Omer Meir Wellber, the BBC Philharmonic's Chief Conductor, is a keen fan of Haydn. 'Apart from period-instrument ensembles, hardly anyone plays him much these days and bigger orchestras need to be able to play his music,' he says. I'm going to be conducting a lot of his music with the BBC Philharmonic.'
Two of Haydn's works frame tonight's programme - the overture to Philemon und Baucis, a puppet opera written in 1773 for the Esterhazy court; and the powerful D minor Symphony, No 80, written in the following decade as Haydn stood at the crossroads of a story that parachuted him from local composer in Esterhaza to the height of international fame.
Marionettes, a commission from Uzbek-born, Berlin-based Aziza Sadikova, continues the puppet-play theme, while Britten's Nocturne - one of the treasured song-cycles he wrote for his partner, Peter Pears - explores a rich world of night-time images and dreams, setting words by poets including Shakespeare, Tennyson and Keats. The soloist this evening is leading British tenor and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Allan Clayton.
Live from MediaCityUK, Salford
Haydn: Overture, Philemon und Baucis
Aziza Sadikova: Marionettes (BBC commission, first performance)
Britten: Nocturne
Haydn: Symphony No 80 in D minor
Allan Clayton (tenor)
BBC Philharmonic
Omer Meir Wellber (conductor)
Two of Haydn's works frame tonight's programme - the overture to Philemon und Baucis, a puppet opera written in 1773 for the Esterhazy court; and the powerful D minor Symphony, No 80, written in the following decade as Haydn stood at the crossroads of a story that parachuted him from local composer in Esterhaza to the height of international fame.
Marionettes, a commission from Uzbek-born, Berlin-based Aziza Sadikova, continues the puppet-play theme, while Britten's Nocturne - one of the treasured song-cycles he wrote for his partner, Peter Pears - explores a rich world of night-time images and dreams, setting words by poets including Shakespeare, Tennyson and Keats. The soloist this evening is leading British tenor and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Allan Clayton.
Live from MediaCityUK, Salford
Haydn: Overture, Philemon und Baucis
Aziza Sadikova: Marionettes (BBC commission, first performance)
Britten: Nocturne
Haydn: Symphony No 80 in D minor
Allan Clayton (tenor)
BBC Philharmonic
Omer Meir Wellber (conductor)
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