Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra: Online Concert Programme | Thu 6 Nov 2025

Mark Wigglesworth
Conductor

In September 2024, Mark Wigglesworth became Chief Conductor of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Mark is recognised internationally for his masterly interpretations, both in the opera house and in the concert hall, and highly detailed performances that combine a finely considered architectural structure with great sophistication and rare beauty. As a highly respected conductor he has forged many enduring relationships with orchestras and opera companies across the world, conducting repertoire ranging from Mozart to Boulez.

Highlights have included performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony. Recordings include a critically acclaimed cycle of the Shostakovich symphonies with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Mahler’s Sixth and Tenth symphonies with the Melbourne Symphony, an album of English music with the Sydney Symphony, Britten’s Peter Grimes with Glyndebourne, and the Brahms piano concertos with Sir Stephen Hough.

In opera, Wigglesworth has enjoyed long relationships with The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, From the House of the Dead, La Clemenza di Tito, Hansel and Gretel) and English National Opera (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Così fan tutte, Falstaff, Katya Kabanova, Parsifal, Force of Destiny, The Magic Flute, Jenůfa, Don Giovanni, Lulu) and operatic engagements elsewhere include The Metropolitan Opera, New York (The Marriage of Figaro, Orfeo) as well as at The Bavarian State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, and the Teatro Real, Madrid. In 2017 he received the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent and made a six-part TV series for the BBC entitled Everything to Play For. His book The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters is published by Faber & Faber and has been translated into Spanish and Chinese.

He has held positions as Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony and the Adelaide Symphony, Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and English National Opera and he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in January this year.

Jess Gillam
Saxophone

Jess Gillam is a celebrated saxophonist and presenter. With her electrifying performances, vibrant stage presence and magnetic personality, the ‘uniquely mercurial’ (The Times) Jess has been invited to play on the world’s major stages since becoming the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Equally at home behind the microphone, Jess’ award-winning weekly show, This Classical Life, on BBC Radio 3 is now in its seventh season.

Jess is passionate about broadening the repertoire for the saxophone, especially in the classical sphere. Recent commissions include Glasslands by Anna Clyne premiered with the Detroit Symphony. Other new works include Dani Howard’s Saxophone Concerto, first heard with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and Karl Jenkins’s Stravaganza performed to a sold-out BBC Proms audience. Jess held the position of Associate Artist of the Royal Albert Hall until 2025 and was an Artistic Partner of Manchester Camerata.

Jess’ concerto appearances have included performances with the BBC orchestras, DSO Berlin, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gothenburg, Iceland, Lahti, London, NDR Elbphilharmonie and Sydney Symphony Orchestra as well as the London, Royal Liverpool and Munich Philharmonic, among others. Further afield, concerto highlights in the US have included the Houston Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra; she will debut with the Lincoln Center Festival Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra in the summer of 2025.

On the recital stage, Jess is seen performing across Europe, the US and beyond. As a former ECHO Rising Star, Jess has appeared throughout Europe’s most prestigious concert halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Wiener Konzerthaus, Konzerthuset Stockholm and Barcelona’s Palau de le Musica. An exclusive recording artist with Decca Classics, Jess is the first and only saxophonist to be signed to the major label. Both her albums have reached No. 1 in the UK Classical Music Charts and her debut album, Rise, was listed in The Times’ Top 100 albums of 2019. Alongside her weekly Radio 3 show, Jess has presented on BBC Radio 2, co-hosted a mini-series on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and presented at the BBC Proms and BBC Young Musician of the Year.

Jess loves collaboration and in 2020, she formed her band, the Jess Gillam Ensemble. Their bold, uplifting and open-minded approach is rooted in classical music but takes inspiration from different musical worlds. Since their launch, the ensemble has performed throughout the UK and Europe to multiple sold-out audiences at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, Latitude Festival, Mozartfest Augsburg and Bath Festival.

In 2016, Jess Gillam made history after becoming the first saxophonist to reach the Finals of BBC Young Musician of the Year. She has been the recipient of a Classic BRIT Award, a The Times Breakthrough Award nominee and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2021 for Services to Music. Returning to her roots in Ulverston in Cumbria, Jess continues to promote her own concert series in her hometown, inviting internationally renowned artists, a series she founded at age 12. She is a patron for Young Sounds UK, Music in Secondary Schools Trust, the London Music Fund and is a member of the Council of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

“Not just one of Britain’s most virtuosic instrumentalists, but also an unstuffy, inspiring personality” The Times

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

One of the UK’s best-loved orchestras, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is known for championing the role of culture in people’s lives. Based at Lighthouse, Poole, the Orchestra is resident in Bristol, Exeter, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Yeovil, and performs in towns and villages across the region. A leading arts charity, it is the largest cultural provider in the South West of England, serving one of the biggest and most diverse regions in the UK.

The Daily Telegraph described Mark Wigglesworth’s opening performance as Chief Conductor in 2024 as “a fine, fierce debut”. Celebrated globally for his outstanding musicianship, extraordinary interpretations, and breadth of repertoire, Wigglesworth’s first season has magnified the BSO’s reputation for the highest quality music-making. The Orchestra boasts an enviable list of named conductors, including Principal Guest Conductor Chloé Van Soeterstède, Marin Alsop, David Hill MBE, Kirill Karabits, and Andrew Litton.

In 2025/26, the BSO welcomes baritone Roderick Williams OBE as Artist-in-Residence: Williams performs five times across the season, including Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and a 24-song cycle, An English Winterreise. The Orchestra also introduces Dani Howard as its Celebrated Composer, a series that shines a spotlight on new British music. It shares seven performances of Howard’s music, including the UK premiere of her Saxophone Concerto with Jess Gillam. Further highlights of the season include debut performances from organist Anna Lapwood, cellist Hugo Svedberg, guitarist Plínio Fernandes, viola player Timothy Ridout, among more. The Orchestra’s celebrated Digital Concert series continues into its sixth year, with 19 live performances broadcast globally from Poole.

The Orchestra is celebrated for its pioneering community-based BSO Participate work, spanning partnerships with health and care providers to inclusive events in schools and with music education hubs. In the 2025/26 season, highlights include the expansion of its creative health programme with Dorset County Hospital and Arts in Hospital into further Dorset HealthCare sites, and an extension of its support for Community and Wellbeing Orchestras supporting a range of needs across the region from Bodmin, Boscombe and Bristol to Chard and Wincanton.

Following international attention for igniting change, BSO Resound — the world’s first professional disabled-led ensemble at the core of a major orchestra, and winner of the 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society’s Impact Award — continues to challenge perceptions. The group unites with Calleva Assistant Conductor Enyi Okpara and members of the National Open Youth Orchestra to share its live music in schools in 2025/26.

A National Portfolio of Arts Council England, the BSO is a registered charity and relies on generous philanthropic support from individual donors, gifts in wills, corporate partners, and charitable trusts and foundations. In 2024, the Orchestra was delighted to receive its largest ever funding pledge from a charitable trust: a grant award of £300,000 over three years (2025-27) from the Garfield Weston Foundation towards BSO Participate.

The BSO’s Principal Broadcast Partner is BBC Radio 3.
The BSO is Classic FM’s Orchestra in the South of England.

bsolive.com