Part of our wider classical offering at Portsmouth Guildhall.
There is nothing better than a live concert featuring the full forces of an internationally renowned symphony orchestra. It has the power to stir the senses or soothe the soul, feed the mind or simply transport you away from the strains and stresses of everyday life.
With that in mind, we’re delighted to go on sale with the newest season from the wonderful Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra! These shows will be part of our wider classical series at the Portsmouth Guildhall for 2026/2027.
Book your tickets now for the opportunity to see some of the world’s most well-known classical music performed by a sensational orchestra!
BSO: SYMPHONIC HORIZONS
17th September 2026 – BOOK NOW
Smetana The Bartered Bride Overture
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1
Brahms Symphony No.2
Jamie Phillips Conductor
Martin James Bartlett Piano
Smetana’s joyous overture from The Bartered Bride is at the heart of what comic opera is all about: drama, thrills and bold character. Folk-like elements and rich orchestrations bring it to life, making it one of the most exciting overtures ever composed. Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is an exuberant and passionate work filled with uninhibited virtuosity. The dramatic and lengthy first movement is based on the menacing-sounding Ukrainian folk tune titled Song of the Blind and is filled with extensive technical passages made up of lush chord sequences and scales.
The finale is also based on a folk tune – a combination of hymn-like solemnity and more technical wizardry. The Second Symphony might be described as Brahms’ ‘Pastoral’ – a total contrast to the dramatic and very serious First. Its song-like melodies are imbued with a gentle and lyrical quality – in their simple beauty the themes give the impression of having been written down as a result of spontaneous inspiration. In Brahms’ own words, “a delightfully happy spirit” pervades the whole work.
BSO: EASTERN ODYSSEY
29th October 2026 – BOOK NOW
Mozart Don Giovanni Overture
Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No.2
Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
Charlotte Corderoy Conductor
Junyan Chen Piano
The overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni effortlessly introduces the shifting moods and dramatic contrasts and tensions that are to follow. Its genius lies in the success with which it captures the spirit of the opera without quoting from all its famous numbers. Saint-Saëns’ exquisite Second Piano Concerto shows a youthful high-spiritedness and somewhat inorganic, juxtaposed themes and movements. A famous witticism claimed, “It begins with Bach and ends with Offenbach”.
The skill of Saint-Saëns the pianist shines throughout, with its virtuosic passages and arpeggios, ultimately sparking to the finale’s tempestuous pyrotechnics. Scheherazade consisted of “separate, unconnected episodes and pictures” as Rimsky-Korsakov himself put it, from The Arabian Nights. It is a triumph of imagination over experience; a feast of sumptuous colours and brilliant instrumental effect by the man who literally wrote the book on orchestration. The suite is bound together by a recurring motif, a bewitching melody sung by the solo violin: the voice of Scheherazade herself. It quickly became a favourite Romantic showpiece and a landmark in the history of descriptive music.
BSO: IMPERIAL MAJESTY
19th November 2026 – BOOK NOW
Walton Crown Imperial March
Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 ‘Emperor’
Tchaikovsky Suite No.3
Andrew Litton Conductor
Jonathan Biss Piano
Combining Tudor-style choral grandeur with modern, rhythmic energy, Walton’s vibrant and majestic coronation march is celebrated for its stately main theme, a lyrical trio, and a triumphant finale. Beethoven’s final piano concerto is the largest in scale of all of his concertos – an epic tour de force, pitching soloist and orchestra in a musical argument of unprecedented breadth and scale. It is written in a virtuosic style that looks forward to the grand pianism of Liszt in its full chordal textures and wide dynamic range.
A spirit of heroism infuses the music, whilst the sublime slow movement is one of Beethoven’s most profound. However it might have acquired its name, it really is the ‘Emperor’ of piano concertos. Tchaikovsky’s Suite No.3 is a finely crafted work of winning spirit, though one that rarely broaches the personal revelations of his late symphonies. It is entirely idiomatic Tchaikovsky, nonetheless. Nobody else could have written the opening Elegy, which traces a trajectory from the languid to the impassioned, with its gorgeous themes and fluttering accompaniments.
BSO: LAST NIGHT OF THE CHRISTMAS PROMS
21st December 2026 – BOOK NOW
Joe Stilgoe Piano / Singer
What is Christmas if not a time to reconnect with old friends… so we’re thrilled to be joined once more by the wonderful pianist and singer extraordinaire Joe Stilgoe! Joe will be showcasing his musical talents with a hamper full of Christmas musical goodies alongside all your festive orchestral favourites, and a first half of classic jazzy treats.
Joe works regularly with orchestra across the UK and can be heard extensively on radio, having hosted and starred many times in BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night, while also being a regular presence on the station (Joe Stilgoe – Christmas At The Movies, Jingle Bell Joe, One Night Stand at Ronnie Scotts), and being a regular guest and presenter on JazzFM, Radio 3 and Radio 4.
BSO: SOULFUL EPITAPH
25th February 2027 – BOOK NOW
Butterworth A Shropshire Lad: Rhapsody for Orchestra
Bridge Oration – Concerto Elegiaca
Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5
Mark Wigglesworth Conductor
Jesper Svedberg Cello
Butterworth composed his poignant Rhapsody as an orchestral epilogue to his song settings of the various Housman poems which explore life faced by the spectre of impending mortality. Influenced by Sibelius, Debussy and Vaughan Williams, it is a ravishing epitaph that sings of the tranquil landscape from which it grew. Bridge’s Oration for cello and orchestra, an expressionist concerto in one movement, alternates ghostly funeral marches with outbursts of terror and indignation. It is both an elegy for the fallen of the First World War and an anguished warning.
The cello writing is exceptional – at times a declaiming speaker, at others muttering a train of thought arising from deep within the unconscious. Tchaikovsky approached his Fifth Symphony from a position of extreme self-doubt, fearing his muse was exhausted. “I am dreadfully anxious to prove not only to others, but also to myself, that I am not yet played out as a composer”. From its first note to last noble chord, it is filled with passionate self-questioning, exposing the soul of a deep and complex man.
BSO: STAR WARS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
4th March 2027 – BOOK NOW
Pete Harrison Conductor
Can you believe it’s been 50 years since Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker first graced our screens? The Force will be with all of us as we play the iconic tracks that accompanied George Lucas’ epic space opera.
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra presents a magnificent celebration of John Williams’ timeless music from the entire film saga since the original Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977. All performed spectacularly by the full forces of the orchestra and conducted by Pete Harrison, it surely will be an event not to be missed – an evening of some of the best movie music ever written.
Multibuy Discounts for the BSO Season:
– Book any 5-6 concerts and get 10% off. BOOK NOW
– Book any 3-4 concerts and get 5% off. BOOK NOW