Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra: Towards the Light

BPO’s 2022/23 season closes with a programme moving into the light: from Barber’s pathos to Beethoven’s shout of joy.

Our final BPO orchestral concert showcases our new leader Ruth Rogers, and our principal cello, Peter Adams, in Beethoven’s life-affirming Triple Concerto. This rarely played work for three soloists and orchestra brims with fun and vigour; the two string parts are massively virtuosic, with big-boned, slightly wild cadenzas. The piano, for once, is a relaxed partner; the part was composed for one of Beethoven’s patrons and pupils, Archduke Rudolf of Austria, who was also the dedicatee of the Archduke Piano Trio, the Hammerklavier Sonata and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no.5.

Opening with Samuel Barber’s most-loved music, his Adagio for Strings, Music Director Joanna MacGregor closes the BPO orchestral season with Beethoven’s heroic and boundary-breaking work, The Emperor; the constant dialogue between soloist and orchestra makes this one of the most modern and uplifting of all concertos. Beethoven’s hope of for the future, and his faith in humankind, emanates from the noble first movement, hymn-like adagio and romping rondo. A truly satisfying end to the 2022/23 season.