MEDIA RELEASE: BRITTEN SINFONIA’S 2024/25 SEASON TO FEATURE EYE-CATCHING COLLABORATIONS, WORLD PREMIERES AND CATHEDRALS OF THE EAST
Britten Sinfonia has unveiled its 2024/25 season, which includes a stimulating mix of cross-genre collaborations, the marking of significant anniversaries, and engaging audience development and community initiatives. From honouring the legacies of WWII and Shostakovich to expanding the reach of classical music across the East of England, the season will bring together typically bold musical partnerships and showcase the talent of Britten Sinfonia's exceptional musicians.
Cross-Genre Collaborations
The season includes an impressive array of cross-genre collaborations and diverse musical styles. Britten Sinfonia will partner with the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble (8-11 October); Irish folk singer Lisa O’Neill (11 December); giants of the British jazz scene in Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio (16-20 November); and the American bluegrass singer and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile (22 & 23 January).
Developing New Audiences for Classical Music in the East of England
Britten Sinfonia continues to lead the way in developing new audiences for classical music in the East of England. This season, the orchestra presents the widest possible range of classical music in its Surround Sound Playlist tour, featuring performances in some of the region’s most majestic cathedrals: Chelmsford, Ely, and Peterborough (19-22 March), following its performances in Norwich and St Edmundsbury Cathedrals the previous month (13 & 14 February).
Rethinking the concert-going experience, audiences are invited to take in the music and majesty of these glorious cathedrals in less formal ways. With several performance stations and no formal rows of seating, an immersive, surround-sound journey will be created through a seamless series of shorter pieces, from the instantly recognisable to add-to-playlist new favourites. Special guests include saxophonist Amy Dickson, oud virtuoso and composer Joseph Tawadros, and Tenebrae conducted by Nigel Short. These events are designed to engage communities in the region and provide immersive musical experiences for both seasoned concertgoers and new listeners.
Marking 80 Years Since the End of WWII
Britten Sinfonia will mark 80 years since the end of World War II with three poignant events in 2025: a performance of Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony op.110a, a scaling-up of his String Quartet No.8, dedicated to the “Remembrance of the Victims of Fascism and War (13-14 February), the world premiere of Michael Zev Gordon’s A Kind of Haunting, which explores the enduring and cross-generational trauma of the Holocaust (25-28 March) and Messiaen's rarely performed tribute to the victims of the World Wars, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (30 April).
Significant Anniversaries
In addition, Britten Sinfonia will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of composer Dmitri Shostakovich and celebrate the 90th birthday of renowned composer Arvo Pärt (13 & 14 February, Norwich and St Edmundsbury Cathedrals). The programme features Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony and some of Pärt’s greatest works - including Tabula Rasa - as well as the world premiere of a work for strings and percussion by Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
Celebrating Britten Sinfonia Musicians
Britten Sinfonia is proud to celebrate its outstanding musicians and will present a special performance to close the season. Principal Trumpet Imogen Whitehead, who in 2023 became the first woman to be appointed to a principal brass role in a major UK orchestra in more than a decade, stars as soloist in Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto (24-26 May). Earlier in the season, Britten Sinfonia's esteemed Principal Oboe, Nicholas Daniel, conducts Messiaen's powerful Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (30 April) and other works by Stravinsky. Britten Sinfonia’s winds, brass and percussion are joined by those of Sinfonia Smith Square in the resonant expanses of Pugin’s St George’s Catholic Cathedral in Southwark.
Performing Partners and Engagements
Alongside a continuing programme of commercial recordings, Britten Sinfonia joins the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and conductor Daniel Hyde for a performance of Mozart’s Requiem in the stunning acoustic of King's College Chapel (15 November) as part of Cambridge Music Festival’s 2024 autumn series. A few days later, the orchestra celebrates St Cecilia’s day with Saffron Walden Choral Society at Saffron Hall, performing Britten’s vivid telling of the life of Saint Nicolas (22 November).
In 2025, Britten Sinfonia will begin a residency at Merton College, Oxford, with concerts, recordings and chamber music coaching across the year. A standout event will be a performance of Bach’s St John Passion, conducted by Benjamin Nicholas in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford (13 April).
Supporting Early-Career Composers
Britten Sinfonia supports early-career composers through two key programmes: Opus 1, for those with limited experience of writing for instrumental ensembles, and Magnum Opus, a year-long residency involving multiple commissions. The relationships with these composers extend beyond the final showcase: in the 24/25 season Britten Sinfonia is commissioning and collaborating with three graduates of the Magnum Opus scheme, Jonathan Brigg, David John Roche and Crystalla Serghiou.
This season’s cohort of Opus 1 composers will showcase eight world premieres in Cambridge (21 September), while the Magnum Opus Composer Showcase in London will present new concertos by Anibal Vidal, Alex Groves, and Eden Lonsdale performed by Britten Sinfonia musicians with soloists Imogen Whitehead (trumpet), Rakhi Singh (violin) and Alexandra Achillea Pouta (mezzo soprano) (2 November).
Britten Sinfonia in the Community
Over the last year, Britten Sinfonia engaged over 20,500 individuals in the East of England through 300 sessions involving professional musicians and community partners, with a notable new long-term residency in Thetford connecting schools, care homes, and local groups. In the coming season, the residency's next phase will see a collaboration between Thetford Academy pupils, Bury Friendly Orchestra, workshop leader Aga Serugo-Lugo, and former Magnum Opus composer Jonathan Brigg to create a new piece based on a Handel Sarabande, inspired by Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, to be performed at the Apex, Bury St Edmunds (5 November).
2026 and Beyond
Britten Sinfonia’s 2024/25 season remains as strong and varied as ever, thanks to the generous support of those who have donated to Britten Sinfonia’s Play On appeal, which has now raised over 60% of its £1 million target.
“It is thanks to this support that we are able to maintain this level of artistic excellence, commission new works, nurture the next generation of composers and continue sharing our music with our wider community at home in East Anglia,” comments Chief Executive and Artistic Director Meurig Bowen. “We are hugely grateful to everyone who has invested in and continues to support our work.”
For more information, visit brittensinfonia.com
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2024/25 Season Programme
BRITTEN SINFONIA AND THE WILL GREGORY MOOG ENSEMBLE
Tuesday 8 October, Barbican Hall, London
Wednesday 9 October, The Anvil, Basingstoke
Friday 11 October, Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden
Experience a fusion of maths, music, and retro-futurist synths with Will Gregory’s Moog Ensemble, featuring top musicians from pop, jazz, and classical music. The concert’s first half highlights sci-fi soundtracks and pays tribute to electronic music pioneers Delia Derbyshire and Wendy Carlos. In the second half, the London premiere of Gregory’s suite for synths and orchestra, Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project, explores ancient mathematical ideas and inventions.
MAX RICHTER’S VIVALDI RECOMPOSED
Tuesday 5 November, The Apex, Bury St Edmunds
Wednesday 6 November, St Peter Mancroft, Norwich
Thursday 7 November, Hemsted Park, Cranbrook
Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed is a thrilling and hypnotic way to encounter Vivaldi’s genius with fresh ears, seemingly taking us up into the cosmos to look down on the piece and the world from above. Thomas Gould and Britten Sinfonia have a special relationship with the piece, having given its first ever concert performance in 2012 and more recently performed it to a rapturous sell-out crowd at the 2023 BBC Proms.
MOZART’S REQUIEM
Friday 15 November, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge
Britten Sinfonia joins the Choir of King’s College under the baton of conductor Daniel Hyde. Following the lyrical beauty of Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and Stravinsky’s Mass, the evening culminates in a powerful rendition of Mozart’s Requiem.
BRITTEN SINFONIA AND TIM GARLAND’S LIGHTHOUSE TRIO
Saturday 16 November, Rochester Jazz Festival: Rochester Cathedral
Tuesday 19 November, EFG London Jazz Festival: Milton Court Concert Hall
Wednesday 20 November, Cambridge Jazz Festival: West Road Concert Hall
Jazz virtuoso Tim Garland joins Britten Sinfonia for the world premiere of Garland’s orchestral piece, The Forever Seed, which features Thomas Gould, Gwilym Simcock and Asaf Sirkis as soloists and was recorded for the Lighthouse Trio’s new album, Moment of Departure. Also included are a brand-new work by Simcock and Jonathan Brigg’s superb tribute to Thelonious Monk, written for Britten Sinfonia’s strings in 2022.
BRITTEN’S SAINT NICOLAS
Saturday 23 November, Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden
Britten Sinfonia joins forces with the Saffron Walden Choral Society under the direction of conductor Quintin Beer. Purcell's Chaconne, arranged by Britten and Bridge’s Sir Roger de Coverley set the stage for the evening’s centrepiece, Britten’s Saint Nicolas, a vivid and dramatic cantata that brings to life the legendary story of the beloved saint.
LISA O’NEILL: SYMPHONY FOR THE COLD MOON
Wednesday 11 December, Barbican Hall, London
The acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill joins Britten Sinfonia and conductor Gabriella Teychenné for a performance of her songs orchestrated by Terry Edwards. Lisa performs new orchestrations of songs from her studio albums, recognising the significance of 11 December in the lunar phase known as the Cold Moon.
BRITTEN SINFONIA WITH CHRIS THILE & SPECIAL GUEST
Wednesday 22 January, Bristol Beacon
Thursday 23 January, Barbican Hall, London
Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter, and composer Chris Thile is described by The Guardian as “that rare being: an all-round musician who can settle into any style, from bluegrass to classical.” Thile joins Britten Sinfonia and acclaimed conductor Suzie Collier, mother of and guiding light to Jacob Collier, and former violin teacher of the orchestra’s leader, Thomas Gould.
PÄRT 90 / SHOSTAKOVICH 50
Thursday 13 February, Norwich Cathedral
Friday 14 February, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds
This concert cuts to the essence of Dmitri Shostakovich, who died 50 years ago in 2025, and Arvo Pärt, who will be 90. One of them a Soviet composer to the end, the other brought up in the USSR but an exile from Estonia in Berlin from 1980 to 2010. The programme features Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op.110a (a scaling-up of his eighth string quartet) and Pärt’s strikingly beautiful pieces Fratres, Mein Weg, Tabula Rasa and Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. The programme includes Tavener’s Song for Athene and a new work for strings and percussion by Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
SURROUND SOUND PLAYLIST
Wednesday 19 March, Chelmsford Cathedral
Friday 21 March, Ely Cathedral
Saturday 22 March, Peterborough Cathedral
Britten Sinfonia brings a truly immersive concert experience to three of East Anglia’s most majestic cathedrals. Audiences will enjoy a surround-sound journey in these beautiful settings, featuring music from the beloved and instantly recognisable to add-to-playlist new favourites, and special guests including Amy Dickson, Joseph Tawadros, Tenebrae and Nigel Short.
1945: A KIND OF HAUNTING
Tuesday 25 March, Milton Court Concert Hall, London
Wednesday 26 March, Elgar Concert Hall, Birmingham
Friday 28 March, Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden
80 years after the end of WWII, we hear musical responses from then and now, conducted by Jonathan Berman. Michael Zev Gordon’s A Kind of Haunting receives its world premiere performances. With songs performed by baritone James Newby and spoken texts by poet Jacqueline Saphra, scholar Marianne Hirsch and Zev Gordon himself, the work explores the enduring and cross-generational trauma of the Holocaust. Preceding this is Martinů’s Double Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani, written in 1938 when the composer had left his native Czechoslovakia for Switzerland. Strauss writes from a different perspective, his Metamorphosen lamenting the destruction of Germany and its culture.
BACH’S ST JOHN PASSION
Sunday 13 April, University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford
Britten Sinfonia and Merton College Choir present Bach’s powerful St John Passion, featuring Gwilym Bowen as Evangelist and Giles Underwood as Christus, conducted by Benjamin Nicholas. This performance is part of Britten Sinfonia’s 2025 residency at Merton College, Oxford, with concerts, recordings and chamber music coaching across the year.
MESSIAEN’S ET EXSPECTO
Wednesday 30 April, St George’s Cathedral, Southwark, London
Nicholas Daniel conducts Britten Sinfonia and Sinfonia Smith Square in Messiaen’s monumental Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, a rarely performed tribute to the victims of the World Wars, featuring unique wind, brass, and percussion textures.
BRITTEN SINFONIA WITH IMOGEN WHITEHEAD
Saturday 24 May, Norwich Cathedral
Monday 26 May, Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden
Principal Trumpet Imogen Whitehead is the soloist in Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto. Hummel’s career spanned the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras - represented here by Beethoven’s brilliant first symphony, and Wagner’s stunningly beautiful Siegfried Idyll. The concert also celebrates Arvo Pärt’s 90th year with a rarely heard version of Fratres for wind octet.
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About Britten Sinfonia
Britten Sinfonia is a different kind of orchestra. It is defined not by the traditional figurehead of a principal conductor, but by the dynamic and democratic meeting of its outstanding individual players and the broad range of their collaborators – from Steve Reich, Thomas Adès and Alison Balsom to Pagrav Dance Company, Chris Thile and Anoushka Shankar.
Rooted in the East of England, where it is the only professional orchestra working throughout the region, Britten Sinfonia also has a national and international reputation as one of today’s finest ensembles. It is renowned for its adventurous programming and stunningly high-quality performances, and equally for its record of commissioning new music, nurturing new composing talent, and inspiring schoolchildren, hospital patients and communities across the East of England.
Britten Sinfonia’s main touring locations are in London, Saffron Walden, Cambridge and Norwich. The orchestra also performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall and appears at UK festivals including Aldeburgh, Brighton, Norfolk & Norwich and the BBC Proms. Its prolific discography features many award-winning recordings.