Latest news with #BBCConcertOrchestra
Scottish Sun
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Beloved BBC music star who performed for millions dies aged 74 as tributes flood in
Fans of the 'highly-talented' musician have expressed their sympathies 'MOST INTENSE SADNESS' Beloved BBC music star who performed for millions dies aged 74 as tributes flood in A BELOVED BBC music star who performed for millions has died aged 74 as tributes flood in. Composer and conductor Ronald Corp OBE tragically died on the morning of May 7. Advertisement The music icon had a high-flying career with the BBC Concert Orchestra was spotted on TV for its eight-week orchestra program BBC Proms. He also was the musical director for both the London Chorus in 1994 and the Highgate Choral Society. The London Chorus released an emotional tribute for their former director. They wrote on their website: "It is with the most intense sadness that we announce that our beloved Musical Director, Ronald Corp, died on the morning of 7th May at Bath. Advertisement "Ron was not simply a highly talented musician, as a composer, conductor and chorus master. "He was a genuine friend to us all: motivated at all times by the sincerity of his love of music and of the people with whom he made it." Fans of the beloved composer have taken to social media to share express their sympathies. One wrote: "Very sad to hear the news of the death of conductor, Ronald Corp OBE - a very sensitive and dedicated conductor, so at home in music by our home-grown composers. (He was also a composer, himself.) @BBCRadio3 @ArcheryPromos @TheLondonChorus." Advertisement Another shared: "The death has been announced, aged 74, on 7th May of Ronald Corp OBE. "Composer, conductor and Anglican priest he is probably best known for his work with British light classical music notably including Robert Binge (Sailing By, Elizabethan Serenade etc)."
The Irish Sun
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Beloved BBC music star who performed for millions dies aged 74 as tributes flood in
A BELOVED BBC music star who performed for millions has died aged 74 as tributes flood in. Composer and conductor Ronald Corp OBE tragically died on the morning of May 7. The music icon had a high-flying career with the BBC Concert Orchestra was spotted on TV for its eight-week orchestra program BBC Proms. He also was the musical director for both the London Chorus in 1994 and the Highgate Choral Society. The London Chorus released an emotional tribute for their former director. They wrote on their website: "It is with the most intense sadness that we announce that our beloved Musical Director, Ronald Corp, died on the morning of 7th May at Bath. "Ron was not simply a highly talented musician, as a composer, conductor and chorus master. "He was a genuine friend to us all: motivated at all times by the sincerity of his love of music and of the people with whom he made it." Fans of the beloved composer have taken to social media to share express their sympathies. One wrote: "Very sad to hear the news of the death of conductor, Ronald Corp OBE - a very sensitive and dedicated conductor, so at home in music by our home-grown composers. (He was also a composer, himself.) @BBCRadio3 @ArcheryPromos @TheLondonChorus." Most read in TV 1 Musical Director Ronald Corp died on May 7 Credit: ClassicFM
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The BBC Concert Orchestra becomes the first Associate Orchestra at Alexandra Palace
The BBC Concert Orchestra has become the first ever Associate Orchestra at Alexandra Palace, paying homage to the ongoing collaboration between the orchestra and the iconic venue. The partnership also honours the heritage of BBC broadcasting at the Palace, which began with the first public television transmission in 1936. Alexandra Palace will host London events for BBC Radio 3's Friday Night is Music Night, the long-running live radio concert programme where the BBC Concert Orchestra explores repertoire ranging from the golden age of light music to the best in film, TV and theatre. Upcoming Friday Night is Music Night events at Alexandra Palace include Paris in the Jazz Age with violinist and conductor Fiona Monbet and clarinettist Giacomo Smith on 30 May, and a concert celebrating the life and career of Dame Julie Andrews on 12 September with singers Katie Birtill, Kelly Mathieson and Graham Bickley. In addition to performances in the Palace's award-winning Theatre and opportunities to rehearse in the venue, the partnership will expand access to orchestral music, as the BBC CO continues to work with both new and established artists. Over time, the BBC CO will provide education opportunities for local communities through Alexandra Palace's Creative Learning programme. Matthew Swann, Director of the BBC Concert Orchestra said: 'It's an absolute honour to be the first ever Associate Orchestra at Alexandra Palace and to continue the longstanding relationship the BBC has with the venue. As the regular London host of Friday Night is Music Night, I look forward to welcoming audiences at Ally Pally and continuing to bring the very best orchestral music to audiences however they choose to join us, whether in the theatre or listening on BBC Radio 3. We will continue to take classical programming to venues across the UK and maintain performances at London's Southbank Centre with Unclassified Live, including at the Multitude Festival.' Emma Dagnes OBE, Alexandra Palace CEO: 'We're thrilled that the BBC Concert Orchestra is the first Associate Orchestra in our 150 years. Their continued excellence in bringing performances to music lovers all over the world makes them an ideal partner for this moment of Ally Pally history. The Palace is bursting with live entertainment, with hundreds of renowned artists performing on our stages each year, but the regular presence of the Orchestra is something new, and will unlock exciting creative opportunities. The partnership is the realisation of a long-term ambition – part of our goal to bring great entertainment and culture to all – and continues the ground-breaking relationship between ourselves and the BBC. We can't wait to welcome the Orchestra and all their team to the Palace.' This new partnership with Alexandra Palace will be in tandem with the orchestra's current Southbank Centre and the Royal Albert Hall partnerships, where they continue to perform in high profile concerts and experimental works. The BBC CO will also continue to work with its university partners in Nottingham, and a growing cohort of wider partnership organisations. FE
New Statesman
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
The Organ Symphony is an ode to the human body
What does your liver sound like? How about your kidneys, or your lungs? We're thinking here not of the bodily squelch of fluids mixing or air pumping, but of music. What if our organs – or, rather, our relationship to them – could be composed into a symphony? This is the type of project that can only be found on BBC Radio 4. The presenter and sound designer Maia Miller-Lewis spoke to five people, each with a unique relationship to one vital organ. Then she sketched a soundscape of their stories and handed them over to composer David Owen Norris, who turned them into classical scores – each organ assigned a different section of the orchestra. It shouldn't make sense. Explaining how it works is a bit like trying to describe synaesthesia – the phenomenon whereby some people can hear colours or perceive music visually – to someone who has never experienced it. But I'll give it a go. A woman who wrote a horror novella about donating a kidney translates the uncanniness of her story into the haunting melodies of woodwind. The highs and lows of the strings are inspired by a Chinese-medicine practitioner's decision to care for her liver to regain her 'emotional equilibrium' after the premature birth of her daughter triggered post-natal depression. The lungs are represented by brass, of course. Their light fluttering and guttural rasping traces the journey of a woman whose lungs collapsed in her thirties. A man who has confronted his childhood trauma by learning to be led by his heart – the 'connecting organ' – and becoming an 'agony uncle' for others turns his experience into a score for voices, part-choral, part-disco. And the brain is percussion, the rhythmic pings of thoughts as imagined by a computer scientist working on neural activity. These are all brought together so the BBC Concert Orchestra can 'perform the movement that is human life'. It's an eerily surreal yet emotive performance. I don't think I'll ever think about my kidneys in quite the same way again. [See also: Louis Theroux: The Settlers is a deathly warning] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Telegraph
20-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Beck, Royal Albert Hall, review: a scruffy troubadour backed by the power of the BBC Concert Orchestra
Beck has played the Royal Albert Hall once before, over 20 years ago. 'I don't know what I was thinking, but I played by myself,' the American musician said upon his return to Kensington on Saturday night. 'I'm making up for it this time. Overcompensating.' His band and the 80-piece BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Edwin Outwater, kept him company during the first of two shows at the opulent London venue, following last year's nine-stop US tour where he commanded the faculties of each town's resident orchestra, including New York's Carnegie Hall. It might seem an odd pairing: a scruffy Dylan-like troubadour sharing a stage with a formal institution. Beck was, after all, one of the first artists to light the spark that tore along the borders between genres. Since the 1990s he's built songs from hip-hop, folk, blues, and suburban pop culture, all with a maverick's glee. But his discography has slow, string-filled moments too, particularly on 2002 navel gazer Sea Change and its 2014 Grammy-winning unofficial sister, Morning Phase. 'I dug through all my songs that had strings in them,' he explained. The resulting setlist: songs he rarely gets to play and audiences rarely get to hear. Songs that, in an ordinary setting, might signal a bathroom break for fans of Beck's poppier, Prince-ier output became rapturous. Widescreen opener The Golden Age led into Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime, literally cinematic: he covered the Korgis tune for 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The high melancholy of Lonesome Tears and Wave was almost overwhelming, and Tarantula erred on Bono-style histrionics. But Beck lifted the mood with Jagger-ish dance moves on 1996 favourite The New Pollution, and the entire orchestra seemed to hop, skip, and jump during Blue Moon. Beck cited The Beatles, Serge Gainsbourg, and Francoise Hardy as some of his orchestral inspirations (dedicating his version of We Live Again to the latter), but chief among them was Scott Walker. 'I think of this as £100,000 karaoke, so indulge me,' he said, before parting the clouds during his cover of It's Raining Today. The traditional setting didn't quash his trademark comic charm. 'Holy s--t, they clear out fast,' he remarked as the orchestra left the stage after the main set. Like an unattended child he roamed the deserted stands and chairs, accidentally knocking sheafs of music to the floor, thumping the timpani ('I've been wanting to do that all night'), trying the conductor's podium for size, and getting distracted by the Grand Organ: 'What the f--k's up there, the phantom of the opera?' He pulled a harmonica out of his back pocket for wonky lo-fi stomper One Foot In The Grave — 'I've fallen far from an 80-piece orchestra to one harmonica' — and then, with a magician's flick of the wrist, transformed the mood again, from one-man comedy show to standard gig, for Devil's Haircut, Mixed Bizness, and 1996 slide guitar smash Loser. Playing the Royal Albert Hall with a full orchestra is an easy win, but the songs need to be able to hold the weight of the room and its players, and the performer needs to be immune to potential stuffiness. Beck checked all of those boxes.
