Grace – Astral Illuminations

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales are at BBC Hoddinott Hall on Thursday 22 April 2027, with cellist Laura van der Heijden as soloist and Chloe Rooke conducting. It's an all-female programme that pulls together orbiting worlds, imagined landscapes and folk memory, and it's part of the BBC NOW 2026-27 season.

The first half opens with Missy Mazzoli's Sinfonia, written for Orbiting Spheres, where looping figures circle like a living solar system. That leads into the world premiere of Augusta Read Thomas's Astral Illuminations, a cello concerto described as music of radiant colour and lyric intensity that celebrates the expressive voice of the cello. Van der Heijden takes the solo on that one.

After the interval, Grace Williams's Dark Island Suite evokes rugged seascapes, and Grace-Evangeline Mason's The Imagined Forest takes you on a surreal, collage-like journey through fantastical terrain inspired by visual art and folklore. The evening closes with Ester Mägi's Symphony, which is rooted in Estonian folk tradition.

It's a long programme that moves from the cosmic to the coastal and then into the surreal, so there's plenty to sink into. The concert starts at 7:30pm at the BBC Hoddinott Hall in the Wales Millennium Centre, and it's suitable for ages 2 and over, with under-16s seated with an adult.