Have You Heard? #12: Mark Wigglesworth

In September 2024, Mark Wigglesworth became Chief Conductor of our Orchestra in Residence, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, taking over from Kirill Karabits who had been in the post for 15 years. We spoke with Mark ahead of his first concert with the BSO in his new position. On Thu 21 November, Mark and the BSO will perform a programme including Walton’s First Symphony – a landmark of English composition – and Ravel’s Piano Concerto for Left Hand, with inspirational pianist and champion of left-hand alone repertoire, Nicholas McCarthy.

Mark Wigglesworth is recognised internationally for his masterly interpretations both in the opera house and in the concert hall – highly detailed performances that combine a finely considered architectural structure with great sophistication and rare beauty. He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent, made a six-part TV series for the BBC entitled Everything to Play For and written a book, The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters.

Introduction: Mark, tell us a bit about yourself, your work with the BSO and connections to Bristol 

I have felt a strong connection to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra ever since I went to school nearby. It was the first orchestra I heard live on a regular basis, and so to now be its Chief Conductor feels very special. Everyone at the BSO has a huge commitment to the live concert experience and takes great pride in the many communities we serve. Our residency at Bristol Beacon gives us a special connection to the area and we feel very lucky to play in one of the great concert halls of the world.

My father was educated at Clifton College. As a very keen amateur musician himself, he would have been thrilled that I now have the pleasure of performing so often in the town he called home for many years. His piano teacher at Clifton had lost his right arm in the First World War and became a significant advocate for piano pieces for the left hand. That our programme includes the most famous one of all, written for someone who had also lost his arm in the war, is a rather poignant personal coincidence.

Repertoire: What is special about the programme you’re performing at Bristol Beacon on 21 November?

The programme we are playing will sound exceptional at the Beacon. There are not many concert halls that have an acoustic special enough to do justice to the vastly differing sound worlds of the three pieces we are performing. Wagner’s Overture to The Mastersingers is a lush and intensely melodic tribute to the greatest German singers of their day, Ravel’s Piano Concerto sets the dynamic brilliance of a single hand against a backdrop of French sensuality and jazz and with Walton’s First Symphony, the players in the orchestra showcase the supreme virtuosity that is such a trademark of British musicians. This work is not only the greatest British symphony since Elgar, it is one of the greatest 20th century works of all.

Live and loud: What makes a great live classical music experience?

What makes a great live classical music experience is the audience! Music is more than just notes. The public nature of a live concert allows us to connect not only with the emotions the music stirs within us, but to share those emotions with others. Music brings us together in an unshakeable way, generating extraordinary empathy towards each other. Every person in the audience is in some way responsible for creating the experience we all have, and is rewarded as much by that engagement as by the music itself. Music is about us, and to take part in that connection is profoundly thrilling.

Your pick: What’s one album/artist/work that you’ve been listening to recently and can recommend to our audiences?

I have been working in Vienna recently and living in the next-door street to where Brahms spent the last 25 years of his life. Inspired as a result to listen to the chamber music he wrote there, I can wholeheartedly recommend every single note of it, but perhaps especially the Clarinet Trio and Quintet. Brahms’ intimate poetry feels a long way from the public drama of Wagner and Walton but all of us who love classical music are fortunate to have a vast variety of pieces to choose from. There is always something suitable to either validate the mood we are in, or transport us to a completely different one altogether!