OUR 2024-25 SEASON
It's my pleasure to introduce a raft of projects that pair Britten Sinfonia musicians with a range of creative partners. Whether the analogue synths of Will Gregory's Moog Ensemble, American mandolinist Chris Thile, traditional Irish singer Lisa O'Neill or Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio, such collaborative projects are a wellspring for the orchestra's ongoing breadth of activity.
Alongside core repertoire masterworks by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Wagner, our 2024-5 season marks the 90th birthday year of Arvo Pärt and the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Memorial works by Shostakovich and Messiaen – his gigantic Et Exspecto – join Strauss's Metamorphosen, a rarely performed strings concerto by Martinů and the premiere performances of Michael Zev Gordon's reflection on the Holocaust, A Kind of Haunting.
Special buildings continue to be as important partners for us as performers and composers – the majesty of the east of England's Ely, Norwich, Peterborough and St Edmundsbury Cathedrals inspiring us to create highly bespoke concert experiences that aim to live long in the memory.
Meurig Bowen
Chief Executive and Artistic Director
Selected Highlights
Magnum Opus Composer Showcase 2024
Three new chamber concertos by composers whose careers are just taking off, performed by Britten Sinfonia and soloists Rakhi Singh (violin), Alexandra Achillea Pouta (mezzo soprano), and Imogen Whitehead (trumpet).
Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio and Britten Sinfonia
A giant of the jazz improv world, Tim Garland brings together his eclectically-minded trio and Britten Sinfonia for the most ambitious project of his stellar career, at the EFG London Jazz Festival.
Lisa O'Neill with Britten Sinfonia: Symphony for the Cold Moon
The compelling folk singer-songwriter Lisa O'Neill joins Britten Sinfonia in a performance of her songs orchestrated by Terry Edwards.
Chris Thile and Special Guest with Britten Sinfonia
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.”
Pärt 90 : Shostakovich 50
A programme that 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.
Surround Sound Playlist
You’re lying or sitting in a cathedral, looking up at the soaring arches and beautiful ceiling above.
1945: A Kind of Haunting
80 years after the end of WWII, we hear musical responses from then and now.
Messiaen's Et exspecto
Nicholas Daniel conducts Britten Sinfonia and Sinfonia Smith Square in Messiaen's monumental Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.
Britten Sinfonia with Imogen Whitehead
Britten Sinfonia’s Principal Trumpet Imogen Whitehead is the soloist in Hummel’s beloved concerto.