BBC Philharmonic - Beethoven Symphony No. 9

BBC Philharmonic are at The Bridgewater Hall on Saturday 13 March 2027, with Anja Bihlmaier conducting. The night centres on Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, the 'Choral' — the one with the Ode to Joy finale, which sets Friedrich Schiller's poem as a paean to peace and brotherhood. It's a big, singing finale, and the full vocal line is there: soprano Hera Hyesang Park, contralto Jess Dandy, tenor Robin Tritschler, and baritone Paul Grant, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus on the choral parts.

Three shorter works frame it. Pauline Oliveros's Tuning Meditation opens the evening; she described it as seeking unity through singing. Then comes Roderick Williams's re-imagining of Byrd's Ave verum corpus, a piece he sang as a boy treble. The most substantial of the three is John Adams's Absolute Jest, a 25-minute work for string quartet and orchestra inspired by Stravinsky's Pulcinella. It weaves together fragments from Beethoven's late string quartets, including Op. 131, Op. 135, and the Grosse Fuge, so the Ligeti Quartet will be out on stage alongside the orchestra for that one.

The whole thing runs to about 101 minutes, and it sits within two larger series: The Bridgewater Hall's Beethoven 200 and the BBC Philharmonic's 2026/27 season.

Tickets are £12.00 to £42.00, and all those prices include a £3.25 booking fee. There are student tickets for £6.50, though availability is limited. Senior citizens and claimants get 10% off, and under-30s get 30% off, both excluding the booking fee. The concert starts at 7.30pm.