The Ulster Orchestra travelled to London at the weekend to give a concert at the prestigious BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. The Sunday evening concert (5 September), broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Ulster, celebrated the work of Sir Henry Wood, the Proms’ founder-conductor.
An enthusiastic and large audience greeted the Ulster Orchestra and its Principal Guest Conductor, Paul Watkins, on what was the Orchestra’s tenth appearance at the Proms and the 25th anniversary of its first performance there in 1985.
Pianist Steven Osborne was the soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1, providing a London taster for the Orchestra’s new Belfast season which opens with four outstanding solo pianists, each playing one of Rachmaninov’s four piano concertos over four consecutive Fridays from 17 September.
Also on the Proms concert programme were popular works by Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, along with rarities by Bax and Dorothy Howell – very much the sort of mix for which Sir Henry Wood was renowned.
Accompanying the Ulster Orchestra to London, its Chief Executive David Byers said: “The programme really played to the Orchestra’s strengths and Northern Ireland can be rightly proud of its Orchestra and the audience response said it all. It was wonderful to be in the Hall for such a great music-making evening.”
Talking about the Rachmaninov series, David Byers said that Russian virtuoso pianist Boris Berezovsky, who is renowned for his sensitivity and insight, opens the Orchestra’s new Belfast season with Rachmaninov’s Fourth Piano Concerto in the Belfast Waterfront on Friday 17 September. In the following weeks Steven Osborne plays Rachmaninov’s First Concerto once more, Barry Douglas the Second and Sergei Babayan the Third.
The Ulster Orchestra will also play at this year’s Proms on Saturday 11 September, when the Last Night of the Proms will feature the Orchestra at Proms in the Park, which this year comes from Hillsborough Castle in County Down.