Press Releases

A film by Graham Johnston

How does a symphony orchestra sound in a car park? Or is it best appreciated in specially built halls? BBT stirs the ongoing debate surrounding the idea of taking classical music out of the concert hall to imaginative and often unusual venues. Does this help cultivate new audiences? Younger audiences? Or does it compromise the music? Is taking down the barriers opening a pathway to more people enjoying classical music? Is the ultimate aim to get them into a concert hall? BBT award-winners including Atos Trio, Erik Bosgraaf, Alec Frank-Gemmill, Bram van Sambeek, Sean Shibe, Mark Simpson, Kate Whitley and others discuss their wide-ranging views on acoustics, space, sociability and audiences. These will likely provoke further discussion, to which you can contribute..

View film here and join the discussion >>

GLORIA CAMPANER piano

Heart of Stone films

The extraordinary Sardinian outdoors is the setting for Heart of Stone, two short art films by renowned video designer Luca Scarzella, featuring Italian pianist Gloria Campaner performing Scriabin’s early Etude, Op 2 No.1 and his late, luminescent work, Vers la Flamme, Op 72. Monumental stone sculptures by famous Sardinian artist Pinuccio Sciola enhance the intensity and intrinsic mysticism of Scriabin’s music, both visually and acoustically.

View films here >>

ELIZABETH WATTS soprano

Alessandro Scarlatti: Con eco d’amore (HMU 807574)

“the brilliance of her coloratura in the virtuoso numbers thrills”
Sunday Times

There are rich rewards for Elizabeth Watts after her three years of searching, sorting and shortlisting the huge cannon of operatic arias penned by Alessandro Scarlatti. Con eco d’amore, her recently released CD on the Harmonia Mundi USA label, has met with huge critical acclaim.

Hear CD extracts here >>

Read reviews here >>

December 2015

• As part of his season-long series at London’s Wigmore Hall, pianist James Baillieu premieres a new work, Lorne ys my likinge, composed by Nico Muhly (co-commissioned by BBT and Wigmore Hall), sung by Iestyn Davis and Allan Clayton (4 December).
• The Heath Quartet records Tchaikovsky’s String Quartets 1 & 3 in Guildhall’s Milton Court, London. Release: Autumn 2016 Harmonia Mundi USA.

January 2016

• Horn-player Alec Frank-Gemmill records a range of repertoire, from Beethoven to Vinter, to showcase the development and versatility of the horn. He plays five different period horns and is joined by Alasdair Beatson on period pianos. Release: Spring 2017 BIS.
• Bassoonist Bram van Sambeek records Kalevi Aho’s Bassoon Concerto with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra to accompany solo works for bassoon and a BBT-commissioned concerto by Sebastian Fagerlund. Release: Autumn 2016 BIS.

February 2016

• Augustin Hadelich performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Op.35 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko at the Royal Festival Hall, London (24 Feb). The performance will be recorded to accompany Edouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole (LPO/ Omer Meir Wellber). Release: Spring 2017 LPO Live.
• BBT ANNOUNCES ITS NEW AWARD WINNERS FOR 2016!

March 2016

• Violinist Benjamin Beilman’s debut disc for Warner Classics is released. Titled Spectrum, it features sonatas of Schubert and Janáček, a Stravinsky transcription of Samuel Dushkin and Fritz Kreisler’s last work.