Pianist Nicholas McCarthy – who made history in 2012, when he became the first one-handed pianist to graduate from the Royal College of Music – reunites with Wigglesworth and the Orchestra in Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.

The concert – which broadcasts live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds and the same evening on BBC TV – includes Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra and Walton’s highly-charged First Symphony.

 

Mark Wigglesworth’s opening concert as the BSO’s Chief Conductor was described by The Daily Telegraph as “a fine, fierce debut”. He reunites with pianist Nicholas McCarthy and the Orchestra to share music by Ravel and Walton at the BBC Proms this summer.

One of today’s most inspiring pianists, Nicholas McCarthy has received acclaim not only for his dazzling concert performances, but for using his platform to create change. He helped the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) launch its first syllabus for one-handed pianists last year and has carved a successful career as a motivational speaker.

McCarthy performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, a work commissioned by his hero – the pianist Paul Wittgenstein – who built the repertoire for left-hand alone piano following the loss of his right arm in World War I.  McCarthy performed the concerto with Mark Wigglesworth and the BSO last November, with The Guardian praising his “total command of the pianism that Ravel demands”

The concert opens with Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra, an eight-movement work that features music from the composer’s film and stage scores. It concludes with Walton’s First Symphony, a piece that erupted onto the scene in 1935 and has remained popular with audiences and musicians ever since. Wigglesworth conducted the symphony in his debut as Chief Conductor last November – a performance that received critical acclaim.

Mark Wigglesworth’s first season as the Orchestra’s Chief Conductor has included a shared Brahms cycle with Principal Guest Conductor Chloé Van Soeterstède and featured collaborations with pianists Boris Giltburg and Sir Stephen Hough and violinist Alena Baeva (the BSO’s 24/25 Artist-in-Residence) in Basingstoke, Bristol, Exeter, Poole and Portsmouth. Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang also unites with Wigglesworth and the Orchestra in early May, in Poole and Portsmouth.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth said:
“I am so looking forward to performing at the Proms with the BSO at the end of our first season together. To showcase this amazing orchestra’s talents in such an iconic national venue will be a wonderful way to share the musical connection I feel we have so enjoyably begun to establish.”

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Executive, Dougie Scarfe OBE, said:
“Audiences in the South West have enjoyed a terrific first season with Mark Wigglesworth as the Orchestra’s Chief Conductor. We’ve witnessed some truly electric collaborations, including with Nicholas McCarthy, who united with Mark in those first performances last autumn to great acclaim. We can’t wait to return to the BBC Proms and share the magic that has been taking place across the region this year.”

 

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s performance with Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth and pianist Nicholas McCarthy broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds – on Sunday 20 July – and, the same evening, on BBC TV. For full details see bbc.co.uk/proms 

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