The new season is a busy one for the BBC SSO

New and rarely performed music is at the heart of the BBC SSO’s 2019/20 season.

Chief conductor Thomas Dausagaard’s performances include: the World Premiere of Mexican composer Enrico Chapela’s new concerto for electric violin, performed by Pekka Kuusisto, two new BBC Commissions in the BBC SSO’s ‘Scottish Inspirations’ series from Emma-Ruth Richards and from Danish composer Bent Sørensen, plus the

UK Premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s Once I blinked nothing was the same, in addition to works by Lisa Robertson, Maxwell Davies, Villa-Lobos and Japan’s pre-eminent composer Toshio Hosokawa.

Dausgaard opens the 2019/20 Season with a performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, which will be broadcast to BBC Radio 3 and streamed live to the BBC SSO website. Dausgaard and the orchestra then embark on a tour to Japan for the first ever BBC Proms Japan.

Thomas Dausgaard said: ‘I’m really looking forward to the new Season and to sharing our joy in music with people across the country and abroad, live and broadcast. The fearless excellence of the BBC SSO, our beautiful hall and great audience makes for a dynamic and irresistible cocktail.’

A host of titled and guest conductors join the orchestra throughout the Season: Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov conducts works by Myriam Marbé, Prokofiev and Richard Strauss; pairs Nono’s Per Bastiana Tai-Yang Cheng with Brahms’s A German Requiem, and brings an evening dedicated to the music of composer and oboist Heinz Holliger to Glasgow’s City Halls.

Conductor Valentina Peleggi opens her BBC SSO debut with Second Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman by Grammy Award-winning composer Joan Tower, plus a World Premiere from Roxanna Panufnik and works by Korngold, Tchaikovsky, Puccini and Respighi. Conductor Emeritus Donald Runnicles pairs Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony with Dutilleux’s Correspondances, which features soprano Carolyn Sampson, whilst Antony Hermus conducts an orchestral adaptation of Wagner’s The Ring.

Martyn Brabbins presents Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings performed by Stuart Jackson and BBC SSO principal horn Alberto Menéndez Escribano, and Alondra de la Parra presents works by Arturo Márquez, Schubert, Mozart and Richard Strauss.

The 2019/20 Season features guest soloists from across the world including: Henning Kraggerud, Yulianna Adeeva, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Stuart Jackson, Sara Hershkowitz, Pavel Kolesnikov, Clauadia Huckle, Zlata Chochieva, Karen Gomyo, Lauren Zhang, Nika Goric, Benjamin Appl, Stephen Hough, Pekka Kuusisto, Simone Lamsma, Ilya Gringolts, Lucy Shaufer, Johannes Moser, Kristóf Baráti, Elena Zhidkova and Stephen Waarts.

The BBC SSO’s much-loved Christmas concert Christmas at the Movies returns with an additional hour long performance at 11am for families with young children. The concerts are once again presented by Jamie MacDougall and a new family discount is available for both performances.

The Season closes in May 2020 with a Beethoven symphony cycle marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. The symphonies will be performed over five evenings in Glasgow as the orchestra explores the evolution of Beethoven through his roots and inspiration from the music he knew and admired. The cycle culminates in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Full details will be announced in Summer 2019.

In the 2019/20 Season the BBC SSO brings the BBC’s flagship classical music education project, BBC Ten Pieces, to communities across Scotland. BBC Ten Pieces events include:

· A continuation of the BBC SSO’s partnership with Sistema Scotland – a project which engenders social change through music – involving performances and workshops in and around Sistema’s centre at Govanhill plus performances at Holyrood Secondary, the largest secondary school in Europe.

· Three BBC Ten Pieces concerts at the orchestra’s home in Glasgow City Halls.

· Interactive jam sessions for early years and primary school children across Scotland.

· A continuation of the BBC Ten Pieces coaching scheme, delivering orchestral coaching to young musicians, plus more Teacher CPDs based on delivering BBC Ten Pieces resources in classrooms.

A set of ten films will be produced to provide accessible and friendly introductions to each of the pieces of music. The new films feature performances from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra along with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus filmed at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow.

The BBC Ten Pieces Trailblazers films and resources launch in August 2019 to coincide with the start of the school term. The resources will be available from BBC Ten Pieces website and are free to access.

In addition to the Glasgow Season, the orchestra will present concerts in Aberdeen, Ayr, Edinburgh, Inverness and Perth.

In May 2019, the BBC SSO and chief conductor Thomas Dausgaard, together with pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, visit Salzburg for three performances at the Grosses Festspielhaus. The orchestra then returns to the UK and heads north to perform at the St Magnus Festival on Orkney in June. In October 2019 the BBC SSO and Thomas Dausgaard tour to Japan for the first time, for the first ever BBC Proms Japan.

Tectonics Glasgow, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s festival of new and experimental music, takes place from 4-5 May 2019 at the City Halls and Old Fruitmarket. Tectonics Glasgow is curated by the BBC SSO’s Principal Guest Conductor Ilan Volkov and by Alasdair Campbell, Director of Counterflows. Details of Tectonics Glasgow 2020 will be announced in early 2020.

The majority of concerts are currently scheduled to be broadcast live or recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Dominic Parker, director of the BBC SSO added: ‘Amongst many highlights in this new season, the BBC SSO’s dedication to championing today’s composers through commissioning is as strong as ever. We continue our Scottish Inspirations theme with a new concerto for electric violin from Mexican composer Enrico Chapela, to be premiered by Pekka Kuusisto and with new works by Danish composer Bent Sørensen and British composer Emma-Ruth Richards, together with 6 other premieres.’

Donalda MacKinnon, director of BBC Scotland says, ‘The BBC SSO has a rich history of innovative concerts including a wide variety of repertoire. The new season once again demonstrates the range and virtuosity of this incredible orchestra.’