Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra 2025-26 concert season

Hot on the heels of its triumphant centenary celebrations, Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra launches its second century with an irresistibly fresh and entertaining programme for all.  Building on BPO Music Director Joanna MacGregor’s trademark curatorial flair, which is attracting and building new audiences, our 2025-26 season heralds a new era.  We provide a platform for the hottest young and international talent, alongside Spring Forward, BPO’s new development pathway for young orchestral players.  The orchestra also widens our musical embrace locally with family concerts, recitals and masterclasses for young people, plus a new scheme for Under 30s and regional performances. Come join the BPO family: a warm welcome awaits.

Joanna MacGregor, BPO Music Director & CEO: “As Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra enters a new era of music-making, there’s no let-up on the excitement. World class soloists, including tenor Mark Padmore and Classical Brits cellist Guy Johnston, share the stage with exciting young stars: pianist Junyan Chen, trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo and percussionist Adriano Adewale. BPO’s mission is to nurture young soloists and orchestral players, and build new audiences. BPO’s fresh programming reaches out with our innovative LoveMusic scheme, £1 tickets for under 18s and a new under 30s club - as well as a series of chamber concerts and masterclasses.  Come and join us for this boldly entertaining season of music!”

Each concert in the BPO season is an event. None more so than its opening concert A New World, featuring the incredible pianist, silver medallist and multiple award-winner of the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition, Junyan Chen. Conducted by Music Director Joanna MacGregor, the BPO matches Junyan’s virtuosity in Rachmaninoff’s monumental Concerto No 3 in two other works composed in the wake of the First World War: Bartók’s exciting suite The Miraculous Mandarin and Ravel’s brilliantly orchestrated social commentary La Valse, marking the composer’s 125th birthday (Sat 28 Sept, 2.45pm).

Opportunities to discover the brightest young talent across classical music are available throughout the season. American-born, critically acclaimed violinist Elena Urioste performs Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s richly lyrical violin concerto in a passionately romantic programme including Mahler’s Symphony No 5 conducted by Ben Gernon (Sun 19 Oct, 2.45pm).

BPO has announced its young horn principal, Alexei Watkins, will perform alongside legendary tenor Mark Padmore.  Composed for Britten’s life-partner and muse Peter Pears, it celebrates iconic poetry by Tennyson, Keats, Blake and medieval Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings lyric.  Joanna MacGregor conducts a programme that also features Britten’s Young Apollo, MacGregor’s jazzy arrangements of John Dowland and a performance of James MacMillan’s wild, folk-infused Piano Concerto No 2 (Sat 8 Nov, 7.30pm).

Prize-winning Latvian accordionist Alise Siliņa is the youngest star in this season’s crown, performing Vaclav Trojan’s delightful Fairy Tales Concerto, which includes Czech stories such as The Bleary-Eyed Princess and The Naughty Roundabout. This magical Fairytale Christmas programme also includes Tchaikovsky’s seasonal classic The Nutcracker Suite, Delius’ rarely performed tone poem Eventyr (Once Upon A Time) and De Hartmann’s gorgeous Ukrainian Christmas Carols conducted by Joanna MacGregor (Sun 7 Dec, 2.45pm).  

BPO shares the joy of its traditional festive treat, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, across Sussex this year, with performances in Petworth (Fri 19 Dec, 6pm) and Lewes (Sat 20 Dec, 6pm) added to its annual performances in Brighton’s St George’s Kemptown (Thurs 18 Dec, 6pm and 8pm).  Directed by Richard Williams, acclaimed actor Alistair McGowan is back by popular demand as narrator for this much-loved yuletide story, alongside BPO Brass and Joanna MacGregor (piano/conductor).

Performing Wynton Marsalis’ wonderful, jazzy trumpet concerto, gifted young Nigerian Scottish trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo takes listeners on a musical journey of the instrument, using no less than seven different trumpet mutes. Opening with the sound of an elephant - nature’s first trumpeter – the piece travels across classical and jazz, from fanfares to New Orleans blues. This evening of contemporary cool includes Michael Nyman’s classic Peter Greenaway film soundtracks Prospero’s Books and The Draughtsman’s Contract, conducted by Joanna MacGregor (Sat 24 Jan, 7.30pm).

Hailed as ‘one of the most gifted young violinists in Britain’ (Musical Opinion), BPO’s leader Ruth Rogers performs Pēteris Vasks’ meditation for violin and orchestra, Lonely Angel, plus Mozart’s joyful Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat major with Romanian violist Sascha Bata. A concert of contrasting emotions, it  also features Bartók’s witty Romanian Folk Dances and Mozart’s dramatic Piano Concerto No 20 in D minor, performed and conducted by Joanna MacGregor (Sun 22 Feb, 2.45pm).

A very special concert welcoming the Spring focuses on John Tavener’s serene and joyful cello concerto The Protecting Veil, led by star cellist Guy Johnston, winner of BBC Musician of the Year and the Classical Brits – a profound journey bringing authenticity and mediation to a secular world. Vaughan Williams’ sublime homage Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis gives way to Vivaldi’s Seasons – fittingly Spring and Winter – alongside Max Richter’s subtle reworkings from his hit album, Vivaldi Recomposed (Sun 29 March, 2.45pm).

The season culminates with Sounds of Brazil, a musical carnival for young people designed to show off the BPO in every way possible.  Following Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, BPO unleash a new concerto for piano and percussion composed and conducted by Joanna MacGregor for the incredible Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale, who flies in especially from Sāo Paulo. The second half heats up even more with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain - unforgettable in Disney’s Fantasia - and ends with colourful scenes from Stravinsky’s Petrushka: a concert to thrill audiences of all ages (18 April, 6pm).

In a new collaboration with Brighton College, BPO principals and soloists will present short masterclasses followed by public recitals for young people, running throughout the season. The first is Joanna MacGregor’s piano recital of Philip Glass, Liszt and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Weds 10 Sept, 7pm); BPO string players join Joanna in Haydn, Frank Martin and Dvořák (Weds 25 February, 7pm); and percussionist Adriano Adewale and cellist Adrian Brendel joining BPO players for music from Brazil and Argentina (Weds 15 April, 7pm).   Providing opportunities for young players is central to BPO’s vision, and this season it formalises its support with Spring Forward, which enables the best players straight out of college to join the orchestra in four major Dome concerts, receiving professional mentoring and training.

BPO is known for its welcoming atmosphere, with opportunities to meet the artists in the bar afterwards and gain deeper insight into the music BPO Music Director Joanna MacGregor and the orchestra are so passionate about.  Watch out for the orchestra’s LoveMusic scheme: the best available seats are available for only £13, released two days before selected concerts, saving up to £26 per person. Families can bring children under 18 to any Dome concert in the season for only £1. Newly launched this season, Under 30’s can access £10 tickets along with joining our free Under 30’s club for offers, invitations and behind-the-scenes access. BPO also offers a saving of 25% for those booking the full season, and a low-income concession of 50%. The orchestra aims to ensure that the pricing offers outstanding value for money.

Finally, the BPO has published its first ever biography which reads ‘like a thriller with a cliffhanger ending’ (Joanna MacGregor). A beautifully produced hardback, fit to grace any coffee table, it charts BPO’s history from its first concert in Hove Town Hall in May 2025, featuring fascinating material from the archives alongside an in-depth study of BPO’s Music Directors and orchestral leaders.  

Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2025-26 concert season runs on Sun 28 Sept 2025 - Sat 18 April 2026.

View the season brochure here

www.brightonphil.org.uk  

Main image, Elena Urioste by Chris Goag

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