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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Britten sinfonia | History Defined

A concerto played with trash: Barbican offers a masterclass in thought-provoking classical programming

The Barbican Centre’s 2025-26 concert season, Fragile Earth: Sounds of a Living Planet, brings the connection between music and nature, and its vulnerability to climate change, to the fore.

The Conversation

Sea Beneath the Skin/Song of the Earth review – sea, sand and ceremony as Mahler’s song cycle makes waves

Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio’s chant-filled music-theatre piece – performed by Theatre of Kiribati and Britten Sinfonia – pushes Mahler into uncharted waters

The Guardian - UK

Earth and Other Planets review – reimagined Holst with harmonica and a hoedown

Left-field duo Stevens & Pound threaded funky folk stylings with poetry by Robert Macfarlane and virtuoso playing by Britten Sinfonia to create The Silent Planet, a rethinking of Holst’s Planets Suite, with the addition of the newly composed Earth

The Guardian - UK

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Britten Sinfonia/Sinfonia Smith Square review – quiet fervour and formal grace

Conducting duties were shared between Nicholas Daniel and Benjamin Nicholas in a sombre and moving programme whose main work was Messiaen’s great memorial to the dead of both world wars

The Guardian - UK

Britten Sinfonia/Berman review – haunting premiere about memories of the Holocaust

Michael Zev Gordon’s new piece about his Polish Jewish ancestors, for two narrators, a baritone and string orchestra, was performed with nuance, solemnity and intensity

The Guardian - UK

Jacob Collier/Chris Thile/Britten Sinfonia review – Bach to Beatles and mass harmonies as virtuosic pair delight

An enjoyably varied programme took in Piazzolla, Samuel Barber and Queen with Suzie Collier conducting the Britten Sinfonia, but the musical fireworks were all courtesy of her son Jacob and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile

The Guardian - UK

Britten Sinfonia/Elizabeth Watts review – perfectly articulated songs of extraordinary power and delicacy

Soprano Watts captured the spirituality of Finzi’s Dies Natalis while a tribute to Afghan poet Nadia Anjuman was sung with overwhelming commitment alongside relishingly played new and old string music

The Guardian - UK

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BBC Proms: Britten Sinfonia/Thomas Gould review - the ensemble takes on Max Richter with unfussy panache

The Tomas Gould-directed Proms was both daring and energetic

Evening Standard

Britten Sinfonia review – immaculate playing illuminates a programme that takes us back to 1953

Works by Tippett, Walton and Maconchy underlined the UK’s fertile musical life at the time of the last Coronation, while a new Joseph Phibbs piece was worthy company

The Guardian - UK

Britten Sinfonia/Phillips review – extraordinarily affecting east-west encounter

One of our most vital ensembles offers a rare glimpse of an astonishing score from Frederick Delius, while Joseph Tawadros delivers stunning virtuosity and ‘heavy metal’ oud

The Guardian - UK

Thrilled, relieved, perplexed: three Arts Council funding verdicts

In our second set of case studies exploring the impact of Arts Council England’s new funding decisions, we hear from Balbir Singh Dance Company, Britten Sinfonia and Little Bulb

The Guardian - UK

The week in classical: Don Pasquale; Holst’s Sāvitri

The charms of Donizetti’s comic opera continue to elude, while a Holst rarity shines in an elegant fusion of music and movement

The Guardian - UK

Britten Sinfonia/Elder review – Holst’s Indian gem takes centre stage

Savitri was given a rare outing in a concert that framed Holst’s Indian opera with works by Grace Williams and Britten, and closed with a boundary-crossing fusion that Holst would have relished

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