6 note-worthy highlights this September

As a touring ensemble, our music spans across the South West – last year, 80% of our events toured beyond our base at Lighthouse, Poole (including 63% of symphonic concerts). Each year, the month of September provides a welcome chance to reconnect with audiences in concert halls across the region as we come back inside from a summer of live outdoor music. Here are a few upcoming treats…

From Darkness to Light: Weymouth [10 Sep] and Barnstaple [14 Sep].

Tamsin Waley-Cohen – recipient of the UK ECHO Rising Stars award – performs two violin solos with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto and Massenet’s short but perfectly formed Meditation from Thaïs. The programme entitled ‘Darkness to Light’ charts a journey of spiritual awakening; from darkness to light.

Conducted by the BSO’s incoming Calleva Assistant Conductor, and one of Classic FM’s Rising Stars of 2026, Michal Oren, the concerts visit two venues in Dorset and Devon; Weymouth Pavillion [10 Sep] and Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple [14 Sep].

Tickets from £16

Music for Wind Octet: Bridport [11 Sep]

An intimate concert in Bridport lays bare the beauty of wind instruments. A BSO wind octet performs a dazzling programme encompassing works from Mozart, Dvořák, Debussy, Gipps, Ibert, Price and many more. Debussy’s Syrinx lets the solo flute sing, while Ibert’s Trois Pièces brèves interweaves flute and clarinet lines to a delicate effect. In Price’s Adoration African American spiritual melodies are woven to beautiful effect.

Tickets from £16

Symphonic Horizons: Portsmouth [17 Sep], Truro [18 Sep], Exeter [22 Sep]

Pianist Martin James Bartlett joins the BSO – with conductor Jamie Phillips – for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 in Portsmouth, Truro and Exeter. An exuberant and passionate work, some of its passages are based on folk tunes. The concert also includes Smetana’s joyous overture from The Bartered Bride; a piece which is at the heart of what comic opera is all about: drama, thrills and bold character.

Brahms’ Second Symphony might be described as his ‘Pastoral’– a total contrast to his 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.

Tickets from £15

Star Wars: 50^th Anniversary Celebration: Plymouth [Fri 25 Sep]

To celebrate 50 years of Star Wars (yes, really!) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra will be taking you to a galaxy far, far away…

The Force will be with all of us as the BSO play the iconic music that accompanied George Lucas’ epic space opera!

This concert will be 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, this is an event not to be missed – an evening of some of the best movie music ever written.

Tickets from £25

Arts by the Sea, Bournemouth [Sat 26 Sep]

We’re delighted to be joining Bournemouth’s brilliant Arts by the Sea festival this September. Our musicians will be taking festival goers on a family-friendly elemental journey across our planet. Together, we’ll travel through vast oceans with music from Malcolm Arnold to Disney’s Frozen, encounter majestic sound worlds from Vaughan Williams and Messiaen amongst others and end your journey with the wonder of all that surrounds us with Björk awe-filled Crystalline and Jessie Montgommery’s energetic Starburst!

Free to attend, more information here.

Adventurous Journeys, 30 September, Poole.

Our 2026/27 Poole concert season begins, following on from our seasons in Exeter and Portsmouth which began earlier in the month. Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth opens the BSO’s autumn season at Lighthouse, Poole with two adventurous journeys; Beethoven’s Symphony No.1 and Wagner’s The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure.

Beethoven’s First Symphony was composed at the dawn of a new century. This is reflected in its forward-looking outlook and sudden shifts in tonality, as well as the inclusion of not yet standard clarinets and the more prominent use of the woodwind section.

Henk de Vlieger’s orchestral arrangement of Wagner’s Ring Cycle is an ingenious feat. All the best-known passages are included, and it manages to boil down this monumental music drama to create a unified, single symphonic work.

Tickets from £19

We can’t wait to see you across the South West for music this September…book your tickets here.