³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW Digital Concerts
Welcome
Experience ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW from the comfort of your own home with our series of digital performances.
Filmed in ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hoddinott Hall, our digital concerts are available to enjoy in your own time, from wherever you want to watch it, whether that's at home through a smart TV, via a mobile device while out and about, or even on a bus or train journey. It's our music on your terms...
These up-close performances will enable you to encounter the orchestra in a unique and more intimate way, and don't forget to discover more about the music being performed with the accompanying programme note for each piece.
The Digital Concert Series has been scheduled around our live activity, so check our concert diary to see all upcoming dates then sit back and enjoy a variety of beautiful orchestral pieces.
2024-25 Season Relaunch
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Fiona Monbet's Faubourg 23
Beginning in old Paris with it's Faubourg atmosphere, conjured by waltzes and references to Edith Piaf and Joséphine Baker, a ‘faubourg’ also refers to what lies beyond the city’s walls, beyond its boundaries. Fiona Monbet's Faubour 23 brings together these very different worlds, or worlds yet to be invented. - Available 7.30pm 28th November.
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Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra
A colourful showpiece, and probably the most popular of Bartók’s orchestral works, the Concerto for Orchestra performed by ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ National Orchestra of Wales with award winning conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. - Available 7.30pm 17th October.
Previous Performances
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World Premiere - David Roche's Waves of Love
Waves of Love is fast, loud and uplifting. As a rock and metal musician at his core, big noise, insistent riffs and the desire to feel exhilarated sit at the centre of everything David writes. This piece is testament to that.
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Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments
A compositional treatise on how to layer the orchestral woodwind and brass in striking and colourful ways - It is constructed from highly contrasted blocks of sound, which are often quite static and austere in effect.
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Ravel's L'Aurore
This short piece for solo tenor, mixed choir and orchestra transcends a dull poem by an anonymous author with imaginative instrumental touches and shimmering textures; building up to a dramatic climax and ending as suddenly as it began.
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Helen Grime's Limina
Although there are a few clear shifts, musical states are frequently layered and dovetailed with one another, leaving the listener balanced, as it were, right on a liminal boundary in Helen Grime's Limina.
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John Woolrich's Viola Concerto
A cycle of seven bleak and brooding songs-without-words - in John Woolrich's Viola Concerto the viola sings, and the orchestra echoes its song in predominantly soft and gentle colours.
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Ravel's Ma Mere l'Oye
Ravel’s scintillating score to Ma Mere l’Oye depicts fairytale figures through music. From Sleeping Beauty to Beauty and the Beast, Tom Thumb to Little Ugly, this ballet vibrantly conjures the characters with its inventive and audacious orchestrations.
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Schwertsik's Epilog zu rosamunde
Long string melodies merge with fluid pulses, and the old and new surge in dramatic build ups to create beauty and subtle nods to Schubert in this week’s digital concert – Schwertisk’s Epilog zu Rosamunde.
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Michael Zev Gordon's Violin Concerto
Settle in for an atmospheric exploration of violin timbres and voices in this week’s digital concert. Carolin Widmann and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW perform Michael Zev Gordon’s violin concerto, a showcase of deep expression, earthy dance and introspection.
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Boulanger's Vieille priere bouddhique
The theme of universal fellowship is conveyed through the setting of a French translation of an old Buddhist prayer to choral writing that is simple and direct. Displaying modal touches to suggest the texts origin and featuring one of the most exotic and characterful flute solos in the repertoire, Lili Boulanger’s Vieille priere bouddhique, marks #³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖNCW’s first digital concert appearance!
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Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances
Intoxicating inventiveness takes the rough bones of original folk melodies, and encapsulates the vivid moods of dance in this week’s digital concert.
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World Premiere - Alexander Goehr's The Master Said
RPS award nominee Alexander Goehr’s The Master Said explores the learnings and teachings of Confucius, who is voiced in this fascinating work by the iconic tones of Welsh actor Mark Lewis Jones.
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World Premiere - Joseph Davies' Parallax
In this piece similar materials seem to move at different rates simultaneously, as if at varying distances from the listener - just like the Parallax phenomenon.
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Dvořák’s Humoresques
Blending dance-like cheerfulness with ethereal melancholy, Dvořák’s Humoresque has enjoyed popularity since its first performance. Watch our performance here!
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John Metcalf's Dances from Forgotten Places
Five fast dances and one slow make up John Metcalf’s Dances from Forgotten Places. Rather than places though, they actually refer to artistic characteristics of contemporary music! Watch ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW and conductor Geoffrey Paterson perform them here as part of the 2021 Vale of Glamorgan Festival.
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Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile
Melding melancholic Russian folk tunes with his own graceful melody, Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile is one of his best-known and much-loved works. Watch here as our principal cellist Alice Neary performs this exquisite work alongside ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW.
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Schmidt's Symphony No. 3
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW are joined by conductor Jonathan Berman for this week’s Digital Concert - Schmidt’s charming and rambunctious Symphony No. 3. So grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy.
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Sarah Jenkins' Trallali, Trallaley, Trallalera
Inspired by Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, depicting nature and military themes, Sarah Jenkins’ Trallali, Trallaley, Trallalera takes centre stage in tonight’s Digital Concert.
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Peteris Vasks' Cantabile
Vasks’ Cantabile is a euphoric outpouring for strings, melding beauty and harmony with intense brooding. Simply magical…
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Beethoven's Egmont Overture
Count Egmont stands up to the Spanish army invading his town, dying heroically but providing inspiration to others throughout history to stand against invasion. This is the storyline of the play Egmont, for which Beethoven wrote the score in 1809. So grab a cup of tea, sit back and indulge in the wonderful sounds of Beethoven at his finest in this rousing overture.
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Schumann's Nachtstucke arr. Donal Bannister
Schumann’s Nachtstücke are full of rhythmic drama, fluid harmonic progression and constantly shifting moods and characters – from the frolicsome to the coquettish, from uncertainty and incoherence to the finality of a funeral march.
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Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture
Full of rising and falling dynamics, subtle harmonic shifts and a kaleidoscope of instrumental colour, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture is a stunning depiction of the sea, the Hebrides and Fingal’s Cave.
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Gavin Higgins Sadly Now the Throstle Sings
Taking its inspiration from Oscar Wilde's poem 'From Spring Days to Winter', Gavin Higgins' 'Sadly Now the Throstle Sings' in an elegy to the people living in Britain's ex-mining towns. Hear it here performed by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW brass and percussion with Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft.
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Pryor's Thoughts of Love, arr. Donal Bannister
With its lyrical tunes, firework flourishes, mammoth range and showy cadenza, Pryor’s waltz ‘Thoughts of Love’ perfectly showcases the trombone.
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Haydn Symphony No. 88
From exquisite flute embellishments, to gracefully melodic yet rustic tunes and one of the most cheerful finales he ever wrote, Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 truly has all of the charm, elegance and virtuosity you could hope for in a symphony.
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Lefébure-Wély's Boléro de Concert arr. Donal Bannister
Lefébure-Wély’s Bolero de Concert brings popular Spanish dance to the concert platform, with its gritty and passion themes, coupled with almost funfair like carousel sections.
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Ravel's Mother Goose
Based on fairy tales and full of playfulness, excitement and character, Ravel’s Mother Goose glimmers with a childlike innocence and purity.
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World Premiere - Matthew Taylor's Symphony No. 6
Matthew Taylor’s Sixth Symphony, combining shimmeringly transparent colours with robustly lyrical solos, is a shining monument to English composer Malcolm Arnold in his centenary year.
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Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp
Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp features some of the most exquisite music ever written. Listen to harpist Catrin Finch and flautist Matthew Featherstone glide through the elegant and charming tunes of this masterpiece in this evening's Digital Concert.
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Berg's Three Pieces from the Lyric Suite
From soft, delicate gestures, to intensely passionate melodies, Berg’s Lyric Suite encapsulates the emotions of love and secrecy. Hear our performance of the Three Pieces from the suite, orchestrated by the composer himself, here.
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Haydn's Symphony No. 90
‘Father of the Symphony’, Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 90 is filled with elegant, virtuosic and sprightly melodies. Listen to our performance, alongside Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft here.
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World Premiere - Ryan Wigglesworth's Five Waltzes
This week's concert piece is the World Premiere performance of Ryan Wigglesworth's interesting, inventive and creative Five Waltzes for viola and orchestra, performed by violist Lawrence Power with the composer on the podium.
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Carlijn Metselaar's Time for your Walk
Time for your Walk by Carlijn Metselaar is about a recurring feeling of joy and excitement; a sense of delight so irresistible you could almost start singing!
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Beethoven's Symphony No. 4
In contrast to the fiery and heroic nature of his Third and Fifth Symphonies the Fourth has a loftier, more lyrical, relaxed and spacious quality, whilst retaining Beethoven’s archetypal playful wit, drama and love of the unexpected.
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Richard Blackford's The Better Angels Of Our Nature
Richard Blackford’s The Better Angels Of Our Nature takes its inspiration from Abraham Lincoln’s inspirational pleas for reconciliation in his 1861 inaugural address, and is performed here by our very own Principal Oboist, Steven Hudson.
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Nielsen's Four Movements for Orchestra, orchestrated by J. Swensen
An orchestration by Joseph Swensen of one of Nielsen’s early string quartets, the colourful & passionate Four Movements for Orchestra encapsulates the Danish composer’s vibrant personality.
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Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2
With a combination of beauty, playfulness and unpredictability, extreme emotional depth and intelligent characterisations bringing the music to life, it is no wonder that Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is so popular with pianists and audiences alike. Hear our performance of it here, alongside pianist Pavel Kolesnikov.
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Caroline Shaw's Entr'acte
Caroline Shaw's technicolour 'Entr'acte' pushes the boundaries on what a minuet and trio can be, almost viewing the music from the other side of a looking glass… Think Alice in Wonderland meets Baroque music...
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Colin Matthews' ... through the glass
Derived from the last line of a poem by Edmund Blunden, Colin Matthews says how the title of his piece …through the glass evoked “imagery of a thing seen through glass, unreachable, or overlaid with reflection."
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Mozart's Symphony No. 41 'Jupiter'
Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony No. 41, the last symphony he ever wrote, is abundant with joyful, passionate and intensely melodic tunes, which is perhaps the reason for its enduring popularity.
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Sally Beamish's Under the Wing of the Rock
With a central section drawing on rhythms and chants from Celtic working songs, and beginning and ending with extended slow sections for the solo viola, Sally Beamish's Under the Wing of the Rock draws its inspiration from the poem Carmina Gadelica.
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de Falla's El Retrablo de Maese Pedro
Falla’s El Retablo de Maese Pedro is a cheeky and charming work full of Medieval flavours. Listen to our performance with soloists Clara Mouriz, Jorge Navarro Colorado & Michel de Souza here.
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William Mathias' Melos
With its glittering arabesques, beguiling flourishes and rhythmic dance, Mathias’ Melos is bathed in Greek sun and myth. From the shimmering to the mysterious, it's the perfect soundtrack to your Thursday evening.
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Bartok's Divertimento
With spine-tingling intensity and fresh vitality, Bartok’s exuberant Divertimento is the perfect piece to really show off our string section.
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Wagner's Siegfried Idyll
Written to surprise his wife for her birthday, Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll glows with contentment, passion & reverence.
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Gavin Higgins' What Wild Ecstasy
Members of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW and conductor Ryan Bancroft perform What Wild Ecstasy by Composer-in-Association Gavin Higgins.
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Schreker's Chamber Symphony
Schreker’s opulent, nimble and captivating Chamber Symphony isn’t performed often, but with it’s shimmeringly delicate sound world, rich romantic style and luscious melodies it deserves to be.
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Strauss' Rosenkavalier Suite
Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Suite takes the iconic music from his comic opera of the same name and brings the highlights together into a 30 minute cinematic extravaganza.
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Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Bach's iconic and popular Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, performed by members of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW with conductor Paul Goodwin.
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Adolphe Adam's Cantique de Noel
This week's concert piece is a song synonymous with Christmas, Adolphe Adam’s Cantique de Noel, better known to some as O Holy Night, performed by soprano Llio Evans.
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Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker
There are some pieces so iconic to Christmas that it just wouldn’t be Christmas without them... including Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker – so here it is, performed by our brass and percussion, with a guest appearance from the wonderful Kizzy Crawford. Also available with BSL interpretation.
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Schubert's Symphony No. 5
Our second December piece is Schubert’s heartfelt and intricately beautiful Fifth Symphony.
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Strauss' Four Songs op.27
Our first December concert piece is Strauss' Four Songs op. 27, performed by members of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ NOW and the captivating Kathryn Rudge.
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Coleridge-Taylor's Four Novelletten
With the elegance of Elgar and the melodiousness of Dvořák, here's this week's autumn concert: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's 'Four Novelletten'.
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Warlock's The Curlew
Our third November concert piece is Warlock's exquisitely beautiful and atmospheric The Curlew, performed by tenor James Gilchrist and our principal strings, flute and cor anglais.
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Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings
Our second November concert piece, conducted by Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft, is Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings with its unmistakeable Tchaikovskian melancholy, elegance and drama.
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Judith Bingham's Strange Words
Our first November concert piece is Judith Bingham's enchantingly magical and intimate Strange Words, performed by tenor James Gilchrist and our Principal Cellist, Alice Neary.
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John Woolrich's Ulysses Awakes
Our final October concert piece is a stunning performance of John Woolrich's Ulysses Awakes, featuring our Principal Viola Rebecca Jones as soloist.
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Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet in F minor
Our third performance in the October season is a performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Nonet in F minor with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips.
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Dowland songs with James Gilchrist
For our second performance in the October season we have three songs by Dowland, performed by tenor James Gilchrist.
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Warlock's Capriol Suite
Here's the first piece of our brand new digital series, Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite.