
Charles Groves
took over as Musical Director in 1951, but a rising annual deficit and termination of players' contracts caused a crisis, averted only by support from the Winter Gardens Society. In 1952, a plan to merge the BMO with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
was avoided by an arrangement with the Arts Council for the orchestra to accompany Welsh National Opera
for several weeks. The continuation of the orchestra was only secured by the formation of the Western Orchestral Society. In 1954, the orchestra changed its name to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. At the inaugural concert, Groves and Sir Thomas Beecham shared the podium.
on their first British tour in 1956.
In 1957 Groves and the orchestra made commercial recordings, for Classics Club, (with a local engineer from Ronaldsons of Southbourne
), of Beethoven
's 4th Symphony
, Brahms
's Academic Festival Overture
and Bizet
's L'Arlésienne Suite.
In 1962, Constantin Silvestri
became Principal Conductor and raised the standard and profile of the orchestra, with an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival
in 1963, a first European tour in 1965, notable recordings and regular radio broadcasts. The orchestra gained its first international recognition during Silvestri's tenure, such as in a joint performance with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
in the Winter Gardens by the combined string sections of both orchestras, playing Edward Elgar
's Introduction and Allegro
. His tenure was cut short by his death from cancer in 1969. His recorded legacy includes, Vaughan-Williams 'Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis', Rimsky-Korsakov
's Scheherazade
, and a 1966 recording of Tchaikovsky
's 1812 Overture
with the additional forces of the Band of HM Royal Marines
.
Recent releases on BBC Legends, transferred from recordings of live concerts given at the Winter Gardens and elsewhere during Silvestri's tenure, provide a vivid record of the orchestra's style in this era. These include accounts of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
, who served as de facto principal conductor from 1969 to 1972, between the tenures of Silvestri and Paavo Berglund
, without having been formally appointed to the post. Hurst ensured continuity during that conductorial interregnum.
Paavo Berglund
's tenure as principal conductor from 1972 to 1979 included commercial recordings such as the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius
for EMI, and the first commercial recording of Kullervo
with the Helsinki University Chorus (Male Voice Choir). Nordic repertoire became a staple of the orchestra, whilst other achievements included recordings of Shostakovich
symphonies (the 5th, 7th 'Leningrad' and 11th 'The Year 1905') and the William Walton
Violin Concerto (with Ida Haendel
) and Cello Concerto (with Paul Tortelier
).
After winning the Rupert Foundation Conducting Competition, Simon Rattle
was "conductor in residence" from 1974 to 1976 in one of his earliest orchestra affiliations. The Bournemouth Municipal Choir was re-named the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus in 1979, when it entered into a closer relationship with the orchestra.
The Israeli conductor Uri Segal
succeeded Berglund from 1980 to 1982. During his tenure, the BSO recorded suites from Benjamin Britten
's Gloriana
and The Prince of the Pagodas
.
of Dmitri Shostakovich
, and a Gramophone Award-winning release of Tchaikovsky
's Piano Concerto No. 2 from 1988.
The American conductor Andrew Litton
first conducted the BSO in 1986, and subsequently became the BSO's principal conductor from 1988 to 1994, the first American principal conductor of the orchestra. Litton subsequently was named the BSO's Conductor Laureate. His recordings with the BSO include William Walton's symphonies and concertos for Decca, and the complete Tchaikovsky symphonies (including the Manfred Symphony) for Virgin Classics. In February 1997 Litton's recording of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast
with the BSO, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and soloist Bryn Terfel
won a Grammy Award
.
Principal guest conductors of the BSO have included Kees Bakels
(1990–2000) and Richard Hickox
(1992–1995).
Yakov Kreizberg
was principal conductor from 1995 to 2000. Whilst he made no commercial recordings with the orchestra, he and the BSO toured the United States
, including their debut at Carnegie Hall
in April 1997. Kreizberg and the BSO also performed a 3-day residency at the Musikverein, Vienna in 1999.
Marin Alsop
, principal conductor from September 2002 to 2008, was the BSO's first female principal conductor and the first female principal conductor of a UK orchestra. Her time with the orchestra continued the programming of American repertoire from Litton's tenure, which she often introduced to the audience from the podium in the style of her mentor Leonard Bernstein
. She conducted all of the Mahler
symphonies except the Symphony No. 8. She and the BSO recorded several CDs for Naxos, both European and American repertoire.
as their 13th Principal Conductor, the first Ukrainian principal conductor of a UK orchestra. Karabits held the title of orchestra's Principal Conductor-Designate for the 2008-2009 season, and became Principal Conductor with the 2009-2010 season. With the BSO, Karabits made his first conducting appearance at The Proms
in August 2009.
The BSO's first commercial recording with Karabits (of Rodion Shchedrin
's Concertos for Orchestra Nos 4 and 5) was released on the Naxos label in April 2010. The BSO and Karabits have also recorded music of Aram Khachaturian
for the Onyx label. In August 2011, the BSO extended Karabits' contract as principal conductor through the 2015-2016 season.
The BSO's current chief executive is Simon Taylor. The president of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Council is David Mellor
.
was founded, with a complementary remit to tour the smaller towns of the south and west, as well as concentrating on classial repertoire. Despite artistic acclaim throughout its history, financial difficulties and funding withdrawals led to its sudden closure in November 1999. Since then, sections of the BSO occasionally tour to smaller venues in the south and west.
Kokoro is a contemporary music ensemble of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, consisting of players from the orchestra and freelance musicians (formed 1994).
, was the first to give a complete concert cycle of the symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams
.
The orchestra under Paavo Berglund
made the world premiere recording of Sibelius
's Kullervo
in 1970. Other notable recordings include Deryck Cooke
's completion of Gustav Mahler
's Symphony No. 10
, conducted by Simon Rattle
; Elgar
's In the South (Alassio)
with Constantin Silvestri
, Tchaikovsky
's 2nd Piano Concerto
with Rudolf Barshai
and Peter Donohoe as soloist (with Nigel Kennedy
and Steven Isserlis
in the slow movement); Anthony Payne
's completion of Elgar's 3rd Symphony
with Paul Daniel
, and Leonard Bernstein
's Chichester Psalms
with Marin Alsop
.
The orchestra recorded a complete cycle of the Tippett
symphonies for Chandos, the Vaughan Williams symphonies for Naxos (with Kees Bakels for seven of the symphonies and Paul Daniel for A Sea Symphony and the 4th). The orchestra has also recorded for Naxos a complete series of the symphonies of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
.
The orchestra performs regularly in the BBC Proms
at the Royal Albert Hall
and has played in other great halls of the world, such as Carnegie Hall
in New York, the Musikverein Vienna
, and the Rudolfinum
in Prague
.
For many years until his death in 2003, Ron Goodwin
gave an annual series of Christmas concerts with the orchestra around the south and west of England.
in the 1920s. Subsequently the BMO gave regular concerts on the BBC
, including Godfrey's farewell concert. The Pathé
archive contains short films of the orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey and Richard Austin made at the Pavilion Theatre in 1930 and 1937.
In 1963, the nave of Winchester Cathedral
was cleared for the first time in several hundred years to enable a live television broadcast of the orchestra, conducted by Constantin Silvestri, performing Wagner's "Good Friday Music" from Parsifal
.
In the 1970s the orchestra appeared in Southern Television
's Music in Camera series, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra recording of Gustav Holst
's The Planets
, conducted by George Hurst
, was used on the soundtrack of Nicolas Roeg
's film The Man Who Fell to Earth
.
The orchestra were featured in a short-lived series of programmes on the local commercial radio station 2CR. Members of the orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus recorded a jingle
for the Yellow Buses, Bournemouth's local bus company.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. Originally based in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
in 1979.
The orchestra played in the 'old' Winter Gardens from its inception until that building was demolished in 1935 (the last piece to be performed being Haydn's Farewell Symphony). After a time at the Pavilion Theatre, the orchestra moved back to the 'new' Winter Gardens with an inaugural concert on 18 October 1947. The orchestra performed regularly there until the mid 1980s, when the Poole Arts Centre became its main venue. The 'new' Winter Gardens were demolished in May 2006. In Poole, the orchestra gives its main season at the Lighthouse Centre for Performing Arts (formerly Poole Arts Centre), where the concert hall has 1,596 seats. Currently Portsmouth Guildhall
Portsmouth Guildhall
Portsmouth Guildhall is the biggest events venue in the Hampshire city of Portsmouth in England. The building, completed in 1890, was designed in the neo-classical style by architect William Hill, who had earlier been responsible for the design of the town hall in Bolton...
and the Great Hall of Exeter University are the other main venues, with shorter series given in Bournemouth (Pavilion Theatre) and Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
.
Origins to 1934: The Godfrey Era
The Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra was founded in 1893 by Dan GodfreyDan Godfrey
Sir Dan Godfrey was a British music conductor and member of a musical dynasty that included his father Dan Godfrey...
as a group of 30 wind players and a drummer, though several of the instrumentalists - as is the current practice with military musicians - were proficient in both wind and string instruments. This flexible approach meant that the musicians could form a military band for open air concerts (playing on Bournemouth Pier) or a more formal classical ensemble for indoor programmes. The group gave its first concert on Whit Monday 1893 at the Winter Gardens, with its first classical concert in October that year.
The band quickly expanded to become a full orchestra, gaining a reputation for championing British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
music. Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
and Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
(among others) conducted the orchestra in their own works. The orchestra gave the UK premieres of major works by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
. On 14 December 1903, the Orchestra gave its 500th symphony concert, conducted by Godfrey; a souvenir booklet listed all the works played by the orchestra since its inception, noting any first performances. The Bournemouth Municipal Choir, founded by Godfrey in 1911, sang regularly with the orchestra.
From 1922 (to 1940) an Easter Festival was an important feature in the Bournemouth calendar; in 1927 the Festival was devoted to music of British women composers. In 1934, Godfrey retired as principal conductor, having conducted over 2,000 symphony concerts.
The first recording by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra was made in 1914 and occasional records were issued during Godfrey's tenure: Godfrey's recordings included works such as Ferdinand Hérold's overture to Zampa
Zampa
Zampa, ou La fiancée de marbre is an opéra comique in three acts by French composer Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold...
, Daniel Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
's overtures The Bronze Horse
Le cheval de bronze
Le cheval de bronze is an opéra comique by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 23 March 1835. The libretto is by Auber's regular collaborator, Eugène Scribe and the piece was a great success in its day. In 1837, it was transformed into an opera-ballet,...
and The Crown Diamonds
Les diamants de la couronne
Les diamants de la couronne is an opéra comique by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the second Salle Favart in Paris on 6 March 1841...
, or Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
's Petite Suite de Concert, along with "novelty items" with titles such as 'Slippery Sticks' and 'Whispering Pines' by members of the orchestra and featuring them as soloists.
Godfrey remains the longest serving principal conductor of the orchestra, and his stewardship ensured that, unlike many of the seaside orchestras that functioned from the end of the 19th century up until the outbreak of World War II, the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra established an ongoing tradition of music making. Godfrey's programmes mixed populist elements, such as variety
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
acts and light music
Light music
Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....
, with extracts from more serious pieces. Alongside these, he instituted a series of symphony concerts which introduced diverse repertoire. He cultivated connections with most of the prominent British composers of the day including Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
, Hamilton Harty
Hamilton Harty
Sir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
, Alexander Mackenzie, Hubert Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
, Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
, Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
, Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
and the Australian Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
.
From the very beginning, Godfrey had a difficult relationship with the Bournemouth Borough Council
Bournemouth (borough)
Bournemouth Borough Council is the local authority of Bournemouth in Dorset, England. The council is now a unitary authority, although between 1974 and 1997 it was an administrative district council with Dorset...
who saw the orchestra as a commercial concern which needed to pay its way. As part of Bournemouth's visitor attractions, any request for expansion of the orchestra or changes to their contracts were the subject of exhaustive debates in the Council chamber. However, in general, Godfrey was successful at balancing both high artistic standards and box-office success.
1934–1947: Austin, Birch and Wartime Austerity
After Godfrey's retirement, the task of sustaining the orchestra fell to Richard AustinRichard Austin (conductor)
Richard Dennis Oliver Austin FRCM was the chief conductor of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra from 1934 until 1940 and later a Professor of the Royal College of Music.-Early life:...
. Radio broadcasts took place from the Pavilion and a number of celebrated composers visited during this time, including Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
, Ernest John Moeran
Ernest John Moeran
Ernest John Moeran was an English composer who had strong associations with Ireland .-Early life:...
, Sergei Rachmaninov, Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter was an English composer, known particularly for his songs.-Biography:Born in Hove, Sussex, Quilter was a younger son of Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet, who was a noted art collector...
, Balfour Gardiner and Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
. At the outbreak of war, the orchestra was cut from 61 to 35, and then in 1940 to only 24 players. Austin resigned in the same year and Montague Birch
Montague Birch
Charles Montague Birch was a British musical conductor. He was born in Leamington Spa, the eldest child of Charles Septimus Birch and Clara Birch. 'Monty' had joined the 2nd violins of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in 1912 becoming assistant conductor to Dan Godfrey...
helped keep the orchestra going during the war, giving many 'popular' concerts.
Whilst the Municipal Orchestra struggled in a depleted state, the war years saw concerts in the town by the Wessex Philharmonic, a freelance orchestra conducted by Reginald Goodall
Reginald Goodall
Sir Reginald Goodall was an English conductor, noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten.-Biography:...
, which included some ex-members of the BMO.
1947–1954: Schwarz and Groves
After the end of the war, the orchestra found a new home at the 'new' Winter Gardens. In 1947, Rudolf SchwarzRudolf Schwarz (conductor)
Rudolf Schwarz CBE was an Austrian-born conductor of Jewish ancestry. He became a British citizen and spent the latter half of his life in England.-Early life:...
was appointed Musical Director of a re-formed orchestra of 60. He conducted the orchestra in its first concert in London since 1911, at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in 1948, and in two concerts at the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
during the Festival of Britain
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...
in 1951. Schwarz's tenure was marked by artistic consolidation, but also financial troubles.
Charles Groves
Charles Groves
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
took over as Musical Director in 1951, but a rising annual deficit and termination of players' contracts caused a crisis, averted only by support from the Winter Gardens Society. In 1952, a plan to merge the BMO with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
was avoided by an arrangement with the Arts Council for the orchestra to accompany Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
for several weeks. The continuation of the orchestra was only secured by the formation of the Western Orchestral Society. In 1954, the orchestra changed its name to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. At the inaugural concert, Groves and Sir Thomas Beecham shared the podium.
1954–1969: The Silvestri Years
From 1954 the BSO developed its present role of giving concerts at more venues in the southwest of England. Other work included accompanying the Bolshoi BalletBolshoi Ballet
The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...
on their first British tour in 1956.
In 1957 Groves and the orchestra made commercial recordings, for Classics Club, (with a local engineer from Ronaldsons of Southbourne
Southbourne, Dorset
Southbourne is a suburb of Bournemouth. It is the most easterly part of the borough, between Boscombe and Christchurch, Dorset. The area was previously known as Stourfield....
), of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's 4th Symphony
Symphony No. 4 (Beethoven)
Symphony No. 4 in B Flat Major , is a symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, written in the summer of 1806. It was premiered in March of 1807 at a private concert of the home of Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
's Academic Festival Overture
Academic Festival Overture
Academic Festival Overture , Op. 80, by Johannes Brahms, was one of a pair of contrasting concert overtures — the other being the Tragic Overture, Op. 81, written to balance it as its pair...
and Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's L'Arlésienne Suite.
In 1962, Constantin Silvestri
Constantin Silvestri
-Early life:Silvestri, born of Austro-Italian-Romanian stock, was brought up on his own by his mother, his father dying from alcoholism and his stepfather dying when the boy was 16. He had learnt how to play the piano and organ before the age of 6. He played the piano in public at 10 and was a...
became Principal Conductor and raised the standard and profile of the orchestra, with an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 1963, a first European tour in 1965, notable recordings and regular radio broadcasts. The orchestra gained its first international recognition during Silvestri's tenure, such as in a joint performance with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world...
in the Winter Gardens by the combined string sections of both orchestras, playing Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Introduction and Allegro
Introduction and Allegro (Elgar)
Sir Edward Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47, was composed in 1905 for performance in an all-Elgar concert by the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra. Scored for string quartet and string orchestra, Elgar composed it to show off the players' virtuosity. Though initial critical...
. His tenure was cut short by his death from cancer in 1969. His recorded legacy includes, Vaughan-Williams 'Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis', Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's Scheherazade
Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Sheherazade , Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights, this orchestral work combines two features common to Russian music and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular: dazzling, colourful...
, and a 1966 recording of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's 1812 Overture
1812 Overture
The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture or the Overture of 1812 is an overture written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia's defense of Moscow against Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of...
with the additional forces of the Band of HM Royal Marines
Royal Marines Band Service
The Royal Marines Band Service is the musical wing of the Royal Navy. It currently consists of five Bands and its headquarters is the Royal Marines School of Music at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth dockyard.-History:...
.
Recent releases on BBC Legends, transferred from recordings of live concerts given at the Winter Gardens and elsewhere during Silvestri's tenure, provide a vivid record of the orchestra's style in this era. These include accounts of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
1969–1982 Hurst/ Berglund's Scandinavian Orchestra/Uri Segal
In addition to its roster of principal conductors, other conductors affiliated with the orchestra have included George HurstGeorge Hurst
George Hurst is a British conductor.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh in 1926, Hurst studied at Bishops College School in Lennoxville, Quebec and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto Canada....
, who served as de facto principal conductor from 1969 to 1972, between the tenures of Silvestri and Paavo Berglund
Paavo Berglund
Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund is a Finnish conductor.Born in Helsinki, Berglund studied the violin as a child, and played an instrument made by his grandfather. By age 15, he had decided on music as his career, and by 18 was playing in restaurants...
, without having been formally appointed to the post. Hurst ensured continuity during that conductorial interregnum.
Paavo Berglund
Paavo Berglund
Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund is a Finnish conductor.Born in Helsinki, Berglund studied the violin as a child, and played an instrument made by his grandfather. By age 15, he had decided on music as his career, and by 18 was playing in restaurants...
's tenure as principal conductor from 1972 to 1979 included commercial recordings such as the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
for EMI, and the first commercial recording of Kullervo
Kullervo (Sibelius)
Kullervo, Op. 7 is an early symphonic poem for soloists, chorus and orchestra, written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.The work, based on the character of Kullervo from the epic poem Kalevala, premiered to great critical acclaim on 28 April 1892. The soloists at the premiere were Emmy Achté...
with the Helsinki University Chorus (Male Voice Choir). Nordic repertoire became a staple of the orchestra, whilst other achievements included recordings of Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
symphonies (the 5th, 7th 'Leningrad' and 11th 'The Year 1905') and the William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
Violin Concerto (with Ida Haendel
Ida Haendel
Ida Haendel, CBE is a British violinist of Polish birth.- Career :Ida Haendel was born in Chełm, a small city in Eastern Poland. She took up the violin at the age of three and as a seven-year-old was admitted at the Warsaw Conservatory. She later studied with Carl Flesch and George Enescu in Paris...
) and Cello Concerto (with Paul Tortelier
Paul Tortelier
Paul Tortelier was a French cellist and composer.Tortelier was born in Paris, the son of a cabinet maker with Breton roots. He was encouraged to play the cello by his father Joseph and mother Marguerite , and at 12 he entered the Paris Conservatoire. He studied the cello there with Gérard Hekking...
).
After winning the Rupert Foundation Conducting Competition, Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
was "conductor in residence" from 1974 to 1976 in one of his earliest orchestra affiliations. The Bournemouth Municipal Choir was re-named the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus in 1979, when it entered into a closer relationship with the orchestra.
The Israeli conductor Uri Segal
Uri Segal
Uri Segal is an Israeli musical conductor.Segal studied violin and conducting at the Rubin Academy of Music . From 1966 to 1969, he attended the Guildhall School of Music....
succeeded Berglund from 1980 to 1982. During his tenure, the BSO recorded suites from Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's Gloriana
Gloriana
Gloriana is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Elizabeth and Essex by Lytton Strachey...
and The Prince of the Pagodas
The Prince of the Pagodas
The Prince of the Pagodas is a ballet created for The Royal Ballet in 1957, by choreographer John Cranko, with music commissioned from Benjamin Britten. The ballet was later revived in a new production by Kenneth MacMillan in 1989, achieving widespread acclaim for Darcey Bussell's premiere in a...
.
1982–2008: Russians and Americans
Rudolf Barshai served as the BSO's principal conductor from 1982 to 1988. His BSO recordings included the Symphony No. 8Symphony No. 8 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 8 in C minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in the summer of 1943, and first performed on November 4 of that year by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky, to whom the work is dedicated....
of Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
, and a Gramophone Award-winning release of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Piano Concerto No. 2 from 1988.
The American conductor Andrew Litton
Andrew Litton
Andrew Litton is an American orchestral conductor. Litton is a graduate of The Fieldston School, and holds both undergraduate and Masters degrees in music from Juilliard....
first conducted the BSO in 1986, and subsequently became the BSO's principal conductor from 1988 to 1994, the first American principal conductor of the orchestra. Litton subsequently was named the BSO's Conductor Laureate. His recordings with the BSO include William Walton's symphonies and concertos for Decca, and the complete Tchaikovsky symphonies (including the Manfred Symphony) for Virgin Classics. In February 1997 Litton's recording of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast
Belshazzar's Feast (Walton)
Belshazzar's Feast is an oratorio by the English composer William Walton. It was first performed at the Leeds Festival on 8 October 1931. The work has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions and one of the most popular works in the English choral repertoire...
with the BSO, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and soloist Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
.
Principal guest conductors of the BSO have included Kees Bakels
Kees Bakels
Kees Bakels is a Dutch conductor.Bakels began his musical career as a violinist, and later studied conducting at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy...
(1990–2000) and Richard Hickox
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
(1992–1995).
Yakov Kreizberg
Yakov Kreizberg
- In the Soviet Union :Yakov Kreizberg was born in Leningrad. He began studying piano at age 5. He attended the Glinka Choir School, where he began composing at age 13 and studied conducting with Ilya Musin. "Musin had an incredible system" Kreizberg recalled...
was principal conductor from 1995 to 2000. Whilst he made no commercial recordings with the orchestra, he and the BSO toured the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including their debut at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in April 1997. Kreizberg and the BSO also performed a 3-day residency at the Musikverein, Vienna in 1999.
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
, principal conductor from September 2002 to 2008, was the BSO's first female principal conductor and the first female principal conductor of a UK orchestra. Her time with the orchestra continued the programming of American repertoire from Litton's tenure, which she often introduced to the audience from the podium in the style of her mentor Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
. She conducted all of the Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
symphonies except the Symphony No. 8. She and the BSO recorded several CDs for Naxos, both European and American repertoire.
The present
In November 2007, the BSO announced the appointment Kirill KarabitsKirill Karabits
Kirill Karabits is a Ukrainian conductor. His father was the conductor and composer Ivan Karabyts....
as their 13th Principal Conductor, the first Ukrainian principal conductor of a UK orchestra. Karabits held the title of orchestra's Principal Conductor-Designate for the 2008-2009 season, and became Principal Conductor with the 2009-2010 season. With the BSO, Karabits made his first conducting appearance at The Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
in August 2009.
The BSO's first commercial recording with Karabits (of Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Russian composer. He was one оf the leading Soviet composers, and was the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990.-Life and Works:...
's Concertos for Orchestra Nos 4 and 5) was released on the Naxos label in April 2010. The BSO and Karabits have also recorded music of Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
for the Onyx label. In August 2011, the BSO extended Karabits' contract as principal conductor through the 2015-2016 season.
The BSO's current chief executive is Simon Taylor. The president of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Council is David Mellor
David Mellor
David John Mellor, QC is a British politician, non-practising barrister, broadcaster, journalist and football pundit. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for National Heritage , before...
.
Offshoots
In 1968, the Bournemouth SinfoniettaBournemouth Sinfonietta
The Bournemouth Sinfonietta was a chamber orchestra founded in 1968 as an off-shoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.-Formation:The orchestra was initially conducted by George Hurst, who acted as artistic adviser, and Nicholas Braithwaite, in order to perform the classical repertoire in the...
was founded, with a complementary remit to tour the smaller towns of the south and west, as well as concentrating on classial repertoire. Despite artistic acclaim throughout its history, financial difficulties and funding withdrawals led to its sudden closure in November 1999. Since then, sections of the BSO occasionally tour to smaller venues in the south and west.
Kokoro is a contemporary music ensemble of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, consisting of players from the orchestra and freelance musicians (formed 1994).
Concert Programme
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra currently gives around 150 concerts a year. In September 1995 the orchestra, conducted by Richard HickoxRichard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
, was the first to give a complete concert cycle of the symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
.
The orchestra under Paavo Berglund
Paavo Berglund
Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund is a Finnish conductor.Born in Helsinki, Berglund studied the violin as a child, and played an instrument made by his grandfather. By age 15, he had decided on music as his career, and by 18 was playing in restaurants...
made the world premiere recording of Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
's Kullervo
Kullervo (Sibelius)
Kullervo, Op. 7 is an early symphonic poem for soloists, chorus and orchestra, written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.The work, based on the character of Kullervo from the epic poem Kalevala, premiered to great critical acclaim on 28 April 1892. The soloists at the premiere were Emmy Achté...
in 1970. Other notable recordings include Deryck Cooke
Deryck Cooke
Deryck Cooke was a British musician, musicologist and broadcaster.-Life:Cooke was born in Leicester to a poor and working class family; his father died when he was a child, but his mother was able to afford piano lessons. Cooke acquired a brilliant technique and began to compose...
's completion of Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Symphony No. 10
Symphony No. 10 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 10 by Gustav Mahler was written in the summer of 1910, and was his final composition. At the time of Mahler's death the composition was substantially complete in the form of a continuous draft; but not being fully elaborated at every point, and mostly not orchestrated, it was not...
, conducted by Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
; Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's In the South (Alassio)
In the South (Alassio)
In the South , Op. 50, is a concert overture composed by Edward Elgar during a family holiday in Italy in the winter of 1903 to 1904.The work is dedicated "To my friend Leo F. Schuster".- History :...
with Constantin Silvestri
Constantin Silvestri
-Early life:Silvestri, born of Austro-Italian-Romanian stock, was brought up on his own by his mother, his father dying from alcoholism and his stepfather dying when the boy was 16. He had learnt how to play the piano and organ before the age of 6. He played the piano in public at 10 and was a...
, Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's 2nd Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Tchaikovsky)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44, was written in 1879-1880. It was dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein, who had insisted he be allowed to perform it at the premiere as a way of making up for his harsh criticism of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. Rubinstein was...
with Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet/Russian conductor and violist.Barshai was born in Stanitsa Lobinskaya, Krasnodar Krai, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Tseitlin and Vadim Borisovsky. He performed as a soloist as well as together with Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, and...
and Peter Donohoe as soloist (with Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...
and Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis CBE is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound and total command of phrasing. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran...
in the slow movement); Anthony Payne
Anthony Payne
Anthony Payne is an English composer, most famous for the work published as Edward Elgar: The Sketches for Symphony No. 3 Elaborated by Anthony Payne...
's completion of Elgar's 3rd Symphony
Symphony No. 3 (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Third Symphony was incomplete at the time of his death in 1934. Elgar left 130 pages of sketches which the British composer Anthony Payne worked on for many years, producing a complete symphony in 1997, officially known as "Edward Elgar: the sketches for Symphony No 3 elaborated by...
with Paul Daniel
Paul Daniel
Paul Daniel CBE is an English conductor. He is particularly noted for performances and recordings of opera and of British music....
, and Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's Chichester Psalms
Chichester Psalms
Chichester Psalms is a choral work by Leonard Bernstein for boy treble or countertenor, solo quartet, choir and orchestra...
with Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
.
The orchestra recorded a complete cycle of the Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
symphonies for Chandos, the Vaughan Williams symphonies for Naxos (with Kees Bakels for seven of the symphonies and Paul Daniel for A Sea Symphony and the 4th). The orchestra has also recorded for Naxos a complete series of the symphonies of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
.
The orchestra performs regularly in the BBC Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
and has played in other great halls of the world, such as Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York, the Musikverein Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and the Rudolfinum
Rudolfinum
The Rudolfinum is a music auditorium in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava.-Overview:...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
For many years until his death in 2003, Ron Goodwin
Ron Goodwin
Ronald Alfred Goodwin was a British composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years....
gave an annual series of Christmas concerts with the orchestra around the south and west of England.
First performances
Premieres given by the orchestra include the following:
|
Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE was an English composer and symphonist.Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain... : Overture 'The Smoke' (1948) Symphony No. 2 (Arnold) The Symphony No. 2, Op 40 by Malcolm Arnold is a symphony dating from 1953. Arnold composed the symphony on commission from the Bournemouth Winter Garden's Society... (1953) Robert Simpson (composer) Robert Simpson was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music , and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He studied composition under Herbert Howells... : Piano Concerto (1967) Malcolm Williamson Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:... : Symphony No. 2 (1969) Symphony No. 9 (Simpson) The Symphony No. 9 by Robert Simpson was composed between 1985 and 1987 and commissioned by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra who gave the premiere under Vernon Handley at the Poole Arts Centre on 8 April, 1987. The work was dedicated to his second wife, Angela... (1987) Alexander Lokshin Alexander Lazarevich Lokshin was a Russian composer of classical music. He was born on September 19, 1920, in the town of Biysk, in the Altai Region, Western Siberia, and died in Moscow on June 11, 1987.... : Symphony No 1 ("Requiem") (1988) John Tavener Sir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"... : Theophany (1994) Peteris Vasks Pēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer.Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player with Vitautas Sereikaan at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and played in several... : Second Symphony (1999) |
Media
In addition to the first acoustic recordings by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in 1914, early mass media activities included radio broadcasts from the original Winter Gardens on 2LO2LO
2LO was the second radio station to regularly broadcast in the United Kingdom . It began broadcasting on 11 May 1922, for one hour a day from the seventh floor of Marconi House in London's Strand...
in the 1920s. Subsequently the BMO gave regular concerts on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, including Godfrey's farewell concert. The Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
archive contains short films of the orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey and Richard Austin made at the Pavilion Theatre in 1930 and 1937.
In 1963, the nave of Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...
was cleared for the first time in several hundred years to enable a live television broadcast of the orchestra, conducted by Constantin Silvestri, performing Wagner's "Good Friday Music" from Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
.
In the 1970s the orchestra appeared in Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
's Music in Camera series, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
Owain Arwel Hughes
Owain Arwel Hughes CBE is a Welsh orchestral conductor. Among his numerous titles are Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony in Denmark and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and Principal Guest Conductor of the Cape...
. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra recording of Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
's The Planets
The Planets
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...
, conducted by George Hurst
George Hurst
George Hurst is a British conductor.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh in 1926, Hurst studied at Bishops College School in Lennoxville, Quebec and the Royal Conservatory in Toronto Canada....
, was used on the soundtrack of Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...
's film The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Man Who Fell to Earth (film)
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1976 British science fiction film directed by Nicolas Roeg.The film is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, about an extraterrestrial who crash lands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought...
.
The orchestra were featured in a short-lived series of programmes on the local commercial radio station 2CR. Members of the orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus recorded a jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
for the Yellow Buses, Bournemouth's local bus company.
Principal Conductors
- 1893-1934: Sir Dan GodfreyDan GodfreySir Dan Godfrey was a British music conductor and member of a musical dynasty that included his father Dan Godfrey...
- 1934-1939: Richard AustinRichard Austin (conductor)Richard Dennis Oliver Austin FRCM was the chief conductor of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra from 1934 until 1940 and later a Professor of the Royal College of Music.-Early life:...
- 1939-1947: Montague BirchMontague BirchCharles Montague Birch was a British musical conductor. He was born in Leamington Spa, the eldest child of Charles Septimus Birch and Clara Birch. 'Monty' had joined the 2nd violins of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in 1912 becoming assistant conductor to Dan Godfrey...
- 1947-1951: Rudolf SchwarzRudolf Schwarz (conductor)Rudolf Schwarz CBE was an Austrian-born conductor of Jewish ancestry. He became a British citizen and spent the latter half of his life in England.-Early life:...
- 1951-1961: Sir Charles GrovesCharles GrovesSir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
- 1962-1969: Constantin SilvestriConstantin Silvestri-Early life:Silvestri, born of Austro-Italian-Romanian stock, was brought up on his own by his mother, his father dying from alcoholism and his stepfather dying when the boy was 16. He had learnt how to play the piano and organ before the age of 6. He played the piano in public at 10 and was a...
- 1972-1979: Paavo BerglundPaavo BerglundPaavo Allan Engelbert Berglund is a Finnish conductor.Born in Helsinki, Berglund studied the violin as a child, and played an instrument made by his grandfather. By age 15, he had decided on music as his career, and by 18 was playing in restaurants...
- 1980-1982: Uri SegalUri SegalUri Segal is an Israeli musical conductor.Segal studied violin and conducting at the Rubin Academy of Music . From 1966 to 1969, he attended the Guildhall School of Music....
- 1982-1988: Rudolf BarshaiRudolf BarshaiRudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet/Russian conductor and violist.Barshai was born in Stanitsa Lobinskaya, Krasnodar Krai, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Tseitlin and Vadim Borisovsky. He performed as a soloist as well as together with Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, and...
- 1988-1994: Andrew LittonAndrew LittonAndrew Litton is an American orchestral conductor. Litton is a graduate of The Fieldston School, and holds both undergraduate and Masters degrees in music from Juilliard....
- 1995-2000: Yakov KreizbergYakov Kreizberg- In the Soviet Union :Yakov Kreizberg was born in Leningrad. He began studying piano at age 5. He attended the Glinka Choir School, where he began composing at age 13 and studied conducting with Ilya Musin. "Musin had an incredible system" Kreizberg recalled...
- 2002-2008: Marin AlsopMarin AlsopMarin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
- 2009–present: Kirill KarabitsKirill KarabitsKirill Karabits is a Ukrainian conductor. His father was the conductor and composer Ivan Karabyts....